Edward L. Strohbehn Jr. represents clients in:
complex and novel contaminated site remediation and Brownfield Development matters;
corporate stock and asset acquisitions;
environmental enforcement and permitting actions by federal and California environmental agencies;
federal and state legislative and regulatory electronic waste recycling activities; and
environmental compliance, enforcement and business planning.
In 2012, Legal 500 US reported that “Clients said ... Edward Strohbehn ‘ranks in the top 5 percent in terms of knowledge and ability to evaluate complex legal situations from a variety of perspectives.’”
His legal career includes substantial government and public interest sector experience. He is currently serving as Chairman of the Board of the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), a Washington, D.C., nonprofit environmental law and policy nongovernmental organization. He co-founded and served as a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) (1970–1977). He was executive director of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), Executive Office of the President (1977–1981). He has been a director of ELI since 2005 and was a director of Resources for the Future (RFF), a Washington, D.C., economic policy think-tank, from 1995–2004. He is a member of the Leadership Council of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (2001 to present). He was a law clerk to Chief Justice Earl Warren (then-retired), United States Supreme Court (1969–1970).
In July 2011, he was elected a Fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers.
In October 2010, Edward, along with three Yale Law School classmates, was awarded the Yale Law School’s highest honor — the Yale Law School Association Award of Merit. He and his classmates were cited for their pioneering role in founding the Natural Resources Defense Council and their extraordinary careers in environmental law.
In April 2013, he, along with two co-authors, was selected by The Burton Awards to receive the 2013 Distinguished Legal Writing Award for the article Allocating Environmental Risks and Liabilities in Commercial Transactions that was published in the Bloomberg BNA Environmental Daily Reporter. The Award is given to 30 articles from entries submitted by the nation’s 1,000 most prestigious and largest law firms.
Edward helped draft the ASTM E 2600-10 vapor encroachment screening standard, issued in 2010. He was a member of the ASTM Vapor Intrusion Task Group. He is a member of the ASTM Phase I Environmental Assessment Task Group. He helped revise the ASTM Phase I Environmental Assessment Standard. The Standard is used in conducting commercial real estate transaction environmental assessments and is typically required by banks for financing commercial real estate loans.
He lectures at conferences held by the American Bar Association (ABA), Practicing Law Institute (PLI), California Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB), State Bar of California Environmental Law Section, RTM Communications Inc. and Strafford Publications.
