William (Bill) Tarantino is an associate in the firm’s San Francisco office, where he is a member of the Land Use and Environmental Law Practice Group. Drawing on his expertise in environmental health, Mr. Tarantino’s practice includes environmental law and regulation with an emphasis on toxics and hazardous materials, waste management, water quality, toxic torts, and environmental remediation. He also has experience defending municipalities and corporate clients in litigation brought under the California Environmental Quality Act, particularly in the solid waste and housing development areas. Mr. Tarantino has argued motions in state and federal courts in a variety of environmental, health and safety claims, including Proposition 65 and Business & Professions Code section 17200 enforcement actions, product liability claims, and insurance coverage disputes. In addition to managing and conducting discovery in these actions, Mr. Tarantino has successfully led clients through private mediations and arbitrations.

Mr. Tarantino also provides environmental counseling and support for corporate and real estate transactions, including coordinating environmental due diligence assessments, retaining and supervising technical experts, advising clients on deal-related liability and risk allocation issues, drafting and negotiating contract language and pursuing post-closing resolution of issues identified in the course of due diligence.

Prior to joining Morrison & Foerster, Mr. Tarantino clerked at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX Office of Regional Counsel, where he gained experience in brownfields redevelopment and investigating and prosecuting claims under CERCLA (Superfund) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

Mr. Tarantino received his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center with honors, and completed the Law and Public Health program sponsored by Georgetown University and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Through this program, he earned a Masters in Public Health as well as specialty certification in environmental health risk assessment from the Johns Hopkins Risk Sciences and Public Policy Institute. At Georgetown, he was an executive editor of the Georgetown International Environmental Law Journal, in which he published three book reviews, including one review of a Spanish language environmental text, and received the CALI Award for Excellence in International Environmental Law. In 2000, he studied law at the Univerisdad de Mendoza, in Mendoza, Argentina, as an international law fellow. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley.