Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani welcomes Christopher D. Strunk as a partner in the firm’s Oakland office. Strunk joins the firm’s Environmental/Toxic Tort, Cannabis, Commercial Litigation and Entertainment practice groups.
Strunk has more than 20 years of experience litigating complex environmental and toxic tort disputes. He focuses on the defense of large, multi-party environmental matters, including mass tort and products liability litigation involving alleged toxic injury arising from asbestos, lead, mold, solvents, and other contaminants. He has represented microchip and technology companies, chemical and petrochemical companies, heavy equipment manufacturers, and the pesticide and fertilizer industry. He also has significant experience litigating large and small environmental cleanup actions under CERCLA, RCRA, and state law.
Since 2015, Strunk has maintained a significant industrial hemp and cannabis practice, defending ancillary and plant-touching businesses in environmental disputes and litigation and counseling them on litigation avoidance, warnings, and risk management. Strunk is nationally recognized for his work within the cannabis industry, including assessing litigation risks, state regulations, and agency enforcement.
He is the vice chair of programming for the American Bar Association’s TIPS Cannabis Law Committee, and serves on the Defense Research Institute’s 2019 Cannabis Law Conference Committee. His nationally-published work has been featured in the Defense Research Institute’s The Voice and in the American Bar Association Environmental Law Section's The Year in Review 2018. In 2018, DataBird Research Journal named him one of “250 Cannabis Law Experts.” In addition, he is a member of the National Cannabis Bar Association and the San Francisco Bar Association’s Cannabis Law Section.
“We are thrilled to have Chris re-join us," said Michael Pietrykowski Chair of the national Environmental and Toxic Tort practice group. "He is a skilled environmental and toxic tort litigator and is eager to jump into the battles. His ability to aggressively prepare cases for trial strengthens our California team.”
Strunk is admitted in California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, U.S. District Courts, Northern & Central Districts of California, and U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois.
He has been recognized as The Legal 500 for Environmental Litigation in 2019 and has earned a Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent peer review rating in toxic torts, litigation and products liability each year from 2011 to the present.
He earned his law degree from Villanova University School of Law, and his undergraduate degree from Boston College.