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Karl Heisler is an environmental lawyer specializing in enforcement defense and incident response. Karl has managed the legal fallout from a wide array of environmental and workplace safety incidents, ranging from fires and explosions to pipeline releases and the abandonment of hazardous waste. He has 18 years of experience responding to governmental investigations involving the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, and the Occupational Safety and Health Act. He is a prolific speaker on environmental law and incident response.
Legal 500 USA distinguished Karl as having a "singular ability to clarify the inordinately opaque and confusing nature of environmental laws for the unanointed." Benchmark Litigation recognized him as having an "unparalleled ability to master the facts and an encyclopedic mastery of environmental law." Law 360 identified him as one of five "Rising Stars" in environmental law nationwide.
Karl dedicates a significant portion of his practice to environmental transactions. He provides advice and counsel on due diligence and the availability of transactional defenses, and he routinely negotiates representations, warranties and indemnifications. He has assisted with acquisitions and divestitures of several entities subject to government investigations arising out of environmental and workplace safety incidents. For the past 9 years, Karl has taught the environmental transactions course for the Environmental Law Institute, a leader in non-partisan research and environmental law education.
As a respected thought leader, Karl is frequently called upon to comment, write or speak about environmental enforcement and incident response for publications and organizations including Law360, Thomson Reuters, Resource Recycling, Inc., American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, the American Bar Association, the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, the Association of Corporate Counsel, Lawline, the Environmental Law Institute, the Practising Law Institute and the American Law Institute. He has written or spoken about managing the first 48 hours of an incident, incident response for public information officers, responding to hazardous waste abandonments, hurricane readiness and response, climate risk disclosure, environmental due diligence, the environmental aspects of commercial and real estate transactions, the design and implementation of environmental compliance programs, the regulation of electronic waste, cybersecurity in the energy and transportation sectors, electronic discovery in civil and criminal cases, evidence preservation, and preparing for a government inspection. He wrote the introductory chapter for Inside the Minds: Environmental Law Enforcement and Compliance, published in 2011 by Thomson Reuters/Aspatore.
His clients include public and private entities in the energy, chemical manufacturing, construction and waste management industries, as well as lenders, private equity and real estate firms with interests in these industries.
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