Bio

Christine Leas graduated from the University of California, Hastings College of Law in 1991, and is admitted to practice in New York, California and Connecticut. She specializes in environmental regulatory compliance and transactional matters, counseling clients on complex brownfield and contaminated site redevelopments and environmental aspects of mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. She has over ten years of experience negotiating manuscript environmental insurance policies, and recently resolved a multi-million dollar environmental insurance claim through mediation with the carrier. During the past several years, Christine has worked on many aspects of brownfield redevelopment of properties under the New York State Brownfields Cleanup Program, Superfund sites (CERCLA and its state counterpart) and petroleum spill sites subject to the New York Navigation Law. She has also counseled many clients on compliance with New York City E zoning designation requirements with respect to hazardous materials, air quality and noise attenuation. In addition to counseling clients throughout brownfield redevelopment (due diligence investigation, structuring and negotiating the property sale transaction, environmental consulting and remediation service procurement and oversight, and environmental insurance and regulatory compliance), Christine has worked with corporate and financial institution clients on environmental aspects of mergers and acquisitions involving many domestic and international properties. Early in her career, Christine worked with the Natural Heritage Institute on San Francisco Bay-Delta and Central Valley water quality-quantity interface issues and international environmental refugee issues. She also counseled NRG Energy on environmental aspects of its acquisition of privatized former East German coal mining and power generation assets from Germany (Treuhandanstalt). Before joining Sive, Paget & Riesel, Christine was a member of the Environmental Practice Group of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae in Hartford, CT.