Attorney Profiles
Biography
Celeste Evangelisti is passionate about clean water–so much so that she has devoted the past several years of her career to representing individuals, municipalities, and water suppliers seeking clean-up costs for contamination damaging community water supplies. Hard-driving and tenacious, her legal prowess earned her the honor of being named a “Texas Super Lawyer” by Law & Politics magazine (Key Professional Media) from 2003 through 2005. She was also a member of the legal team representing Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) that were named "Attorneys of the Year" for Environmental Law in 2001 by California Lawyer (Daily Journal Corp.) for the resolution of a precedent-setting case requiring major oil companies to clean up more than 1,000 sites contaminated by the gasoline additive MTBE.
A shareholder with Baron & Budd’s water contamination litigation group, Celeste currently represents plaintiffs in several states across the country seeking redress for polluted drinking water supplies. She is AV-rated by Martindale Hubbell Legal Directory, its top rating. She is also a frequent speaker and presenter on legal topics concerning the prosecution of water contamination cases involving the gasoline additive MTBE and other contaminants of concern. Celeste also represented, pro bono, the family of a woman who perished during the 9/11 attacks with their claim to the Victims Compensation Fund.
“The lengths some polluters will go to increase their profits at the expense of the well-being of entire communities never ceases to amaze me,” she says. “It is ultimately very satisfying to bring these companies to justice and protect the environmental integrity of our water supplies.”
Education
Cornell University School of Law (J.D. 1995)
State University of New York at Binghamton (B.A. 1992)
Bar & Court Admissions
Texas
California
New York
United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern, and Eastern Districts of Texas
United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Central Districts of California
United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York
Awards
Texas Super Lawyer (Law & Politics magazine, Key Professional Media), 2003, 2004 and 2005
Daily Journal Corp.'s California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) Award for Environmental Law, 2001 (member of legal team/awardee)
Professional Associations
New York State Bar
State Bar of California
State Bar of Texas
American Association for Justice – Environmental Law Section
American Bar Association
Public Justice
Dallas Trial Lawyers Association
Dallas Bar Association
Presentations
“How to Work Up an MTBE Case – Documents and Depositions,” MTBE Multi District Litigation PSC Group (March 15, 2005).
“Pursuit of Damages by Municipal Water Providers and Private Well Owners,” Mealey’s MTBE & USTs Litigation Conference (December 6, 2004).
“MTBE: The Plaintiffs’ Perspective,” Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (July 29, 2004).
“Perchlorate in Ground Water: Legal Implications,” American Ground Water Trust (February 9, 2004).
“Perchlorate: The Blast that Lasts,” 11th Annual Region 9 Tribal EPA Conference (October 23, 2003).
“Discovery Issues: What are your looking for? What are you going to find?” Mealey’s MTBE and USTs Litigation Conference (November 4 - 5, 2002).
“MTBE: What the Public’s Representatives Should Know,” Twelfth Annual Texas Environmental Superconference (August 2, 2000).
“Update on Class Actions,” Mealey’s MTBE Conference (May 11 - 12, 2000).
Newsrss
Baron & Budd’s Greatest Hits of the Decade
As the first decade of the new millennium draws to a close and we reflect on the past ten years, Baron & Budd would like to share with you what we consider some of our law firm’s major accomplishments—our “Greatest Hits” of the decade, if you will. So, in the spirit of Casey Kasem, here is our countdown of the decade. We wish all of you happy holidays and a prosperous new year—and new decade—to come. Read More
Baron & Budd, P.C. Water Contamination Attorneys Selected as Finalists for 2009 Public Justice Trial Lawyer of the Year Award
Attorneys recognized for their work on In re: Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether Products Liability Litigation MDL 1358
DALLAS –(July 8, 2009) – Scott Summy, Celeste Evangelisti and Carla Burke, all Baron & Budd, P.C. shareholders and part of the law firm’s water contamination litigation team, were selected as finalists for the 2009 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award by the Public Justice Foundation for their work in In re: Methyl Tertiary Butyl Products Liability Litigation MDL 1358. Summy and his team negotiated a historic settlement on behalf of 153 public water providers from 17 states in which the bulk of the country’s major oil refiners agreed to pay the costs of cleaning MTBE contamination from the water supply and to clean up any new MTBE contamination that occurs in the next 30 years.
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MTBE Water Contamination Suit Results in Historic Settlement
Dallas, TX – (May 7, 2008) – Representing 153 public water providers, which includes municipalities, water agencies and private water companies, from 17 states, the national law firm of Baron & Budd, P.C. today announced the largest settlement to date with many of America’s leading oil companies over drinking water contamination caused by the gasoline additive Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE). The settlement stems from cases pending in a federal Multi-District Litigation (MDL) court in New York established to hear MTBE cases nationwide. Read More
