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Erin L. Brooks

Erin Brooks
  1. People

Erin L. Brooks

Erin L. Brooks

Partner


Chicago/St. Louis
Erin Brooks
  1. People

Erin L. Brooks

Erin L. Brooks

Partner


Chicago/St. Louis

Erin L. Brooks

Partner

Chicago/St. Louis

Office Managing Partner - Chicago

T: +1 312 602 5093

T: +1 314 259 2393

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  • Biography

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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 Logistics & Industrial

  • Logistics & Industrial

Civic involvement & honors

  • Recognized by Chambers USA 2026 in Band 2 for Environment
  • Operation Food Search, Board of Directors
  • Chambers USA, Environment, "Up and Coming" (2021-2022)
  • The Best Lawyers in America© 2026

Professional affiliations

  • Missouri Bar Association
  • Illinois State Bar Association 
  • Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
The Complexity Advantage
A legal playbook for the future of data centers

Read the full reportIcon: arrow

Admissions

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

    United States District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri

Education

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

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

Related capabilities

Real Estate Real Estate

Health & Safety Health & Safety

Finance Finance

Investigations Investigations

Litigation & Dispute Resolution Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Regulation, Compliance & Advisory Regulation, Compliance & Advisory

Renewables & Storage Renewables & Storage

PFAS PFAS

Data Centers Data Centers

Environment Environment

Logistics & Industrial Logistics & Industrial

ESG & Energy Transition ESG & Energy Transition

Healthcare & Life Sciences Healthcare & Life Sciences

Restaurants, Pubs & Clubs Restaurants, Pubs & Clubs

Sustainable Real Estate Sustainable Real Estate

Financial Institutions Financial Institutions

Food & Agribusiness Food & Agribusiness

Business & Commercial Disputes Business & Commercial Disputes

Real Estate Real Estate

Health & Safety Health & Safety

Finance Finance

Investigations Investigations

Litigation & Dispute Resolution Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Regulation, Compliance & Advisory Regulation, Compliance & Advisory

Renewables & Storage Renewables & Storage

PFAS PFAS

Data Centers Data Centers

Environment Environment

Logistics & Industrial Logistics & Industrial

ESG & Energy Transition ESG & Energy Transition

Healthcare & Life Sciences Healthcare & Life Sciences

Restaurants, Pubs & Clubs Restaurants, Pubs & Clubs

Sustainable Real Estate Sustainable Real Estate

Financial Institutions Financial Institutions

Food & Agribusiness Food & Agribusiness

Business & Commercial Disputes Business & Commercial Disputes

Real Estate Real Estate

Health & Safety Health & Safety

Finance Finance

Investigations Investigations

Litigation & Dispute Resolution Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Regulation, Compliance & Advisory Regulation, Compliance & Advisory

Renewables & Storage Renewables & Storage

PFAS PFAS

Data Centers Data Centers

  • Environment

  • Logistics & Industrial

  • ESG & Energy Transition

  • Healthcare & Life Sciences

  • Restaurants, Pubs & Clubs

  • Sustainable Real Estate

  • Financial Institutions

  • Food & Agribusiness

  • Business & Commercial Disputes

  • Real Estate

  • Health & Safety

  • Finance

  • Investigations

  • Litigation & Dispute Resolution

  • Regulation, Compliance & Advisory

  • Renewables & Storage

  • PFAS

  • Data Centers

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

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Related insights

Sectors in focus
Sep 09, 2026
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Sectors in focus
Sep 09, 2026
A focus on brownfield development for data centers
Sectors in focus
Sep 09, 2026
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Sectors in focus
Sep 09, 2026
Data center complexity goes beyond grid connectivity
Power is the pivotal factor for data center viability. AI and high-performance computing have pushed demand into the hundreds of megawatts, capacity is scarce, and grid connection dates are extending over several years. Diligence must test the connection date, reinforcement dependencies, security requirements, curtailment rights, expansion capacity and cost. An accepted offer is not the same as an energized connection.
Sectors in focus
Sep 09, 2026
Data center tenancy agreements - Routes to stabilization
The convergence of data sovereignty, security, power, cooling, connectivity, service agreements and AI-driven operational demands is transforming the traditional data center lease or co-location agreement into a hybrid instrument. Part real estate contract, part technology service agreement. This trend reflects the complexity of projects, number of stakeholders involved, and the pace of technological change. 
Sectors in focus
Sep 09, 2026
Growing data center disputes risk
The construction phase remains the most common source of high-value disputes in data center projects, and disputes here can disrupt delivery schedules, undermine revenue projections and strain key commercial relationships well beyond the immediate cost of the underlying issue. As builds become more complex, this risk escalates further. 
Sectors in focus
Sep 09, 2026
How to leverage joint ventures for brownfield data center development
Sectors in focus
Sep 09, 2026
How to price grid uncertainty in data center energy contracts
Sectors in focus
Sep 09, 2026
Hybrid power platform - The advantage of integration
The most advanced data center projects are moving beyond simply connecting to power and toward becoming integrated energy platforms in their own right — co-locating dedicated generation and storage with the data center itself. Here’s what you need to know. 

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