The POWER List 2022: Christopher E. Erker

Polsinelli, St. Louis

With more than two decades of experience in the practice of law, the last 18 years of Christopher Erker’s career have been concentrated on environmental and health and safety matters.

From permitting of manufacturing and waste treatment facilities to counseling on hazardous waste regulation to conducting due diligence in mergers and acquisitions, Erker has become a resource for clients dealing with complex issues in the environmental space including regulations pertaining to asbestos, lead, MTBE, mold abatement and underground storage tanks. He also has litigation experience in federal and state government investigations and enforcement actions as well as private-party cost recovery actions.

His experience is diverse. The 1992 Saint Louis University graduate once worked with stakeholders, including the National Park Service and tribal historic preservation officers, on the disposition of a homestead site for the Delaware Tribe in Kansas, spearheaded environmental issue management with regards to the sale of a former oil refinery in Illinois and assisted with arsenic contamination problems in the purchase of a large multifamily property in Missouri.

This November, Erker joined Husch Blackwell’s Technology, Manufacturing & Transportation business unit as a partner. Erker had been with Polsinelli since 2013, where he served as chair of its Environmental Practice Group. Previously, he spent 14 years with Bryan Cave where he made partner in 2004. Before that, his experience included a stint as an associate attorney at Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale.

A part of the Headwater Conservancy, he is a board member of Forest ReLeaf of Missouri and sits on the board of directors of the Gateway Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.