Vic Sher has spent his career developing and prosecuting unparalleled legal strategies to protect people and the planet. Over the past 30 years, he has achieved exceptional success—as a litigator, a consultant and as the leader of the world’s largest public interest environmental law firm—on behalf of communities and non-governmental organizations against the world’s most powerful polluters and largest law firms. Beyond representing public agencies and organizations in active lawsuits, Sher consults on effective litigation strategies with government agencies, national and local non-profit organizations, and attorneys around the country.
From 1998 through 2011, Sher’s practice focused solely on representing public water suppliers and other public agencies in lawsuits against the manufacturers of toxic chemicals polluting drinking water sources. He was a partner with Miller & Sher in Sacramento from 1998 through 2002, then founder and principal litigator with Sher Leff LLP in San Francisco from 2003 through 2011. In 2009, Sher served as New York City’s lead trial counsel in City of New York v. ExxonMobil, a federal jury trial over MTBE contamination in Queens that resulted in a verdict for the City of $104.7 million. His team was recognized as a Public Justice Trial Lawyer of the Year finalist. In a federal multidistrict litigation, In Re: MTBE Litigation, involving hundreds of public water agencies around the country, Sher was designated by the court as national co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs. He also represented numerous public water agencies and utilities in matters involving a variety of chemicals including MTBE, TCP, DBCP, PCE, and DDT.
Lawdragon Honors
| Honor | Year | Practice |
|---|---|---|
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Environmental Lawyers – The Green 500 | 2026 | Environmental Litigation, esp. Water Pollution |
| Lawdragon Announces 2026 Hall of Fame Inductees | 2026 | Environmental Litigation |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America | 2025 | Environmental Impact Litigation |
| The 2024 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America | 2024 | Environmental Impact Litigation |
| The 2012 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers | 2012 | Environmental Impact Litigation |
Sher practiced with the public interest law firm Earthjustice (then known as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund) from October 1986 until June 1997, including as its President from 1994 to 1997. As President, he acted as the CEO for the world’s largest public interest environmental law firm, with 50 lawyers in ten offices.
The ABA Journal noted that Sher’s lawsuits caused a “dramatic new direction in forest policy” for tens of millions of acres of federal forests, “forcing an end to business as usual”. He also litigated many cases to protect communities from toxic chemicals, preserve endangered ecosystems and species, conserve public lands, and improve air and water quality.
Named a 2012 Lawdragon 500 lawyer, Sher received a Pew Scholarship in Conservation and the Environment in 1992, and shared the Natural Resources Council of America Award of Achievement for Policy Activities in 1993.
Sher is a 1976 graduate of Oberlin College, where he was Phi Beta Kappa, received high honors, and was awarded the Comfort-Starr Award for excellence in the study of government. He received his law degree in 1980 from Stanford Law School, where he was a member of the Law Review.
