Phone:		510.834.6600
Fax:		510.808.4664
E-mail:		CJohnson@wendel.com

Practice Areas

• Environmental
  
  

Experience

Catherine has almost 20 years of experience as an environmental lawyer. Her practice includes remediation and development of contaminated properties, brownfields, environmental due diligence, environmental reporting requirements, hazardous waste, solid waste landfills and new postclosure uses of landfills, Proposition 65, OSHA appeals, asbestos notifications, air permits, asbestos premises liability and O&M plans, mold-related counseling and litigation, and environmental litigation to recover cleanup costs. Catherine represents clients from many industries, including homebuilders, REITs, public agencies, an agricultural cooperative, a hazardous waste recycling facility, retail and manufacturing facilities, and a national construction company. Catherine has been named as a Northern California "Super Lawyer" in the field of environmental law by the publishers of San Francisco Magazine (2004, 2005, 2006).

Representative Work

• Securing regulatory approval for multi-family residential development of contaminated property
• Securing insurance defense costs for a dry cleaner sued for cleanup
• Advising clients on FIN 47 compliance issue
• Defending a client in a threatened Proposition 65 suit, resulting in a written retraction of the notice of intent to sue.
• Securing Coastal Commission approval of an affordable housing project
  

Admissions

• State Bar of California
• United States District Court, Northern, Central and Eastern Districts of California
• United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
  
  

Affiliations

• Bay Area Legal Aid (largest provider of free legal services in the Bay Area)
  • Board of directors, 2003 to 2005
• State Bar of California
  • Environmental Subsection of the Real Property Law Section; Executive Committee for Northern California; Chair, 1998 to present

Articles (partial list)

• Wendel Rosen Environmental News
  
  • "Court Expands Eligibility for the UST Cleanup Fund," August 2007
• California Environmental Insider
  
  • "New Standards for Environmental Due Diligence," August 31, 2006
• San Francisco and Los Angeles Daily Journal
  • "Costly Cleaning," co-author, September 27, 2007
  • "Firms Must Be Mindful of Assets' Environmental Obligations Under FIN 47," May 4, 2006
  • "Counsel Must Advise Potential Buyers About New CERCLA Liability Defenses," November 12, 2002
  • "Dirty Land, New Laws Will Promote Remediations of Brownfields," November 12, 2001
  • "Evil Additive: State Board Releases Draft MTBE Guidelines," May 2000
  • "Stigma Stymie: Compensation for the Lingering Effects of Contamination," March 13, 1999
  • "Parent Trap: Liability Under CERCLA for a Subsidiary's Pollution," June 12, 1998
  • "Environmental Insurance Coverage for Contaminated Property," January 23, 1998
• California Real Property Journal
  • "Recent Superfund Amendments: New Defenses to CERCLA Liability and New Standards for Pre-Acquisition Environmental Due Diligence," co-author, Vol. 20, No. 4, Fall 2002
• Prop 65 News
  • "New Regulations for Prop 65 Disclosures," July 15, 2000
• East Bay Business Times
  • Property Purchasers Must Heed New Standards for Environmental Due Diligence," March 24, 2006

Speaking / Teaching

Catherine has lectured on a variety of environmental topics for the Academy of Certified Hazardous Materials; the Bay Area Association of Governments; the Environmental Section of the State Bar of California; the University of California at Berkeley, Environmental Hazard Management; Santa Clara County Bar Association; the Northwest Environmental Training Center; and others.

Awards and Honors

• Recognized as Northern California "Super Lawyer" in Environmental law by Law & Politics (as seen in San Francisco Magazine) in 2004 - 2007

Education

• The University of Virginia School of Law; J.D. (1985)
• Smith College; B.A., Religious Studies (1979)