Marc Rollo is Chair of Archer’s Environmental Law Department and the Petroleum Industry Practices Group. He concentrates his practice on environmental litigation, with a special emphasis on complex matters involving contamination from downstream petroleum operations. He has significant experience in complex, multiparty litigation involving allegations of personal injury, property damage, cleanup reimbursement and state fund claims, and natural resource damages. Marc frequently works with technical experts on the investigation and remediation of contaminated properties, including groundwater, soil, and ecological issues, with oversight by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (“NJDEP”). He also has significant experience negotiating settlement agreements with the NJDEP as well as negotiating access agreements among neighboring landowners to advance the cleanup and remediation process. Marc regularly handles claims seeking contribution of cleanup costs, including the preparation of nexus packages, attending claims meetings, and instituting litigation, if necessary. In these efforts, Marc leads a team of professionals — including the firm’s consulting hydrogeologist — to develop the best and most efficient approach to each case.
Marc serves as lead counsel on multiple environmental regulatory matters for petrochemical companies, involving state-agency cost-recovery claims, surface water claims, and natural resource damage claims. Marc has overseen the development of information systems and law firm clerical and paraprofessional staffs to efficiently manage complex environmental matters. His oversight of Archer associate and litigation staff has permitted the firm to provide, at the request of clients, national assistance to various firms throughout the country dealing with environmental contamination and underground storage tank/MTBE issues.
Representative Experience
- Co-lead counsel in a complex natural resource damages matter involving two historic refinery properties being remediated. Involves complex technical issues, including natural resource damage assessments and habitat equivalency analysis in diverse ecological areas, and involves several legal issues of first impression.
- Lead counsel for a major petrochemical company in defense of a highly-complex third-party contribution claim for cleanup cost recovery and NRDA related to pollution of the Passaic River in New Jersey.
- Advised client’s in-house counsel, public affairs staff and remediation personnel during emergency response to catastrophic spill of gasoline in residential and commercial area.
- Counsel for a petrochemical company in federal multi-district litigation involving claims brought by water suppliers and state agencies related to MTBE contamination of groundwater.
- Lead counsel in defending claims under the New Jersey Spill Act brought by governmental agencies seeking reimbursement of cleanup costs as a result of contractual petrochemical operations.
- Lead counsel in defending property damage and personal injury claims of residential developments alleged to have resulted from groundwater contamination.
- Lead counsel, together with corporate litigation counsel, in defending putative class actions in Pennsylvania, New York, South Carolina, Alabama, and California.
- Negotiating and drafting the environmental provisions in transactional documents involving the sale and transfer of contaminated properties and associated environmental liabilities.
Professional and Community Involvement
- New Jersey State Bar Association
- Camden County (NJ) Bar Association
- Haddonfield Youth Sports
- Tri-County Swimming Representative
- St. Rose of Lima Parish
Select Articles
- “NJ’s Natural Resource Damage Order May Be Helpful For Cos.,” Law360 (April 2023)
- “NJDEP Issues Administrative Order Revamping NRD Settlement Policies and Practices in New Jersey,” Archer Client Advisory (March 2023)
- “Recyclability, liability for plastics producers: Cases to watch in 2022,” Plastics News (April 2022)
In the News
- “Ex-Judge Calls for Early Mediation Program as Water-Pollution Suits Proliferate,” NJ Law Journal (5/12/22)