William (Bill) Tarantino is a partner in Morrison & Foerster's San Francisco office. Drawing on his expertise in environmental health, Mr. Tarantino's practice focuses on environmental and consumer protection law, with an emphasis on hazardous substances, toxic torts, and consumer product safety. Mr. Tarantino has argued motions in state and federal courts for a variety of complex litigation matters, including product liability and mass tort claims, California's Unfair Competition Law actions, and environmental contamination disputes. He has successfully led clients through private mediations and arbitrations, and has significant experience in California state and federal appellate courts.
Mr. Tarantino also has broad experience in consumer class action and false advertising litigation, particularly with respect to claims of health or environmental benefits. In 2009, he was selected to serve as Vice Chair of the Committee on Private Advertising Litigation of the American Bar Association's Antitrust section, and he is an active contributor to MoFo’s Private Surgeon General Class Action Defender blog.
Mr. Tarantino is recommended by Legal 500 U.S. (2012) and described as "an experienced counsel who is an excellent leader and has great knowledge of the law" in the area of product liability (pharmaceuticals and medical devices). San FranciscoMagazine also recognized Mr. Tarantino on its 2011 Super Lawyers-Rising Stars list for his work in environmental and consumer litigation.
In addition to his litigation practice, Mr. Tarantino also provides environmental counseling and support for clients' corporate, project finance, and real estate transactions, including coordinating environmental due diligence, retaining and supervising technical experts, advising clients on deal-related liability, disclosure and risk allocation issues, and developing post-closing strategies to manage potential risks and promote environmental compliance.
Prior to joining Morrison & Foerster, Mr. Tarantino clerked at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX Office of Regional Counsel, where he assisted in the prosecution and resolution of cases brought by the U.S. Department of Justice for violation of hazardous waste laws including 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.