Brian Montag is a partner in the firm’s Newark office and practice group coordinator for the firm's global environment, land and natural resources practice group. He represents clients in regulatory, enforcement, and litigation matters in various industries and manufacturing sectors, including construction, quarry, asphalt, cement, telecommunications, glass, paper, and chemical operations. Brian has served as outside counsel to leading State and Federal trade and business associations. He also has extensive experience representing clients in administrative, State and Federal court proceedings, as well as before the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Transportation, and State transportation and environmental agencies regionally and nationally. Brian has served in leadership roles and as lead counsel in landmark environmental regulatory and litigation matters, including settlements involving environmental justice, Superfund, air, water, and solid and hazardous waste matters, as well as products liability and toxic tort litigation.
Brian is named in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers to Business and has been listed in Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Administrative/Regulatory and Environmental Law since 2005.
Brian has served as lead regulatory and litigation counsel for numerous mid-size and Fortune 500 clients throughout his career. He served as lead counsel in a complex federal environmental litigation in which the United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, ruled in favor of his client on precedent setting environmental justice issues. Brian also served as lead counsel for a group of 65 companies in a nationally recognized solid waste litigation in which he successfully negotiated a global resolution with the government. Brian has taken leadership roles in representing clients at several of the top ten Superfund sites listed on the National Priorities List. He has also provided expert advice and counseling to companies in matters involving new facility construction and modifications, where he has managed complex permitting and compliance issues in all phases of these projects. Brian has also advised companies in developing community advisory panels and outreach projects to gain local support for manufacturing operations and related environmental permitting; he has developed a national network of liaison groups and organizations to assist in communications, as well as environmental and economic development support for these projects.
- American Bar Association, Litigation Section, Environmental Committee
- American College of Environmental Lawyers (ACOEL)
- New Jersey State Bar Association, Trustee (2004-present)
- New Jersey State Bar Association, Past Chair, Environmental Law Section
- Morris County Bar Association, Past President (2003)
- Morris County Bar Foundation, Past President (2002)
- New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Civil Practice (1993-1996)
- Chemistry Council of New Jersey
- Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey
- Environmental Law Institute
- National Stone Sand and Gravel Association
- New Jersey Business and Industry Association
- New Jersey Asphalt Pavement Association
- New Jersey Concrete and Aggregate Association
Brian has lectured extensively on litigation topics, regulatory issues, and environmental law. Among other organizations, he has presented to the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association on litigation and enforcement topics; National Association of Manufacturers on Environmental Justice; Environmental Law Institute on Environmental Justice; Government Institute’s seminars on Environmental Liabilities, Defense and Litigation, and Advanced Environmental Permitting; National Conference of the American Public Transit Association on Clean Air Act Requirements and Employer Trip Reduction Program; New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education on Environmental Litigation Defense Issues; Co-Chair and Speaker at New Jersey Asphalt Pavement Association seminars/conferences; NJ State Bar Association Annual Environmental Forum; and NJ Corporate Counsel Association involving presentations on litigation, regulatory compliance, and environmental enforcement topics.
Brian has also published and contributed articles to New Jersey Lawyer and Corporate Counsel on Litigation and Environmental Justice, New Jersey Environmental Law Letter, published by M. Lee Smith Publishers; published article on Clean Air Act and Employer Trip Reduction Program in the Environmental Compliance & Litigation Strategy Reporter; published article titled "Gearing Up for the Employer Trip Reduction Program" concerning the Clean Air Act's Employer Trip Reduction Program and liability issues in the New Jersey Lawyer, No. 160, April 1994.
- "Environmental Justice at a Crossroads," New Jersey Law Journal, 25 February 2002
- "Environmental Justice: Meeting the Challenge," The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, February 2002
- Mentioned, “Chemistry Council of N.J. appoints 2 to board of trustees,” Roi-NJ.com, 27 December 2022
