Practice areas
- Air
- Corporate and Commercial Transactions
- Corporate Compliance and Other Regulatory Programs
- Emergency Planning and Response
- Energy
- Litigation
- PFAS and Emerging Contaminants
- Site Development and Brownfields Redevelopment
- Drone Capabilities
- Endangered Species
- Environmental Due Diligence in Site Development and Brownfields Transactions
- Environmental Insurance
- Financial Assistance
- Historic and Archaeological Resources
- Lender Liability and Financing Issues
- Real Estate Litigation and Land Use Hearings
- Sewage Facilities
- Stormwater
- Wetlands
- Superfund and Site Remediation
- Sustainability and ESG
- Waste
- Water
Bar & Court Admissions
- Pennsylvania
- New Jersey
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
Education
Villanova University School of Law, J.D., 2012
- Member, Villanova's Moot Court Board and Villanova’s Sports and Entertainment Journal
- Environmental and Energy Law Society, President, 2010-2012
- Public Interest Fellowship Program Award, 2012
University of Maryland, B.S. (Finance), 2006
- President's Scholarship
- College Park Scholars Program
Professional & Community Activities
Environmental Hearing Board Rule Committee
- Governor-appointed Member
Pennsylvania Bar Association, Environmental and Energy Law Section
- Secretary, 2023 to present
- Treasurer, 2022-2023
- Pro Bono Committee Chair
Delaware Valley Environmental American Inn of Court
- Member
- Membership Committee Chair (2019-2021)
Lower Merion Conservancy
- Board Member and Sustainability Committee Chair
East Bradford Township Environmental Advisory Council
- Member (2016-2017)
Tom is a partner with Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, LLP. He concentrates his practice on environmental transactional matters, regulatory counseling, and environmental litigation. He is also a member of the firm’s air practice group. Tom handles a wide range of environmental matters, including brownfield redevelopment projects and transactional-related environmental due diligence. He represents entities in multi-party state and federal litigation involving cost recovery and indemnity claims, as well as contribution claims for contamination and remediation conducted under CERCLA, RCRA, and state laws.
Tom represents private equity investors, developers, manufacturers, and institutions in transactions involving current and former industrial sites in which environmental risks and liabilities were critical to the structure of the transaction and investment analysis. In connection with those representations, Tom negotiates the environmental aspects of transactional agreements, regulatory consent agreements, and prospective purchaser agreements. He has negotiated technically complex consent decrees with the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and state agencies, and has conducted extensive internal environmental audits.
Tom came to the firm from an AmLaw 100 firm in Philadelphia, where he was an attorney in the environmental and energy practice group. In that role, he represented and counseled a broad range of clients in regulatory and transactional matters and litigated cases before state and federal courts, the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board, and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Prior to that, Tom served as an assistant counsel to the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board.
In law school, Tom was a law clerk for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a legal intern for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and a judicial clerk for the Honorable Thomas J. Reuter of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He served as president of the Environmental and Energy Law Society, and upon graduation he received Villanova’s Public Interest Fellowship Program Award.
Tom holds a governor-appointed position as a member of the Environmental Hearing Board Rules Committee. He also serves as treasurer of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Environmental and Energy Law Section and chairs the Section’s Pro Bono Committee. Tom is also a member of the Delaware Valley Environmental American Inn of Court and serves on its Membership Committee. In addition, he serves on the Board of the Lower Merion Conservancy and has served as an appointed member of East Bradford Township’s Environmental Advisory Council.
Tom is married to his high school sweetheart, and they have three young children. Outside of work, Tom enjoys coaching and spending time with his family.
Tom’s representations extend from private individuals through major international corporations, relating to brownfield redevelopment, complex transactions, regulatory compliance counseling, and environmental litigation, including the following matters:
- Assisting clients in all elements of brownfield redevelopment projects including due diligence, site characterization and remediation, risk management strategies, future use approvals, institutional controls, liability protection; and attainment of governmental cleanup liability protection under the federal Superfund program and under Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and other state brownfield programs;
- Addressing environmental contamination of soils, surface water, and groundwater, including overseeing consultant work and achieving satisfaction of alternative attainment standards in the most cost-effective and timely manner;
- Complex transactions for the purchase and sale of businesses and real estate, including contract negotiation, due diligence, permit transfers, securing pre-acquisition environmental liability protections, and preparing institutional controls and environmental covenants;
- Advising clients on compliance with complex federal and state regulatory requirements;
- Defending enforcement actions by federal, state, and local agencies, including responding to orders, information requests, penalty assessments, and negotiating settlements;
- Providing immediate counseling to industrial facilities in response to emergency incidents resulting from the release of regulated constituents to the environment, including coordinating response actions and responding to governmental inquiries;
- Appealing numerous air quality, water quality, and solid waste permits in response to objectionable conditions, and defending environmental permits against third party challenges;
- Representing clients before the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board and state and federal administrative agencies and courts; and
- Superfund litigation involving successor liability, unilateral orders, remedy selection, consent decrees, allocation, and private party liability issues.
Honors & Awards
- Best Lawyers® "Ones to Watch" listing (environmental law and litigation), since 2022. The Best Lawyers list is issued by Woodward/White Inc. Click here to view the selection methodology.
Pennsylvania Super Lawyers “Rising Star” listing (environmental law, litigation, energy and natural resources), since 2018. The Super Lawyers list is issued by Thomson Reuters. Click here to view the selection methodology.
Villanova's Public Interest Fellowship Program Award (2012)
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Special Alerts
- February 22, 2023an MGKF webinar
- January 18, 2023
- January 18, 2023
- January 18, 2023
- January 18, 2023
- October 17, 2022
- April 22, 2022
- January 14, 2022
- January 14, 2022
- January 12, 2021
- January 11, 2021
- January 11, 2021
- December 22, 2020
- November 12, 2020
- August 25, 2020COVID-19 Update
- August 10, 2020
- June 8, 2020
- January 21, 2020
- January 21, 2020
- January 21, 2020
- January 14, 2019
- January 14, 2019
- January 14, 2019
- January 18, 2018
- January 18, 2018
Articles
- December 8, 2020MGKF Litigation Blog
- November 2, 2020MGKF Litigation Blog
- August 10, 2020MGKF Litigation Blog
- April 22, 2020MGKF Litigation Blog
- February 24, 2020MGKF Litigation Blog
- September 12, 2019MGKF Litigation Blog
- July 31, 2019MGKF Litigation Blog
- May 16, 2019MGKF Litigation Blog
- April 30, 2019MGKF Litigation Blog
- December 13, 2018MGKF News Flash
- November 1, 2018MGKF Litigation Blog
- September 5, 2018MGKF Litigation Blog
- June 11, 2018MGKF Litigation Blog
- May 1, 2018MGKF Litigation Blog
- February 1, 2018MGKF Litigation Blog
- November 22, 2017MGKF Litigation Blog
- August 16, 2017MGKF Litigation Blog
- June 1, 2017MGKF Litigation Blog
Duncan, T.D. (2021). Citizen Suits in Pennsylvania in PBI's Pennsylvania Environmental Law & Practice (10th ed., pp. 957-1002). United States, PBI Press
"More Obstacles Ahead for Pa Net Metering Restrictions", Law360, June 7, 2016 (co-author)
"Energy Sector Beware: Cybersecurity Now Top Security Threat", The Legal Intelligencer, October 16, 2015 (co-author)
"Driving Americans' Perception of Recreation: Awaiting the Park Service's Long-Term Solution to Address Snowmobile Access in Yellowstone National Park",19 VILL. SPORTS & ENT. L.J. 699 (2012)
Press Releases
- August 17, 2023
- November 3, 2022
- August 19, 2022
- June 2, 2022
- May 27, 2022Managing Partner Carol F. McCabe included in Top 10 Pennsylvania listing. McCabe and Brenda H. Gotanda included in additional top lists.
- August 19, 202117 Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox Attorneys Listed in 2022 Best Lawyers and Ones to Watch
- June 14, 2021
- May 4, 2021
- May 3, 2021
- January 5, 2021
- September 22, 2020
- July 27, 2020
- June 8, 2020Gotanda, McCabe, Moshang and Schiller Included in Top 50 Women Pennsylvania Listing
- April 22, 2020
- April 21, 2020
- October 3, 2019
- May 23, 2019Fox and McCabe Included on Top 100 List for Philadelphia; McCabe and Moshang Included in Top 50 Women Pennsylvania
- May 21, 2018McCabe, Moshang and Schiller Included in Top 50: 2018 Women Pennsylvania Super Lawyers; McCabe Included on Top 100 List for Philadelphia
- March 31, 2017
Seminars & Speaking Engagements
"PFAS: Impacts to Your Property & Operations", a webinar presented by MGKF, February 22, 2023
"Oil and Gas Industry Spill Reporting and Response Overview", presented at the Marcellus Shale Coalition's Oil and Gas Spill Remediation Training in Canonsburg, PA, February 16, 2023
"Coming to a Town Near You: Local Government and the Environmental Rights Amendment", presented at the Marcellus Shale Coalition's Shale InsightTM Conference, Erie, PA, September 28, 2022
"Reporting and Remediation Requirements for Spills and Releases at Natural Gas Sites", presented at the Marcellus Shale Coalition's Shale InsightTM Conference, virtual event, September 30, 2020
"The ARCO Decision: Third-Party, State Law Claims and Superfund Challenges", a webinar presented on behalf of the American Law Institute, August 6, 2020
"Drones: Legal Considerations, Uses and Defenses” presented at the Association of Corporate Counsel’s In-House Counsel Conference, virtual event, July 20, 2020
"An In-House Counsel's Guide to Spotting and Avoiding Environmental Issues," presented at the Health, Biotech and Pharma Practice Institute of the Association of Corporate Counsel, King of Prussia, PA, June 18, 2019
"Stormwater and the Environmental Rights Amendment," presented at a reception held by the Pennsylvania Bar Association, West Reading, PA, March 5, 2019
"Drinking Water, Infrastructure, and Environmental Justice," presented at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute's 23rd Annual Environmental Law Forum, April 2018
"The Pennsylvania Environmental Rights Amendment: Are You Ready for a New ERA?" presented by MGKF, Bala Cynwyd, PA, February 2018
"PA Surface Water and Groundwater Rights," presented at the Pennsylvania Water Laws and Regulations Conference, 2016
"Single Source Determination," presented at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute's 18th Annual Environmental Law Forum, 2013
Media Coverage
- January 27, 2020Law360
- September 24, 2019Law360
- May 23, 2019MontCo.Today