Joel Burcat is chair of the Environment and Natural Resources Practice Group, resident in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania office.
Mr. Burcat's principal areas of practice are environmental law, natural resources law and environmental litigation. He has handled a broad range of complex environmental issues, including regulatory matters, enforcement cases, permit disputes, transactions, environmental crises, regulatory takings, and state and federal Superfund cases. In addition, he has handled original jurisdiction cases before the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court. His clients include large and small industrial operations, owners and operators of petroleum facilities, municipal authorities, defendants in toxic tort cases, owners of natural resources (particularly coal, non-coal minerals, and gas), pipeline companies, trade associations and companies in the waste industry. He also represents buyers and sellers of Brownfield properties.
Mr. Burcat has represented clients before the United States Environmental Protection Agency, United States Army Corps of Engineers, United States Coast Guard and state environmental agencies in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Texas and California. He also has presented written testimony to the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Mr. Burcat also serves as a Mediator, Certified by the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and as an arbitrator. In that capacity he has resolved numerous cases. These cases come from a wide variety of disciplines, including insurance coverage, contracts, civil rights (discrimination), will contests, patent and intellectual property, labor and employment and environmental disputes.
He writes and lectures regularly on a wide variety of environmental law topics. He has served as co-editor of the Pennsylvania Environmental Law and Practice, (1st ed. 1994, 2nd ed. 1998, 3rd ed. 2001, 4th ed. 2007, 5th ed., 2008), published by the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. Mr. Burcat has written and spoken on numerous environmental law topics, including regulatory takings, Superfund, stormwater, environmental crises, storage tanks, legal ethics and civility and other subjects.
Prior to joining Saul Ewing, Mr. Burcat was a Partner in the Harrisburg office of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP. Before entering private practice, he served for three years as an Assistant Attorney General and Assistant Counsel to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (now the Department of Environmental Protection). Mr. Burcat also served as Special Counsel to the Pennsylvania Senate Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy.
Honors and Awards
- Recipient, Distinguished Service Award, Environmental, Mineral and Natural Resources Law Section, Pennsylvania Bar Association, 2007
- Named one of "America's Leading Lawyers Environmental Law" by Chambers USA, 2007 to present
- Designated a "Pennsylvania Super Lawyer" by Philadelphia magazine and Law and Politics magazine, 2004 to present
- Award in Recognition of Outstanding Service to the Profession, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, 1999
- Special Achievement Award, Pennsylvania Bar Association, 1993
- Service Award, Environmental Law Section, Pennsylvania Bar Association, 1994
- Award for Best Publication, International Association of Continuing Legal Education, 1999
- Featured in Who's Who in American Law, 1994 to present
- Featured in Who's Who in America, 1997 to present
Memberships and Affiliations
- Dauphin County Bar Association
- Pennsylvania Bar Association
- American Bar Association
- Federal Bar Association
- Pennsylvania Petroleum Association
- Pennsylvania Aggregates and Concrete Association
- Environmental Law Institute
- The Federalist Society
- Past Chairman, Environmental, Mineral and Natural Resources Law Section, Pennsylvania Bar Association
- Past Member, Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee, Pennsylvania Bar Association