Bruce Howard retired from the partnership in December 2009. His practice focused on real estate and environmental law. Bruce had a multi-faceted real estate and environmental practice including expertise in the sale, purchase and leasing of real estate and soil, water and air quality regulation. He was the lead real estate and environmental counsel in numerous environmentally sensitive real estate development projects, including the remediation and development of Home Depot's most complex contaminated property in its history, the demolition and redevelopment of an oil refinery and tank farm in Bakersfield, CA., remediation and leasing of the largest oil transformer handling site in the state, and similar work on dozens of facilities with underground and above-ground oil and chemical storage tanks. Bruce had more than 20 years experience working closely with local, state and federal regulators throughout the State of California, including the US EPA, the State Department of Toxic Substances Control, the State Water Resources Control Board and the many Regional Water Quality Boards, the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the California Air Resources Board. His long-standing representation of major companies in complex regional Superfund programs included several of the largest contaminated groundwater projects in the United States, including several in the San Francisco Bay area. He also represented numerous developers in connection with the redevelopment of contaminated properties.
Bruce was listed in the 2010 Best Lawyers in America survey in the Environmental Law category. At the time of his retirement, he was also a prominent speaker and author on environmental and property law topics. His professional writings appeared in a number of books and law journals, including the Harvard Law Review, the Columbia Law Review and the U.S.C. Law Review. He also taught real property and environmental law at the University of Southern California Law Center.
Bruce has led the environmental portion of numerous development projects. Examples include:
-
GCA -- Bruce helped complete a successful US$10 million remediation at a contaminated automobile parts manufacturing facility in Carson, California, a facility which included hydrocarbon, solvent and metal contamination.
-
World Oil -- Bruce was lead environmental counsel for World Oil in connection with their refinery and oil tank farm in Bakersfield, California. This work currently involved remediation and redevelopment of the facility in conjunction with the acquisition and redevelopment of an adjacent property owned by PG&E. In the past the work has focused on compliance issues involving air permitting, water and waste discharge regulations, and pipelines. He also has represented World Oil in connection with the regulation of underground tanks at more than a dozen of its other facilities throughout the state.
-
BP -- Bruce was lead environmental attorney for more than 10 years for BP Chemical in connection with the environmental remediation of contamination associated with tanks at its facility in Gardena, California.
-
Rosens Electric -- For more than 15 years Bruce was the lead environmental attorney for the Rosen's Electric Company in connection with the remediation of its electrical equipment facility in Pico Rivera, California. This project involved working with a large group of companies and governmental entities, including PG&E, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas And Electric, the City of Los Angeles, and others, to accomplish the remediation of soil and groundwater impacted by the operation of one of the largest handlers of used electrical equipment in the state.
-
Superfund Sites in Northern California -- Bruce was lead environmental attorney for a primary party involved in the investigation and remediation of several of the largest contaminated groundwater plumes in the state, located in Mountain View and Palo Alto, California.
-
Home Depot -- For many years Bruce has been a lead environmental attorney for Home Depot in connection with the remediation and redevelopment of contaminated properties throughout California, including the successful development of the most complex environmental project ever addressed by the company.
-
Real Estate Leasing and Transactions -- In recent years Bruce has negotiated and documented scores of real estate leasing and purchase and sale transactions.