Jeffrey William Cappola

Jeffrey W. Cappola is a Partner in the environmental law practice group at Mandelbaum Barrett PC.

Jeff has more than 30 years of experience guiding metropolitan area businesses and national businesses and real estate developers through complex brownfield, landfill and land redevelopment projects, land use issues, compliance with environment regulations, and the development and execution of strategies to obtain development entitlements and environmental and land use permits from municipal, state and federal agencies. He also has significant experience assisting steel and chemical manufacturers with land disposition and compliance with federal and state environmental laws.

In his real estate development practice, Jeff advises clients on property due diligence, acquisitions, sales, financing, permitting, liability protection, environmental insurance, and cost recovery and contribution litigation options related to the sale and purchase of contaminated property. He also regularly works with state and federal agencies to obtain land use permits for development projects in coastal areas, tidelands, flood hazard areas, wetlands, and wetland mitigation banks.

In his litigation practice, Jeff represents clients in state and federal cost recovery and contribution matters, environmental insurance coverage disputes, New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act claims, as well as federal CERCLA (Superfund) claims. He also defends clients against enforcement actions by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Jeff is an authority on the provisions of the Industrial Site Recovery Act, the Site Remediation Reform Act, and the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. He lectures and publishes articles on environmental and land development subjects, including the Flood Hazard Area Rules, challenges with land development, brownfield redevelopment, corporate regulatory compliance, state financial incentive programs and wetland mitigation banks. He is also the author of the hazardous substance chapter in the New Jersey Environmental Law Handbook, a go-to reference guide on the state’s environmental laws.

Jeffrey has been widely recognized in environmental law by Chambers USA, Super Lawyers (including most recently in 2026), and Best Lawyers on their respective lists.

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