Ward Benshoof

PROFILE

Services
Litigation
Environmental
Energy & Sustainability
Education

Education
New York University (J.D., 1972)
Macalester College (B.A., 1968)

Admitted to Practice in California

Ward Benshoof is a partner in the firm’s Los Angeles office. He graduated from New York University School of Law in 1972, where he was a member of the Board of Editors of the Law Review. In 1972, after clerking in the New York Attorney General’s Office of Environmental Protection, he entered private practice in California, and has specialized in environmental and toxic tort litigation ever since. In 1984, Ward, with four other partners, formed the Weston, Benshoof firm.

After being involved in a series of cases in the early 1970s concerning the development of energy resources in California and compliance by those projects with the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental Quality Act, Ward’s environmental litigation expertise began to concentrate on contaminated property litigation and related tort claims for injuries to persons and property—a specialty which he has pursued for over 30 years. In 2004, Ward was named by Chambers USA as one of the leading attorneys in the nation for water quality litigation.

Representative Experience

Served as lead counsel for a major U.S. airline on jet fuel and solvent contamination issues at Los Angeles International Airport and related LARWQCB and other regulatory matters.
Representation of a major Southern California airport authority on the prosecution of environmental claims against a former tenant.
Served as lead environmental and litigation counsel for major industrial clients (oil, chemical and aerospace) on a wide variety of petroleum products and industrial solvent contamination cases.
Served as lead counsel for a major aerospace client in a multi-party community exposure/toxic tort action.
Served as chief trial counsel in the earliest cost recovery cases brought under the federal and state Superfund statutes.
Prosecuted and defended numerous claims for environmental cost recovery and related tort claims on behalf of both public entities and private parties.
Served as lead counsel for a major oil industry client in a groundwater contamination case brought by a Southern California municipality.
Key involvement in many of the major appellate decisions which have defined the law of environmental cost recovery, under both statutory and common law.
Close association with senior members of the environmental regulatory community in California through over 20 years of a leadership participation in the annual California EPA Enforcement Symposium.
Key relationships with the foremost experts in the environmental/toxic tort consulting community.

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