Legal Incentives in Brownfield Reclamation
PANEL DESCRIPTION
Reclaiming contaminated sites is central to revitalizing communities and protecting environmental health, but this occurs when incentives align with legal and financial realities. This session explores the range of reclamation incentives that are driving Brownfield cleanup and reuse. Mr. Brooks will discuss how these incentives work in practice, recent policy and regulatory developments, and how lawyers, developers, and government officials can navigate the incentives landscape to advance successful reclamation projects.
Moderated by Camilla Stapleton.
JON BROOKS, ABRAMSON BROOKS
As co-founder of Abramson Brooks LLP, Jon chairs its environmental and litigation practices.
Jon advises real estate clients (developers, owners, landlords, tenants, managers, lenders) about environmental aspects of transactions. As former CEO of Cirrus Resources Inc. (a company through which he advised both Fortune 100 companies and local entrepreneurs on structuring energy, environmental, and economic development projects in formerly Communist countries), Jon takes a comprehensive transactional – rather than mere regulatory – approach to environmental issues, bringing value added to his clients (e.g., structuring deals to maximize benefits from government programs such as brownfields and Opportunity Zones). Jon co-chairs the NYSBA’s Environmental Business Transactions Committee, and previously chaired the ABA’s Environmental Transactions and Brownfields Committee. A “Super Lawyer” since 2011, Corporate INTL named him “2017 Environmental Lawyer of the Year – New York.”
Jon also advocates for clients in commercial, real estate, and environmental litigation matters in trial and appellate courts. Selected in 2019 to “America’s Top 100 Bet-the-Company Litigators,” Jon’s courtroom and writing skills were recognized early: During law school, he was named the nation’s “Best Oralist” in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, and he served as Articles Editor of The Maritime Lawyer (n/ka the Tulane Journal of Maritime Law). Jon applies those litigation skills to a broad spectrum of matters, from commonplace contractual disputes to complex commercial or environmental ones; even to the esoteric, such as the little-known area of “escheatment” (unclaimed property) law, in which Jon argued successfully before the Delaware Supreme Court (sitting en banc) on four issues of first impression. Closer to home, Jon recently made law in three New York cases: one successfully challenged the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s interpretation of its own regulations; another defeated the NYC Department of Buildings concerning the interpretation of its regulations; and a third held that where a New York State LLC is not a party to its Operating Agreement, the LLC is not bound by the Operating Agreement (resulting in dismissal of the LLC from an arbitration).
Beyond law, Jon is an avid skier, actor, singer, dancer, puzzler, poet, poker player, and chef. Reclaiming contaminated sites is central to revitalizing communities and protecting environmental health, but this occurs when incentives align with legal and financial realities. This session explores the range of reclamation incentives that are driving Brownfield cleanup and reuse. Mr. Brooks will discuss how these incentives work in practice, recent policy and regulatory developments, and how lawyers, developers, and government officials can navigate the incentives landscape to advance successful reclamation projects.