Phil Cha

Partner

  • Phil Cha
  • Phone: +1 856 874 4253

    Import to Address Book

  • Duane Morris LLP
    40 Lake Center Drive
    401 Route 73 North, Suite 200
    Marlton, NJ 08053
    USA

Phil Cha is a Chambers-ranked litigator and legal advisor to publicly-traded and privately-held companies, organizations and high-net-worth individuals. He is a member of Duane Morris’ governing Partners Board and serves as a Team Lead for the firm’s Energy Industry Group.

Mr. Cha litigates complex and high-exposure disputes in state and federal courts throughout the United States. His cases have involved environmental contamination, commercial and contract disputes, eminent domain, fraud, defective products and mass/toxic torts. Many of his cases have been high-profile class actions, multidistrict litigation or government actions involving amounts in controversy in the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars.

In his role as trusted advisor, Mr. Cha routinely advises CEOs, CLOs, senior executives, and high-net-worth individuals on their most important and sensitive legal matters. He brings a wealth of experience and insight to every client engagement and commits himself to understanding the intricacies of his clients’ business, culture and industry.

Mr. Cha has a wide-ranging client base in oil & gas, renewable and sustainable energy, manufacturing, industrial, transportation, wholesale, retail and health/death care.

Throughout his career, Mr. Cha has received numerous accolades from clients, peers and legal organizations for his legal abilities, professionalism and civic engagements. A chief legal officer of a publicly-traded company described Mr. Cha as "hyper-responsive, very smart, and exceptionally efficient." A chief legal officer of an international petroleum company who hired him for a government investigation said, "Mr. Cha did a masterful job." A general counsel of another publicly-traded company described Mr. Cha as "very responsive, dependable, and effective. Always a great problem solver.”

Among many honors, Mr. Cha is listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Mr. Cha was named an "MCCA Rainmaker" by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, a distinction limited to attorneys with at least a $5 million annual book of business and extraordinary commitment and service to the community. He was also recognized as a “Rainmaker” and “Minority Power Broker” by Law360, a “Trailblazer” by the New Jersey Law Journal and the Korean American Lawyers Association of Greater New York, and “Best of the Bar” and a “Minority Business Leader” by the Philadelphia Business Journal. The New Jersey State Bar Association’s Commission on Professionalism named Mr. Cha "Professional Lawyer of the Year" for consistently demonstrating high character, legal competence and exemplary professional behavior. Mr. Cha has an AV® Preeminent™ Peer Rating and a Client Champion Gold Rating on Martindale-Hubbell.

Mr. Cha also has an active pro bono practice and supports various not-for-profit organizations. Mr. Cha has partnered with organizations such as the Law School Admission Council, the American Red Cross, the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, HIAS Pennsylvania and other pro bono clinics and charitable organizations.

Mr. Cha is a 1999 graduate of Rutgers Law School and a 1995 graduate of Rutgers University.

Areas of Practice

  • General Litigation

  • Environmental Litigation

  • Mass Torts and Products Liability

Representative Matters

  • Representing a telecommunications company in defense of a lawsuit in California seeking remediation and recovery of costs and damages allegedly caused by historic contamination.

  • Represented a chemical company in a lawsuit to recover past costs and economic damages allegedly caused by contamination in the Passaic River.

  • Advising a chemical manufacturer subsidiary of a global, publicly traded petroleum company on matters relating to the implementation of the remedial design for more than 8 miles of a river in New Jersey.

  • Representing a chemical manufacturer subsidiary of a global, publicly traded petroleum company in legacy environmental liability issues at sites in New Jersey, including negotiations for a two-site remedy at adjoining sites subject to separate federal and state clean-up orders.

  • Represented a clothing manufacturer in pursuit of cleanup costs against an oil company in connection with contaminated sites in Sacramento, CA.

  • Representing Occidental Chemical Corporation in defense of a lawsuit concerning historic contamination at a gasoline service station in Clifton, New Jersey, where the current owner seeks past and future remediation costs.

  • Representing Sunoco, Inc. in a suit brought by the current landlord of a former gasoline station in New York City seeking remediation of contamination and damages.

  • Representing a chemical manufacturer subsidiary of a global, publicly traded petroleum company in preparing and negotiating access, remediation, indemnity, release, and reimbursement agreements regarding dozens of contaminated sites in New Jersey

Admissions

  • New Jersey
  • Pennsylvania

Education

  • Rutgers Law School, J.D., 1999
  • Rutgers University, School of Environmental & Biological Sciences, B.S., 1995

Board Memberships

  • Board member, Law360 New Jersey Editorial Advisory Board
  • Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania

Honors and Awards

  • Listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, 2021-2024

  • Named a “Trailblazer” by KALAGNY, 2023

  • APALA-NJ Access To Justice Award, 2022
  • Listed in Lawyers of Color's "Law Firm Leaders," 2022
  • Named to the Philadelphia Business Journal's "Best of the Bar" for Business Litigation, 2021
  • Named a "2020 MCCA Rainmaker" by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association
  • Named a “Trailblazer” by the New Jersey Law Journal, 2020
  • Named a "2020 Minority Business Leader" by the Philadelphia Business Journal

  • Named a "Top Business Attorney" in Litigation (Environmental) by SouthJersey.com, 2019

  • Named a “Top Attorney” in Environmental Law by SJ Magazine, 2018 

  • Recognized as a "Rainmaker" by Law360, 2016
  • Named an "Awesome Attorney" in Environmental Law by South Jersey Magazine, 2016
  • Named a "Minority Power Broker" by Law360, 2015
  • SmartCEO Magazine, Industry Practice Award Finalist, 2015

  • Named "Professional Lawyer of the Year" by the New Jersey State Bar Association's Commission on Professionalism, 2014

  • Distinguished Community Service Award - Rutgers Law APALSA, 2012
  • Professional Achievement Award - APALA-NJ, 2009
  • AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell

  • Client Champion Gold Rating by Martindale-Hubbell

No aspect of these rankings has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Further information on methodologies is available via these links.

Selected Publications

  • Co-author, "It’s Time for the Energy Industry to Embrace—Not Just Fear—Artificial Intelligence," The Legal Intelligencer, July 23, 2024
  • Co-author, "Environmental Cleanup and Recovery for Fraudulent Transfers," Today's General Counsel, June 2016
  • Quoted, "Chesapeake Bay Pollutants Drop More Than Expected," Bloomberg BNA, April 18, 2016
  • "Profiting from Diversity," COMMERCE, February 2015
  • "Law and the Fear of Cancer," Today's General Counsel, May 2014
  • Co-author, "Handling Lawsuits for Fear of Cancer From Toxic Torts," New Jersey Law Journal, February 28, 2014
  • Author, "Building a Championship Diversity Program With a College Athletics Approach," The Legal Intelligencer, May 2013
  • "Site Remediation Reform Act," A&G News Alert, June 2009
  • "Legal Challenges to the Surrogate Groundwater Injury Formula," A&G News Alert, August 2003
  • "Update on New Jersey's NRD Program," Ad-Hoc Industry NRD Task Force, October 2006