Practice Focus

Karen J. Nardi is a partner in the firm's environmental group. She focuses her practice on a wide range of environmental and health and safety laws and works with companies to manage their liabilities in business transactions. She also represents clients in enforcement actions.

A poll published by GC California magazine in December 2008 named Ms. Nardi the top environmental compliance attorney in California. Ms. Nardi has also been selected for inclusion in the Super Lawyers list of Northern California's top attorneys four years in a row, and she twice ranked among the top 50 females. In 2007 and 2008, she was listed in The Best Lawyers in America for her environmental experience.

Ms. Nardi holds a master's degree in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley and a law degree from its School of Law (Boalt Hall). She served as a law clerk to Judge William Schwarzer of the US District Court in San Francisco. She has been a legislative analyst for the California State Assembly and an intern at the Congressional Budget Office in Washington, DC. She is co-author of several books, including the Environmental Law Handbook (Government Institutes, 2007).

She is fluent in French and conversant in Spanish.

Compliance and Enforcement

Ms. Nardi represents clients in federal and state enforcement actions and administrative proceedings. Her areas of focus include site cleanups, Brownfields redevelopment, CEQA compliance, environmental due diligence in M&A, environmental health and safety (EH&S) audits, military base closures, environmental insurance, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Clean Air Act, Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), hazardous waste, radioactive waste, asbestos, lead paint and nanotechnology. She works with clients to obtain permits and variances, and resolve civil enforcement actions.

Environmental Due Diligence

Ms. Nardi represents purchasers and sellers of contaminated properties and businesses with significant environmental liabilities. She coordinates environmental due diligence efforts and works with clients to allocate environmental liabilities in acquisitions, mergers, and real property transfers.

Site Cleanups

Ms. Nardi assists clients in the cleanup of contaminated properties nationally. She also helps companies resolve disputes over the allocation of cleanup costs via negotiation, mediation, arbitration and litigation. Her work includes complex Superfund sites in Silicon Valley, properties with industrial solvents and agricultural pesticides, and numerous underground storage tank sites.

Vapor Intrusion Issues

US Environmental Protection Agency and California environmental agencies have given increased scrutiny to the issue of vapor intrusion (i.e., the potential for vapor from contaminated groundwater to migrate into structures and associated risks to building occupants). Ms. Nardi has worked with developers, prospective buyers, property owners, and responsible parties to analyze and manage these risks in a practical fashion. She is familiar with the 2009 Department of Toxic Substances Control vapor intrusion mitigation advisory and has closely followed regulatory developments in this area.

Brownfields and Base Closures

Ms. Nardi has worked with many clients to redevelop Brownfields properties. She brings a practical understanding of the risks inherent in redeveloping contaminated property and the legal tools and engineering controls used to mitigate these risks. She has also worked on environmental cleanups at military bases that are being converted to new uses in their communities.

Environmental Insurance

Ms. Nardi is an authority on environmental insurance and works with contractors, property owners, and developers to obtain coverage.

Audits

Ms. Nardi works with companies in different industries to audit and improve EH&S management systems and regulatory compliance. These audits are benchmarked against legal compliance standards, ISO 14000, and the US Department of Justice Federal Sentencing Guidelines. She has experience in audits involving process safety and emergency response under OSHA and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations.

OSHA, Industrial Safety, and 911

Ms. Nardi counsels clients on compliance with safety laws and helps them resolve OSHA citations. She also helps clients investigate serious injury accidents and manage the resulting enforcement and third party claims. She has assisted a number of clients in coordinating emergency response, notification, and internal investigations in connection with serious fires, explosions, and fatality accidents.

Pro Bono

Ms. Nardi is a volunteer attorney at Legal Services for Children (LSC) where she obtains guardianships for children whose parents are unable to care for them. She serves on the Board of Directors for LSC.

Representative Matters

M&A Transactions

• ExxonMobil's US$895 million divestiture of its Northern California refinery and service stations
• Zeneca's US$500 million acquisition of a chemical plant in Texas
• Valero's US$1 billion+ divestiture of an oil refinery and service stations in California