Brian D Israel

Practice Areas

Brian Israel is Chair of the firm's Environmental Practice Group. His practice focuses broadly on environmental litigation and counseling—including climate-related issues—and he is one of the nation's leading lawyers for Natural Resource Damages (NRD) claims. Consistently recognized by Chambers and others, Brian has been commended for his "exceptional strategic capabilities" and "wonderful understanding of government relations." Over the course of his career, Brian has successfully resolved and/or litigated over one hundred (100) environmental matters. Among other areas, Brian specializes in cases brought under federal and state environmental laws related to contaminated sites, including toxic tort lawsuits. Since 2010, Brian has been lead counsel to BP in relation to Deepwater Horizon NRD claims, and was also one of the trial attorneys at the Deepwater Horizon Clean Water Act (CWA) penalty trial. He represents multiple Fortune 500 companies in some of the largest and most complex environmental matters across the country. Brian maintains an active pro bono practice and recently assisted in drafting the first climate change legislation for the State of Israel. Prior to joining the firm, Brian was an Honors Trial Attorney in the Environmental Enforcement Section at the US DOJ.