Charles Warren

Charles S. Warren, chair of the Environmental practice at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, LLP, is recognized as one of the pre-eminent lawyers in his field, and counsels and represents clients in a comprehensive range of environmental law matters. A former regional administrator with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Chuck brings more than 35 years of knowledge and experience in environmental law, both in government and private practice, to his work on behalf of clients.

Chuck advises public and privately held corporations as well as other organizations on compliance under state and federal environmental statutes and regulations, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, solid waste and brownfield laws, the Superfund law and other hazardous waste statutes, as well as the Occupational Safety and Health Act. He also provides environmental auditing, environmental impact review and due diligence for these corporate clients, and represents them in permitting and enforcement procedures and litigation. Chuck’s clients have included major real estate developers with environmental problems such as hazardous waste issues; industrial companies with air pollution, water pollution and hazardous waste issues; and creditors’ committees in bankruptcies involving major environmental issues.

As a member of interdisciplinary teams, Chuck also performs critical environmental review and due diligence in the context of corporate transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and bankruptcies and restructurings as well as in some of the largest and most wellknown real estate transactions and developments in New York.

Chuck serves as a member of the Policy Committee of the New York/New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program. He previously served as regional administrator for Region II (New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands) of the EPA, as director of the EPA’s Office of Legislation and as chief legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. Jacob K. Javits of New York.

Chuck is a fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers. Chambers, Best Lawyers and the Guide to the World’s Leading Environmental Lawyers have repeatedly ranked him as a leading practitioner. Best Lawyers named him New York’s Best Environmental Lawyer of the Year 2014, and in 2011 he received the Global Award for the New York Environmental Attorney of the Year from Corporate INTL magazine.