Cordon T. Baesel

Cordon’s practice focuses on environmental compliance, real estate transactions, retailer operations/risk management, and consumer product issues. Cordon regularly advises companies on a wide range of environmental issues including compliance, disclosures and management of environmental contamination and remediation, including representation of Fortune 500 companies and joint defense groups. He works with his clients to develop operational protocols for environmentally impacted sites, strategic data collection approaches to evaluate environmental claims, and legal analysis to support client transactions, public disclosures and consumer product warnings required under state and federal laws. He also has significant experience with analysis, evaluation and management of environmental risks in business transactions and product-sourcing, including development and/or disposition of impacted properties. He also identifies strategies for compliance with sustainability metrics, energy use, and environmental impacts from commercial operations. For consumer products, Cordon advises companies on compliance with California’s regulatory schemes, including Proposition 65 and California’s Safer Consumer Product Program (aka “Green Chemistry”).

For real estate matters, Cordon focuses on environmental challenges, appropriate documentation and regulatory compliance for commercial and residential development, leasing and purchases/sale transactions. He also provides ongoing operational advice for large, national businesses and retailers. He has a long history of expertise advising clients on renovation, rehabilitation and retrofit of older commercial and residential buildings to ensure compliance with current environmental laws and regulations. Many of his real estate clients have relied on his advice for 10-20 years. He also advises clients on marketing, leasing and selling parcels for renewable energy projects.

Cordon has exceptional analytical and research skills related to federal, state and local statutes, regulations, common law, guidance documents, private metrics and other sources of pertinent compliance information. He works closely with his well-established professional contacts at a wide range of sophisticated, environmental consulting firms to ensure clients receive legal advice based on sound and strategic technical insight and analysis.

• Represented numerous confidential residential and commercial clients in evaluating all manner of environmental and operational issues, creating strategic project documentation and transactional support to achieve client objectives.
• Advised confidential residential and commercial clients on renovation projects, successful defense of enforcement investigation/actions by regulatory agencies, and management/allocation of environmental risks.
• Advised confidential sellers/lessors of contaminated real property with respect to environmental disclosures, risk allocation, and successful transactional approaches to close deals.
• Represented diverse manufacturers to develop data-collection protocols, evaluation strategies for product composition, and defensible compliance approaches.
• Defended developers and manufacturers in environmental litigation, agency enforcement actions, and Superfund investigations/cleanups at third-party properties.