Overview
Philip Micha’s law practice is enriched by his bachelor’s degree in biology and zoology, and his master’s degree in environmental management.
Philip is an environmental and energy law attorney with a comprehensive practice involving compliance, enforcement, and litigation in connection with federal and state environmental law. He has substantial experience drafting and negotiating environmental transactional agreements and provisions. Philip regularly conducts environmental and other due diligence for a variety of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions across multiple industries (power generation, manufacturing, and chemicals), purchase/sale/financing of real property, and recurring portfolio sales of wind and solar assets across the United States. Philip also works with the firm’s corporate advisory team to counsel clients regarding parent and subsidiary environmental liability.
Philip also has significant experience in core real property transactions and agreements, including purchase and sale agreements, leasing (wind, solar, and commercial), easements, access agreements, and licenses, as well as with land use and entitlement proceedings. He has extensive experience with Brownfield and related environmental liability agreements, and the corresponding regulatory programs.
During law school, Philip was a notes and comment editor for the Chicago-Kent Law Review, and was on the environmental moot court team. He worked for the Illinois Attorney General’s Office of Environmental Enforcement Bureau and the US EPA Region 5 Office of Regional Counsel. Philip also completed judicial externships with the Honorable Matthew F. Kennelly of the Northern District of Illinois and the Honorable Richard D. Cudahy of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
Holding a bachelor’s degree in biology and zoology, and a master’s degree in environmental management, Philip worked for three years as a research associate in a neuroscience lab at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon before pursuing his law degree.
PRACTICES
- Chicago-Kent College of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, Certificate in Environmental & Energy Law, 2014
Order of the Coif
Chicago-Kent Law Review, Notes and Comment Editor
Dean’s Scholarship - Portland State University, M.E.M., Environmental Management, 2011
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, B.S., Biology, Zoology, 2008
Education
Publications
Environmental Due Diligence: Emerging Contaminants and Changing Standards
Delaware Banker | Spring 2022
Environmental due diligence is a significant component of commercial real estate transactions, and a Phase I environmental site assessment (“ESA”) is the usual starting point for due diligence. Although the Phase I ESA has become a near-commodity, not all assessments are created equal, and understanding the scope of what is (and is not) encompassed by a…
Getting The Deal Through | 2022
Getting the Deal Through is a quick reference guide enabling side-by-side comparison of local insights into real estate law and investment across the United States, including rights and registration; sale and purchase; brokerage; leases; taxes; finance and security; investment climate and structures; land use, including zoning, planning permission, historical / cultural preservation, and government expropriation;…
Practical Considerations for Commercial Lenders Regarding Environmental Liability
Delaware Banker | Spring 2019
In the context of making a loan secured by commercial real estate, a lender is right to be concerned about environmental contamination at that property, and how it may impact potential liability for cleanup and the value of the property as collateral. According to a survey by Environmental Data Resources (“EDR”), one out of every ten…
- “In Hot Water: Clean Water Act Provisional Variances and Their Relationship to the Impact of Heat Waves and Droughts on the Supply and Demand of Electricity,” Chicago-Kent Journal of Environmental and Energy Law, Volume 4, Issue 1, 2013-2014 View >
Pro Bono Activities
- Represented The Ministry of Caring, Inc., in its purchase of a contaminated brownfield property and navigation of Delaware’s Brownfield Development Program
- Represented Inter-Neighborhood Community Builders, LLC, regarding its redevelopment of blighted property for use as low-income housing
- Board Member, Delaware Greenways, Inc.
Recognition
- The Best Lawyers in America, Ones to Watch, 2025, 2024
- Delaware Today Top Lawyer, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020; Top Vote Getter, Environmental Law, 2024, 2023, 2022
- Super Lawyers, 2024, 2023
Bar Admissions
- Delaware, 2019
- General Bar - Northern District of Illinois, 2018
- Illinois, 2014