J. Michael Sowinski Jr.

Mr. Sowinski joined Opper & Varco in 2007 after a career in environmental consulting.  Mr. Sowinski’s consulting practice advised government agencies, including the United States EPA and other federal agencies, state and local environmental and redevelopment agencies, and private clients on a wide variety of environmental cleanup and environmental compliance matters.  His efforts ranged from high-level policy advising on complex cleanup and redevelopment issues to hands-on site assessment, cleanup design, and environmental compliance inspection efforts.  

Mr. Sowinski’s practice concentrates in the areas of brownfield redevelopment, cleanup and cost recovery, the closely related niche area of institutional controls, and environmental compliance.  Mr. Sowinski frequently speaks to professional and government organizations and he has published many articles on these topics.  Mr. Sowinski has earned a reputation as a national expert on the niche issue of post-cleanup “institutional controls.”

Mr. Sowinski received a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Engineering from the University of Maryland. In 1998, he earned a Juris Doctorate from Vermont Law School’s top ranked environmental law program, where his international moot court brief won top awards.  During this time Mr. Sowinski clerked within the United States Department of Justice Environment & Natural Resources Division Environmental Enforcement Internship Program in Washington, DC.  Prior to coming to California in 1999, Mr. Sowinski was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1998 where he represented neighborhood associations on landfill siting matters.  After pursuing his environmental policy and consulting career in California, Mr. Sowinski was admitted to the California Bar in 2006

Mr. Sowinski co-chairs the ASTM Task Group on CERCLA’s post-purchase continuing obligations.   He participates on the California Redevelopment Association’s Brownfield Committee.  And he is a member of the National Brownfields Association’s California Chapter, the American Bar Association’s Environment and Natural Resources Section, the San Diego County Bar Association’s Environmental Section, and California Bar Association’s Environmental Section, and the Surfrider Foundation. 

Mr. Sowinski enjoys surfing North County's many breaks, mountain biking in the County's backcountry, running the trails near his home in Encinitas and Carlsbad, and hiking in Elfin Forest with his wife and young children.