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Attorneys
University of Pennsylvania Law School
One Logan Square
18th & Cherry Streets, 27th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19103-6933
Fax: 215-568-0300
Biography
Ken Warren draws on 30 years of environmental law experience to provide insightful counsel to his clients. His practice includes regulatory, litigation, and transactional matters involving environmental compliance, permitting, environmental aspects of real estate and corporate transactions, site remediations, sustainability and climate change, and alternative energy issues.
Many of the large and small companies that Ken has counseled have benefited from his practical insight and creativity in addressing regulatory and enforcement challenges. Fortune 500 companies have retained Ken to navigate complex federal and state environmental permitting programs. Ken is also a seasoned environmental litigator and has tried numerous cases to verdict. He served as lead trial and appellate counsel for a Fortune 100 company in a multiparty environmental case in which he obtained a favorable final judgment following a lengthy district court trial and successfully defended the judgment on appeal to the Third Circuit. He has also negotiated and helped to administer consent decrees with novel provisions protecting both the companies and the environment.
Ken employs his extensive experience in the field of water resources to advise clients on water supply and allocation, stormwater and wastewater permitting, total maximum daily loads, and safe drinking water compliance. He negotiated a Safe Drinking Water Act Administrative Order on Consent for a Fortune 500 company and assisted the company in implementing the Site remedy through a CERCLA consent decree. He also serves as general counsel for a multistate water resources agency, the Delaware River Basin Commission. This is a rare achievement for an individual in the private sector.
Ken is widely recognized as a leader in environmental law. He is a member of the American College of Environmental Lawyers and is listed in leading national and international guides of lawyers for environmental law. He served as Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources from 2003 to 2004, during which time he led the section’s 10,000 lawyers. He also served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Environmental Law and was the initial chair of the ABA’s Homeland Security Task Force. Ken writes a regular column for The Legal Intelligencer on environmental law and has authored numerous articles on environmental issues. He also wrote a chapter in The Law of Environmental Justice. Ken is a frequent speaker on environmental matters before sections of the American Bar Association and other groups.
Ken was appointed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator to serve as an industry stakeholder representative on the EPA’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council and served on the Council from 2000 to 2006. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, the oldest natural science museum in the Americas.
Education
University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1979, JD, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, 1975, BA, magna cum laude, with Honors
Clerkship
The Honorable Joseph L. McGlynn, Jr., United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1979 – 1980
Honors and Awards
- University of Pennsylvania Law School
- Law Review
- Order of the Coif
- Trial Association Award
- Keedy Cup Moot Court Winning Team
- Phi Beta Kappa
- Who’s Who Legal (Environmental Law)
- Named a Leader in Environmental Law by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business
- Best Lawyers in America, selected as a Best Lawyer in America in Environmental Law
Publications
- "Controlling Nutrient Pollution: Difficulties in Establishing Criteria," The Legal Intelligencer, March 9, 2012
- "Environmental Hearing Board Protects Private and Public Rights," The Legal Intelligencer, January 13, 2012
- "Commission Publishes Revised Natural Gas Regulations," The Legal Intelligencer, November 11, 2011 (with Pamela M. Bush)
- "EPA Proposes Revised Rules to Regulate Hazardous Waste Recycling," The Legal Intelligencer, September 16, 2011
- "Protecting Polar Bears Under the Endangered Species Act," The Legal Intelligencer, July 8, 2011
- "EPA Issues Draft Guidance on Clean Water Act Jurisdiction," The Legal Intelligencer, May 18, 2011
- "Timing is Critical in Appeals of Agency Action," The Legal Intelligencer, March 11, 2011
- "EPA Establishes Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load," The Legal Intelligencer, January 13, 2011
- "Climate Change Adaptation Gaining Increased Attention," The Legal Intelligencer, November 18, 2010
- "Pennsylvania's Regulation of Total Dissolved Solids," The Legal Intelligencer, September 16, 2010
- "Judicial Review Under NEPA: A Look at Two Recent Decisions," The Legal Intelligencer, July 15, 2010
- "The Federal Strategy to Restore the Chesapeake Bay Watershed," The Legal Intelligencer, May 21, 2010
- "Proposed Amendments to State Stormwater Rules," The Legal Intelligencer, September 17, 2009
- "Supreme Court's Riverkeeper Decision and Cost-Benefit Analysis," The Legal Intelligencer, July 16, 2009
- "Democrats' Clean Energy Bill Could Have Far-Reaching Effects," The Legal Intelligencer, May 21, 2009
- "EPA Proposes Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases," The Legal Intelligencer, March 19, 2009
- “Pennsylvania’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program,” The Legal Intelligencer, January 22, 2009
- "Protecting Natural Resources Under the Public Trust Doctrine," The Legal Intelligencer, September 18, 2008
- "New York Plan Could Inspire Sustainable Philadelphia Programs," The Legal Intelligencer, July 17, 2008
- Author of a chapter in The Law of Environmental Justice
- Author of numerous environmental program materials for the American and the Pennsylvania Bar Associations
Professional Associations and Memberships
- American College of Environmental Lawyers
- American Bar Association, Standing Committee on Environmental Law
- Past Chair, American Bar Association; Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources
- Pennsylvania Bar Association
- Delaware Valley Environmental Inn of Court
Community
- Board of Trustees, The Academy of Natural Sciences
Teaching / Lecturing
- Speaker, “Flowing into the Future: Evolving Water Law Issues,” Pennsylvania Bar Institute, June 2011
Bar Admissions
- Pennsylvania