Norman W. Bernstein

About Norman

Norman W. Bernstein has advised on a wide range of regulatory matters under U.S. laws and argued numerous cases in federal appellate and district courts. He has assisted venture capital firms in establishing legal structures to minimize the risks of financing environmentally sensitive deals, advised on disclosure issues and acquisition structuring, and made presentations on behalf of a client before governmental regulatory bodies. He was for decades a Trustee at several Superfund sites, one is on EPA’s National Priority List.  For more details as to some of Mr. Bernstein’s experience and background, please see the below.

• Professional Affiliations and Education

  Mr. Bernstein is a past Chairman of the Committee on Litigation Management and Economics of the American Bar Association (Litigation Section) and is the author of numerous articles and presentations on Superfund, including Superfund Reform Needs Drastic Simplification which is published in the January 1995 issue of The Environmental Law Reporter. He has taught torts at Wayne State University Law School and has been a guest lecturer on hazardous waste matters at Yale Law School and the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He is a member of the bars of New York and Michigan and of the bars of the United States Courts of Appeal for the First Circuit (Boston), Second Circuit (New York), Third Circuit (Philadelphia), Seventh Circuit (Chicago), Eleventh Circuit (Atlanta), and the D.C. Circuit (Washington, D.C.). He is also a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.

  Mr. Bernstein is a cum laude graduate of the Columbia University School of Law (1964) where he was a member of the Board of Editors of the Columbia Law Review. Between college and law school, he served as an Ensign and Lieutenant j.g. aboard the destroyer USS Ault (DD 698).

• Published Works
  • “The Enviro-Chem Settlement; Superfund Problem Solving”, Environmental Law Reporter, December, 1983
  • “To Clean Up Landfills, The Leader Should Be Municipalities Using Economic Incentives to Settle”, Environmental Law Reporter, January, 1989
  • “Superfund Reform Needs Drastic Simplification”, Environmental Law Reporter, January, 1995
• Representative Cases
  • In re the Revenue Properties Litigation Cases, 451 F.2d 310 (1st Circuit 1971)
  • Natural Resources Defense Council v. U.S.E.P.A., 683 F.2d 752 (3rd Circuit 1982)
  • National Association of Metal Finishers v. E.P.A., 719 F.2d 624 (3rd Circuit 1983)
  • General Motors Corp. v. U.S.E.P.A., 738 F.2d 97 (3rd Circuit 1984)
  • City of New York v. Exxon Corp., 633 F.Supp. 609 (S.D.N.Y. 1986)
  • State of N.J. Dept. of Environmental Protection v. Gloucester Environmental Management Services, Inc., 719 F.Supp. 325 (D.N.J. 1989)
  • U.S. v. Kramer, 757 F.Supp. 397 (D.N.J. 1991)
  • United States v. Alcan Aluminum Corp., et al 964 F.2d 252 (3rd Circuit 1992)
  • American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations v. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 965 F.2d 962 (11th Circuit 1992)
  • U.S. v. Alcan Aluminum Corp., 990 F.2d 711 (2nd Circuit 1993)
  • DMJ Associates, LLC v. Capasso, 228 F.Supp.2d 223 (E.D.N.Y. 2002)
  • Honeywell International, Inc. v. E.P.A., 372 F.3d 441 (D.C. Cir. 2004)
  • Bernstein v. Bankert, 733 F.3d 190 (7th Circuit 2013)
• Classes/Seminars
  • Adjunct Professor, Wayne State University Law School, Torts, 1987
  • Guest Lecturer on Hazardous Waste Site Matters, Yale Law School, 1985
  • Guest Lecturer on Hazardous Waste Site Matters, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 1986
  • Faculty Member, The Practicing Law Institute’s 1988 Conference on Hazardous Waste Litigation
  • Guest Speaker, International Green Bonds Conference at New York’s Bloomberg Center, October 2016
  • Roundtable leader at General Counsel Conference in New York, September 2019
• Professional Associations and Memberships
  • State Bar of Michigan, Member
  • New York State Bar Association, Member
  • American Bar Association, Member
  • Columbia Club of Michigan, President, 1980 – 1983
  • American Bar Association, Litigation Section, Past Chairman, Committee on Litigation Management and Economics
  • Former Member of the Board of Directors of the Columbia University Club of Westchester County, New York
• Past Employment Positions
  • New York Landfills Litigation Settlement Group, Coordinator, 1987 – 1988
  • Ford Motor Company, Associate Counsel, 1979 – 1988