Attorney Profiles

Experience:
Steven Hann is a partner in the Litigation and Business Departments at Hamburg, Rubin, Mullin, Maxwell & Lupin. Steve’s practice is focused in the area of environmental law, where he represents diverse clients on matters affected by the complex web of federal and state environmental laws and regulations. Steve’s practice is unique in that he personally deals with all facets of an environmental practice. He handles litigation matters, permitting and regulatory compliance issues and assists clients in addressing environmental issues in business and real estate transactions. Steve also provides clients with experienced counseling on environmental legislative and regulatory developments at the federal and state levels, and often negotiates with government agencies on behalf of clients on a wide range of environmental issues.

Prior to joining Hamburg, Rubin, Mullin, Maxwell & Lupin, Steve worked for over four years at a large Philadelphia law firm. He was also a law clerk for the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Prior to law school, Steve was employed as an environmental consultant, first as a Meteorologist dealing with air quality/air pollution issues, and then as a member of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Field Investigation Team under the federal Superfund program, where he was actively involved in the investigation of hazardous waste sites. Steve was also selected by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to travel throughout the country teaching at an Agency sponsored hazardous-waste site-inspection training course. Steve’s consulting background allows him to comprehend the intricate technical issues unique to the environmental field and deal effectively with government regulators and environmental professionals.

Areas of Concentration:
Environmental Litigation
Steve has extensive environmental litigation experience in matters involving air, water and hazardous wastes in the federal, state and administrative courts. These matters include the defense of government enforcement actions, appeals of agency determinations, including permit appeals, and private cost-recovery actions. Steve represented the prevailing party in a landmark decision before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in which the Court held for the first time that a private cause of action existed under the Pennsylvania Storage Tank and Spill Prevention Act. In another matter, Steve used innovative arguments to obtain a very significant penalty reduction for a client in an administration action under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Both of these cases were reported in national environmental publications.

Regulatory Compliance
Compliance with the complex federal and state environmental regulatory scheme is necessary to avoid costly penalties and remain competitive in today’s business environment. Steve provides advice on a wide array of regulatory compliance issues under federal and state law, including issues related to air and water quality, solid and hazardous wastes, environmental permitting, storage tanks and wetlands.

Transactional Matters
Steve counsels clients on environmental matters in real estate and business transactions to ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to identify potential environmental issues early in the transactional process so that a well-informed decision is made regarding the transaction. He also prepares and negotiates diverse environmental provisions in transactional documents. Steve is also experienced in assisting clients on evaluating environmentally impaired properties and addressing environmental due diligence, land use and landlord/tenant issues.

Municipal Environmental Issues
Steve is experienced in environmental matters affecting municipalities and municipal authorities, particularly in the areas of air and water quality, land use and pre-treatment. He represents such entities in environmental litigation matters and regularly advises these entities on the myriad of environmental regulations unique to them. Steve has drafted ordinances for use by municipal entities and routinely advises such entities on emerging environmental and land use legislative and regulatory developments.

Professional and Civic Activities:
Steve has extensive public speaking and writing experience in the area of environmental law. He is on the faculty at Penn State Great Valley where he is a lecturer in Information Science and Civil Engineering. He developed and teaches graduate courses in Environmental Law, Environmental Compliance, Brownfields, Information Technology Law and Cyberlaw. He also taught Environmental Law at Drexel University. Steve has also been a guest lecturer in Environmental Law at the Temple University School of Law, and is a frequent speaker at seminars dealing with topical environmental issues. He has also prepared and presented numerous continuing-legal-education courses for the Montgomery Bar Association. Steve’s teaching proficiency was recognized when he was awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award from Penn State Great Valley. Steve also has published articles on topical subjects such as the Clean Air Act, wetlands, lender liability and the criminal enforcement of environmental laws.

Steve is a member of various professional societies, including the Environmental Law Institute, the American Meteorological Society and the American Chemical Society. He is also on the Board of Directors of the Mid Atlantic States Section of the Air and Waste Management Association.

Steve is the immediate past-Chairperson of the Montgomery Bar Association’s Environmental Law Committee. He also played an active role in several subcommittees of the Philadelphia Bar Association's Environmental Law Committee, including one that provided input to the Pennsylvania General Assembly on the Commonwealth’s Air Pollution Control Act.

EDUCATION

Steve is a graduate of the Temple University School of Law where he was Articles Editor of the Temple Environmental Law and Technology Journal. He also has a B.S. degree in Meteorology from Penn State University where he worked as a Weather Forecaster, providing on-air forecasts for numerous radio stations. Steve has also taken graduate courses in the environmental field at Rutgers University, and undergraduate courses in the Geosciences through Mississippi State University.