Bill Jackson

Bill Jackson has one of the most successful environmental and natural resource damages litigation practices in the country. For more than 30 years, Bill has represented states, port authorities, local governments, railroads, and energy clients in noteworthy contamination cases that are regularly valued into the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars at stake.

In the last year, Bill has led two Kelley Drye teams securing settlements that are both valued in excess of $2 Billion. First, after serving as lead trial counsel for the State of New Jersey for over a month of trial in Camden, Bill secured $2.5 billion in settlements from 3M and DuPont for PFAS contamination across the State. Then, Bill led the Kelley Drye team representing the State of Maryland in its case against the owner/operator of the M/V Dali for striking and destroying the Francis Scott Key Bridge in 2024, which settled for $2.25 billion, the largest legal recovery in the history of maritime law.

Bill is currently serving as lead counsel for fifteen states and sovereigns – in addition to dozens of public water providers and private-sector clients – in both litigation and administrative actions related to contamination from Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Additionally, Bill represents states and US territories in a wide variety of environmental and natural resource damages cases arising from military operations, mining sites, chemical plants, and other discharger sites.

Previously, Bill was lead counsel for New Jersey in the Passaic River litigation, recovering over $355 million in damages and forcing a $1.7 billion cleanup of the Passaic River, the largest settlement of its kind in the State’s history. Bill also represented the State of Louisiana in the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, including leading Jindal Administration efforts to quantify billions of dollars in economic and natural resource damages to the State, all of which were recovered as part of a $20 billion settlement, the largest environmental and natural resource damages recovery in history.