Russell Selman
PARTNER
Russell Selman is a Partner at León Cosgrove Jiménez, LLP. A former senior enforcement attorney at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mr. Selman has been a Chambers-ranked environmental litigator for 21 years. He represents corporations, utilities, power generators and real estate owners in some of the most complex and high-value environmental disputes in the country.
At EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C., Mr. Selman served as acting assistant enforcement counsel and as lead national counsel in major PCB and pesticide prosecutions. As special assistant to the agency’s General Counsel, he also helped shape enforcement policy under the Superfund statute and its reauthorization.
Drawing on more than four decades of experience, Mr. Selman handles Superfund, sediment, groundwater, toxic tort, cost recovery and insurance recovery matters. His approach pairs deep technical command with a direct, practical style. He builds each case methodically, identifies other responsible parties to share remediation costs, and often positions clients for favorable early resolutions.
His representative work includes serving as lead counsel for National Grid at the Newtown Creek and Gowanus Superfund sites in New York. He has been lead counsel at more than 300 former manufactured gas plant and coking sites nationwide. He also represents the Town of Oyster Bay in groundwater contamination claims against Grumman and the U.S. Navy, and he led a $200 million private-party remediation of an Illinois public park. He has also served as an arbitrator in Superfund cost recovery disputes.
Mr. Selman is admitted in Illinois, the District of Columbia and Missouri. He earned his J.D. from Washington University School of Law, his M.P.A. from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, and his B.A. from New College of Florida.
