John represents public and private clients across a wide range of industries in litigation, permitting and compliance counseling. He focuses on environmental law, complex litigation, water rights and quality, land use and real estate. John brings industry experience to his clients, having previously served as in-house counsel for Monsanto Company and Ash Grove Cement Company.
John’s legal practice includes:
Complex environmental litigation (Superfund, water rights)
Large-scale mining and real estate permitting and litigation
Natural resource permitting and regulatory compliance
Real estate litigation
Surface Transportation Board and Federal Railroad Administration regulatory and compliance work on behalf of railroad and industrial clients
California Environmental Quality Act compliance and litigation
Clean Water Act and Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act litigation and compliance
Regulatory and general counsel for agribusiness, biotech, water agency and construction industry clients
Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (“PFAs”)
Sustainability and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Practice
Toxic tort and environmental litigation
Ameripride Svc. Inc. v. Valley Industrial et al. 2:00-cv-00113, Eastern District of California, 2006 (favorable Superfund settlement for client Huhtamaki Foodservices, Inc.)
United States v. Ash Grove Cement, Case No. 2:13-cv-02299 (Clean Air Act Consent Decree requiring extensive cement plant upgrades and pollution control technology)
Tar Creek Superfund site and related toxic tort cases (Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma federal and state courts)
Lower Duwamish Superfund site (Seattle, WA)
United States v. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (negotiated $4.7 billion Clean Water Act Consent Decree for sewer overflows)
JD, University of California Los Angeles School of Law, 2001
BA, Claremont McKenna College, 1998
Moderator. “Bridging Borders: Legal, Scientific & Environmental Collaboration on the Tijuana River,” presented by the Environmental Law and Law & Medicine Sections of the San Diego County Bar Association and Procopio, San Diego, CA, September 18, 2025.
Moderator. “Our Coast, Our Future: A Conversation on Offshore Drilling,” Procopio and the San Diego County Bar Association Environmental Law Section, San Diego, CA, August 26, 2026.
