Christian C. Harned

Christian counsels clients on new developments, expansions and enlargements, acquisitions and sales, including on the development potential of sites, zoning and land use, environmental review and risk assessments, compliance with environmental statutes, regulations and permits, and regulatory review, enforcement proceedings and litigation. He has extensive knowledge of remediation requirements under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), New York Navigation Law, and Brownfield Cleanup Program, as well as the regulation of pollution and waste under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. His practice focuses on environmental impact assessments under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), and City Environmental Quality Review procedure (CEQR). 

Christian brings extensive legal, regulatory and policy knowledge and insight from his roles in government, public interest, research and advocacy. He joins the firm after serving as senior counsel, and previously as assistant corporation counsel, for the New York City Law Department, Environmental Law Division, where he advised city agencies on high-profile environmental and land-use initiatives. He represented the city in litigation involving the congestion pricing program, local building electrification mandates, rezonings, facility sitings and CERCLA issues, as well as unlawful federal appliance efficiency standards, encroachments on city property and local enforcement actions. He previously served as an agency attorney for the Law Enforcement Bureau of the New York City Commission on Human Rights and as a staff attorney for Brooklyn Legal Services.