Gene Tanaka

Partner

Walnut Creek
2001 N. Main Street
Suite 390

TEL: (925) 977-3301
Gene.Tanaka@bbklaw.com

Gene Tanaka is a Partner in the Litigation Practice Group at Best Best & Krieger LLP.  Mr. Tanaka’s practice is focused on land use and natural resources litigation.

Mr. Tanaka has litigated many land use cases involving challenges regarding the California Environmental Quality Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Federal Endangered Species Act, California Endangered Species Act, California Radiation Control Law, Federal Land Policy and Management Act and inverse condemnation.  He has worked for the City of Needles, San Bernardino County LAFCO, the Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency, the Rancho California Water District, the Riverside County Transportation Commission, the County of Riverside and numerous other public agencies.  Mr. Tanaka handled the successful Los Angeles Superior Court challenge to the Ward Valley Low Level Radioactive Waste Facility.

Mr. Tanaka has also represented clients in toxics cases for cleanup or damages under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, nuisance law and trespass law.  He has worked on the Stringfellow cleanup litigation in U.S. District Court, the Montrose case in U.S. District Court involving cleanup of contaminants in the Pacific Ocean and a Republic Imperial Acquisition Corporation landfill.

Mr. Tanaka graduated from Columbia Law School in 1981 and from Columbia College in 1978.  Mr. Tanaka has been an instructor and assistant team leader at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, Rocky Mountain Regional and Pacific Regional.  Mr. Tanaka has taught a hazardous materials litigation course for the University of California at Riverside Extension School.  He has also published several articles regarding land use litigation.

Bar & Court Admissions

• California, 1981

Education

• JD, Columbia University School of Law
• BA, Columbia University