Erin L. Brooks

  1. People /

Erin L. Brooks

Erin L. Brooks

Partner

  1. People /

Erin L. Brooks

Erin L. Brooks

Partner

Erin L. Brooks

Partner

Chicago/St. Louis

T: +1 312 602 5093

T: +1 314 259 2393

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Biography

Erin Brooks is an environmental attorney whose nationwide practice focuses on real estate redevelopment and renewable energy.  Erin diligently works to understand her clients’ businesses so that she can effectively support the proactive management of matters across all environmental areas.  Clients appreciate Erin’s strategic, business-forward, and creative approach to their most complicated issues.

Clients routinely engage Erin to lead responses to regulatory and enforcement actions, site investigation and remediation, transactional matters including mergers and acquisitions, compliance counseling encompassing all environmental media, and all phases of litigation.  Erin partners with corporate clients across a wide range of industries, such as food, beverage and agriculture, manufacturing, metal fabricating, and car rental and fleet management on such nationwide environmental matters.

As part of Erin’s sophisticated brownfield redevelopment practice, Erin routinely represents real estate developers, investors, and sellers in all phases of transactions from due diligence, insurance procurement, and transactional negotiation, including post-closing management of investigation, remediation, and development.  Erin appreciates that the early identification of key stakeholders is critical to the success of these projects.  She leverages connections to build the right multi-disciplinary team and develop tailored strategic outreach.

Erin is also experienced in resolving claims asserted by governmental agencies and third parties, including high profile toxic tort litigation in state and federal courts.  Erin also has substantial experience counseling and defending occupational safety and health (OSHA) matters, and she is a published author on issues affecting OSHA-regulated employers.  

Erin’s appreciation of business drivers is well supported by her experience working “hand in hand” with clients on corporate governance issues, such as serving as independent counsel for board committees to conduct large-scale investigations and advising energy industry clients on corporate social responsibility policies.  In these capacities, she has played a critical role in evaluating potential compliance issues for the purpose of identifying and implementing proactive solutions, and appropriate remediation as needed.

Erin is actively engaged within her community and serves on the Board of Directors for Operation Food Search, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending hunger in the bi-state area through its innovative nutrition education and advocacy programs.  Operation Food Search is well aligned with Erin’s interest in promoting sustainability and leverages her professional experience working closely with the food and agriculture industries to promote community well-being.

Areas of Focus

  • Logistics & Industrial

Civic Involvement & Honors

  • Chambers USA, Environment (2023)
  • Operation Food Search, Board of Directors
  • Chambers USA, Environment, "Up and Coming" (2021-2022)

Professional Affiliations

  • Missouri Bar Association
  • Illinois State Bar Association 
  • Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis

Admissions

  • Illinois, 2013
  • Missouri, 2010
  • United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois

Education

Saint Louis University, J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Woolsack, 2010

Truman State University, B.A., magna cum laude, 2007

Related Practice Areas

  • Logistics & Industrial

  • Brownfields

  • Citizen Suits/NIMBY

  • Clean Air Act

  • Clean Water Law

  • Compliance Audits and Internal Investigations

  • Cost Recovery Litigation (Superfund/CERCLA and State equivalents)

  • Criminal Enforcement

  • Endangered Species (ESA)

  • Environmental Review (NEPA and State EIS laws)

  • Hazardous Materials Transportation (HMTA)

  • Hazardous Waste (RCRA)

  • Insurance Counseling

  • International Environmental Law

  • Oil Spills

  • Pesticides (FIFRA)

  • Reporting Requirements (EPCRA, CERCLA, Prop 65 and other state laws)

  • Safe Drinking Water (SDWA)

  • Solid Waste and Landfills

  • Toxic Substances Regulation (TSCA)

  • Transactional Work, Including SEC Disclosures

  • Underground Injection Control (UIC)

  • Water Rights

  • Wetlands

  • Mobile Source Emissions and Fleet Management

  • Pubs, Clubs & Restaurants

  • Food & Agribusiness

  • Business & Commercial Disputes

  • Environment

  • Real Estate

  • Health & Safety

  • Finance

  • Investigations

  • Litigation & Dispute Resolution

  • Regulation, Compliance & Advisory

  • Renewables

  • PFAS Team

Resources

Publications

  • "A Rule Old and New, Borrowed and Blue: Exxon Adapts State Punitive Liability Law to Craft New Interpretation in Admiralty," 54 St. Louis U.L.J. 357 (2009)

Speaking Engagements

  • Speaker, Brownfield Listings conference, Project Empowerment Through Environmental Due Diligence, June 2019
  • Moderator, Midwest Environmental Compliance Conference, Contaminated Property: Latest Trends, April 2019

Related Insights

Blog Post
Feb 20, 2024

PFAS Update: 2024 Look-Ahead

As discussed in more detail in BCLP’s 2023 federal recap client alert, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) were a major focus for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) in 2023, and 2024 will likely mark even more significant activity in the federal regulation of these compounds.  While we expect a variety of actions at the federal level, this alert highlights five developments that we anticipate in 2024 will have substantial economic impacts across a wide range of industries.
Blog Post
Oct 24, 2023

PFAS in groundwater: state-by-state regulations

In the absence of federal cleanup standards for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) in groundwater, several states have started the process of regulating PFAS in groundwater themselves.  As a result, states have adopted a patchwork of regulations and guidance standards that present significant compliance challenges to impacted industries.  This client alert explores the current landscape of state regulations regarding the advisory, notification, and cleanup levels for PFAS – typically perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (“PFOS”) and perfluorooctanoic acid (”PFOA”)  – in groundwater.
Blog Post
Oct 04, 2023

EPA publishes extensive PFAS chemical reporting rule with wide-ranging impacts

Quick Take #1: EPA has finalized a rule requiring companies which, since January 1, 2011, manufactured, produced, or imported PFAS chemicals for a commercial purpose, whether as a chemical substance or in a mixture or article, to report an expansive range of data that includes the type(s) of PFAS chemical, volume, uses (commercial, industrial and consumer), disposal information, and information on environmental and health effects.  Quick Take #2: The new rule will impact many companies which do not currently realize that they are impacted, and it will require regulated entities to perform a significant amount of work to collect and submit the information to EPA on the timeline required by the rule.

Related Insights

Blog Post
Apr 17, 2024
EPA Sets National Limits for Certain PFAS in Drinking Water
Blog Post
Feb 20, 2024
PFAS Update: 2024 Look-Ahead
As discussed in more detail in BCLP’s 2023 federal recap client alert, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) were a major focus for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) in 2023, and 2024 will likely mark even more significant activity in the federal regulation of these compounds.  While we expect a variety of actions at the federal level, this alert highlights five developments that we anticipate in 2024 will have substantial economic impacts across a wide range of industries.
Blog Post
Feb 07, 2024
2023 Federal PFAS Regulatory Recap
Blog Post
Oct 30, 2023
PFAS Update: EPA Eliminates TRI Reporting De Minimis Exemption
Blog Post
Oct 24, 2023
PFAS in groundwater: state-by-state regulations
In the absence of federal cleanup standards for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) in groundwater, several states have started the process of regulating PFAS in groundwater themselves.  As a result, states have adopted a patchwork of regulations and guidance standards that present significant compliance challenges to impacted industries.  This client alert explores the current landscape of state regulations regarding the advisory, notification, and cleanup levels for PFAS – typically perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (“PFOS”) and perfluorooctanoic acid (”PFOA”)  – in groundwater.
Blog Post
Oct 04, 2023
EPA publishes extensive PFAS chemical reporting rule with wide-ranging impacts
Quick Take #1: EPA has finalized a rule requiring companies which, since January 1, 2011, manufactured, produced, or imported PFAS chemicals for a commercial purpose, whether as a chemical substance or in a mixture or article, to report an expansive range of data that includes the type(s) of PFAS chemical, volume, uses (commercial, industrial and consumer), disposal information, and information on environmental and health effects.  Quick Take #2: The new rule will impact many companies which do not currently realize that they are impacted, and it will require regulated entities to perform a significant amount of work to collect and submit the information to EPA on the timeline required by the rule.
Events
Jul 27, 2023
Partners present at PLI program on challenges and controversies in environmental practice
Insights
Jun 16, 2023
Key takeaways from the United States - Australia Climate, Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Compact
Insights
Jun 05, 2023
Marsh Madness: SCOTUS Narrows Wetlands Subject to Clean Water Act in Favor of Regulated Industry and Real Estate Developers