Joseph M. Manko

Biography:

Joseph M. Manko has more than 35 years of experience advising clients on environmental issues relating to real estate development, regulatory permitting and compliance, and transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, environmental reporting, and alternative dispute resolution matters such as the following:

• negotiating and drafting the environmental provisions included in transactional documents involving the sale, purchase, leasing, and financing of real estate;
• counseling with respect to the development and redevelopment of brownfield properties, including attainment of governmental cleanup liability protection under Pennsylvania and New Jersey brownfield programs and the federal Superfund program;
• negotiating documents to effect the settlement of violations of permits or government laws alleged by the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Departments of Environmental Protection ("DEPs") and by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA");
• obtaining regulatory approvals for real estate developments from the Pennsylvania and New Jersey DEPs, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other federal and state regulatory agencies and municipalities;
• representing clients before the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board and state and federal administrative agencies and courts;
• serving as a mediator or arbitrator in numerous environmental cases, including the allocation of costs to be incurred by responsible parties in several Superfund disputes involving tens of millions of dollars; and
• advising clients and formulating policy on emerging issues related to the emission of greenhouse gases and other aspects of climate change.

 

Manko is one of the firm's three founding partners and has been listed in The Best Lawyers® in America since 1991 (environmental law, arbitration and mediation) and Pennsylvania Super Lawyers since 2004 (environmental law, energy and natural resources, and alternative dispute resolution). He was listed as a Top 100 Philadelphia Super Lawyer (2005; 2007; 2012) as well as a Top 100 Pennsylvania Super Lawyer (2004; 2006-2007). Since the inception of Chambers USA - America's Leading Lawyers for Business in 2003, he has been listed in Tier I in enviromental law. Joe is also AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated through Martindale-Hubbell®.

He served as an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School from 1988-2006, teaching courses on environmental law, practice and policy, and taught a summer course on Superfund at the Vermont Law School from 1989 until 2005. Prior to founding the firm in 1989, he served as the chair of the Environmental Department at Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen, after serving as the regional counsel to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Middle Atlantic Region. He also serves as a distinguished neutral on environmental law for the Center for Public Resources' Institute for Dispute Resolution, ADR Options, Inc., and the Dispute Resolution Institute. Manko served as an elected commissioner on the Lower Merion Board of Commissioners for 27 years, including two terms as its vice president and president.

Joseph Manko is a director emeritus of the Lower Merion Conservancy and 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, and served as a member of the Lower Merion Township Board of Commissioners from 1980 until 2006. In addition, he is the past chair of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, former vice chair of the State Water Law Committee of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and past chair of the Environmental Law Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association. He serves as a master emeritus of the Delaware Valley Environmental Inn of Court, served two terms as a member of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, and serves as a member of the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board Rules committee. He also co-chairs the Project Leadership Committee of the Audubon Pennsylvania and Outward Bound Philadelphia project to preserve the East Park Reservoir.

Appointed by Governor Tom Ridge in July 1997, Manko served on Pennsylvania's 21st Century Environment Commission, co-chairing its Land Use Priority Team, and served as the Governor's designee to chair the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) from 2003-2012. He was appointed by the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners to serve on the County's Task Force on the Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Manko was a member of the board of the Fairmount Park Commission and serves on the board of the Fairmount Park Conservancy. He currently co-chairs the Mayor's Sustainability Advisory Board and serves as an Advisory Committee member for the Liberty Housing Development Corp.

Manko lectures extensively, having served as an adjunct law professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Vermont for many years. He writes articles on environment and land use law and has received numerous environmental awards, including the Conservation Professional of the Year in 2000 from the Pennsylvania Wildlife Federation, the Montgomery County Democrat of the Year in 2000, the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Environmental, Mineral and Natural Resources Law Section's annual award in 2001, the Lower Merion Conservancy's annual award in 2002, and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council's Winsor Award in 2007. In 2010, he received a Regional Excellence Award as the "Regional Leader of the Year" by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. Most recently, he was honored by the Fairmount Park Conservancy at their Fifth Annual Centennial Celebration for his decades long Civic Leadership in the Philadelphia area.

Education:

• Harvard University Law School, J.D., cum laude, 1964
• Yale University, B.A. (history honors), magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 1961

Memberships:

• Bar admissions in Pennsylvania, Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• American Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources
• Pennsylvania Bar Association, Environmental, Mineral, and Natural Resources Law Section
• Philadelphia Bar Association, Environmental Law Committee (Real Property Section)