Jill Hyman Kaplan

Biography:

Jill Hyman Kaplan is a partner with Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox LLP. She has a wide variety of experience in environmental counseling and litigation. Her current practice includes matters relating to brownfield redevelopment; environmental aspects of real estate development and management; environmental, health, and safety audits; asbestos, mold, and indoor air quality; lender liability; environmental insurance; hazardous and non-hazardous waste regulations; storm water issues; Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA") issues; and site contamination and cleanup issues. Jill has represented a diverse range of clients, including a global manufacturer of lead-acid batteries, a leading telecommunications company, a national drug store chain, a railroad, hospitals, port facilities, prominent brownfield redevelopers, and residential home builders. Her representative matters include the following:

• acting as environmental counsel to a global manufacturer of lead-acid batteries, including defending notices of citations relating to hazardous waste and stormwater issues, negotiating settlements with state environmental agencies, defending cost recovery litigation, auditing facilities, drafting environmental language for sales agreements and leases, and negotiating global insurance policies;
• designing, overseeing, and implementing environmental audits of telecommunications companies, hospitals, and manufacturers with multi-state facilities;
• negotiating a Consent Agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") under its Audit Policy involving alleged violations of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, Clean Water Act, and Clean Air Act, which resulted in a 100 percent reduction ($1.2 million) of the gravity component of the civil penalty;
• assisting national drug store chain in performing due diligence for numerous real estate transactions, overseeing necessary cleanups, and obtaining liability protection or "no further action" letters;
• successfully defending drug store entity mediation proceeding involving past contamination;
• representing client in OSHA proceedings involving fatalities and alleged violations of lockout/tagout and electric power generation, transmission and distribution regulations, and negotiating favorable settlement terms and penalties;
• defending railroad in OSHA proceeding which resulted in a majority of the items being withdrawn and an over 90 percent penalty reduction;
• assisting clients in designing and drafting OSHA programs ranging from asbestos to lockout/tagout to emergency response;
• assisting port facility in the environmental aspects of a $104 million bond issue, including drafting environmental aspects of agreements, leases, and disclosure statements;
• representing clients at federal and state Superfund sites including bringing and defending all types of cost recovery litigation, negotiating consent orders and decrees with EPA and state agencies, representing parties in equitable allocation proceedings, and negotiating and obtaining comfort letters and prospective purchaser agreements from EPA and state agencies concerning contamination on and emanating from Superfund sites;
• assisting brownfield redevelopers in performing due diligence and structuring matters to obtain liability protection and expedite regulatory and financial approvals, including negotiating many Buyer-Seller Agreements with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection; and
• successfully representing clients in appeals before the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board.

Jill was identified as an "up-and-coming individual" in the 2007 edition of Chambers USA - America's Leading Lawyers for Business and has been included in the 2008 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the specialty of environmental law. In the community, Jill has served as a board member of the Arden Theatre Company for several years, and was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the City Avenue Special Services District.

Jill has spoken and written on the topics of obtaining financing for brownfields projects, lender liability, and legal and insurance issues presented by mold contamination. In addition, Jill has spoken to a number of groups regarding environmental audits, including providing assistance on designing audit policies and programs. Jill has served as a guest lecturer for the Environmental Protection & Safety Management Graduate Program at St. Joseph's University. She has also served as a guest lecturer at Bryn Mawr College. Jill is also a course planner for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute's annual Environmental Law Forum.

Education:

• University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D., 1987
• University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, B.S. Econ., cum laude, 1984

Memberships:

• Bar admissions in Pennsylvania, Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• American Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources
• Past Chair, Pennsylvania Bar Association, Environmental, Mineral, and Natural Resources Law Section
• Philadelphia Bar Association, Environmental Law Committee
• Society of Women Environmental Professionals of Greater Philadelphia
• International Council of Shopping Centers, Environmental Law Committee