Team
Biography
Erin K. Poppler is a trial attorney specializing in environmental litigation. She counsels and advocates for individual, corporate, industrial, and municipal clients involved in litigation, enforcement actions, regulatory proceedings, compliance and permitting issues, and transactional disputes.
By taking the time to understand each client’s needs, set of circumstances, and business, Erin develops customized and innovative approaches to every matter she handles. Her environmental law expertise, including matters arising under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”), California Hazardous Substance Account Act (HSAA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Proposition 65, is complemented by her experience in toxic tort, business, and product liability law. She serves the National Association of Women Lawyers as Co-Chair of its Environmental & Energy Law Affinity Group, is a member of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel, and is recognized as a Super Lawyer for Environmental Litigation.
Erin’s litigation practice is further strengthened by her courtroom experience, where as lead counsel she advocates for clients from an array of industries who are faced with complex, multi-party suits; and includes successfully litigating to verdict a complicated environmental case involving issues of first impression. Her work for federal and state court judges at the trial and appellate levels deepened her understanding of the judicial decision-making process and enhanced her ability to craft persuasive written and oral advocacy.
Erin is frequently invited to share her insights on cutting-edge legal topics through published articles, speaking engagements, and professional conferences. Subjects she covered recently include: a legal issue of first impression regarding settlement credits under CERCLA, how practitioners can utilize technology tools like predictive analytics to manage data-driven cases; the litigation ramifications of climate change and California’s devastating wildfires; and emerging legal issues related to the Internet of Things and professional ethics in complex environmental matters.
Erin graduated with honors from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in rhetoric and political science. She received her J.D. from UC Hastings College of the Law, where she was an editor of the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly and recognized for her pro bono legal work.
Erin’s continued commitment to providing pro bono legal services includes protecting fundamental rights like voting and access to the legal system. She is actively involved in the Alameda County Bar Association’s Lawyers in the Library Program and the Election Protection Program.
Practice Areas
- Business Litigation
- Environmental Law
- Product Liability
- Toxic Tort
- Trucking and Transportation
Bar Admissions
- California
- U.S. District Court Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court Central District of California
- U.S. District Court Southern District of California
- U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
Education
- University of California, Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco, California
- J.D.
- University of California, Berkeley, California
- B.A., Bachelor of Arts
Past Employment
- Judge Carlos Bea of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Judicial Extern
- Justice Thomas Hollenhorst of the California Court of Appeal, Judicial Extern