DAVID FARER

environmental & brownfields

director

dfarer@farerlaw.com

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David B. Farer is a director of the firm and chair of our Environmental & Brownfields practice group. He is a nationally-renowned environmental lawyer.

David established the firm’s environmental practice in 1984. He has over twenty years of experience in counseling clients on the impact of environmental laws on transactions in New Jersey and around the nation, cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated properties including brownfields, environmental compliance and insurance issues, and litigation arising from those issues.

He advises clients on environmental contractual protection techniques, due diligence, transaction-triggered environmental laws such as ISRA, funding options for brownfields redevelopment, and environmental disclosures.

The Chambers USA client’s guide writes of David: 'One of the best environmental lawyers I’ve worked with', according to one client, David Farer impresses with his sound advisory work. The review notes that “it is hard to ignore his influence on the sector,” and concludes: “Working ‘hand in glove’ with him, clients happily report that he is their first port of call for complex matters.”

In 2008, David was invited to join the prestigious American College of Environmental Lawyers (ACOEL). ACOEL is a professional association of preeminent lawyers who concentrate in the field of environmental law. David is honored to be the first New Jersey attorney invited to membership in this highly selective association.

For the past twenty years, David has lectured throughout the country and has written extensively on environmental law issues. He developed and chairs two American Law Institute-American Bar Association (ALI-ABA) national courses of study: “The Impact of Environmental Law on Real Estate and Business Transactions: Brownfields and Beyond,” has been presented annually since 1987 and was last presented in Washington, D.C. on October 18-19, 2007. “Environmental Insurance” was presented in Boston on May 8-9, 2008.

Since the mid-1980s, David has developed and presented numerous seminars for the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education, including his longstanding series of lectures and associated manuals on New Jersey’s Industrial Site Recovery Act (ISRA) and New Jersey’s Brownfield Law.

Among David’s many books and articles are: “ISRA Compliance: Environmental Issues in Transactions and Brownfield Redevelopment, 5th Ed.” (ICLE 2003), “Contractual Allocation of Environmental Risks in Transactions: Case Law Developments Under CERCLA” (ALI-ABA Course of Study Materials, 2007), “Transaction Triggered Environmental Laws, Transfer Notice Laws and Super Liens: Latest Developments” (ALI-ABA 2007) and “Brownfield Redevelopment Initiatives: Federal and Selected State Developments” (ALI-ABA 2007).

David argued successfully before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in U.S. v. CDMG Realty Co., where the court held that an interim property owner cannot be held responsible under the federal Superfund law for “passive migration” of pre-existing contamination.

David graduated from Lafayette College with a B.A. in 1975 and from Boston University Law School in 1978.

David is named in “Best Lawyers in America,” is named a leader in environmental law in the Chambers USA Client Guide, has been named a New Jersey “Super Lawyer,” and is accorded Martindale-Hubbell’s highest AV rating.