Overview

Nicholas Targ is a San Francisco attorney with more than 25 years of experience assisting clients in the public and private sectors efficiently achieve their land use, environmental and policy goals. He co-chairs Holland & Knight's national environmental team. Mr. Targ's practice focuses on complex redevelopment projects, environmental compliance and government advocacy. His representative work includes strategic legal advice on brownfields redevelopment, Superfund compliance, and state and federal grant and policy advocacy. Mr. Targ has successfully advocated for infill funding and policy initiatives on behalf of public, private and nonprofit coalition clients.

Before joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Targ served in leadership positions with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance, including Counsel and Associate Director to the Office of Environmental Justice in Washington, D.C. In these capacities, he helped bring highly visible environmental permitting and compliance matters to successful resolutions. Mr. Targ also provided strategic advice on legislation, regulatory initiatives and public participation issues to congressional offices, the President's Council on Environmental Quality, as well as federal, state and Tribal agencies. On a regular basis, he convened and addressed trade associations, government bodies and others.

Mr. Targ also served in the Solicitor's Office of the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), representing the Bureau of Reclamation and Bureau of Land Management on a wide range of natural resources and hazardous materials issues. While at the DOI, he helped establish the department's first alternative dispute resolution program and the department-wide hazardous materials office, provided legal and strategic counsel on environmental aspects of large-scale land transfers, and handled precedent cases. He joined the department through the Honors Attorney Program in 1993.

Committed to service, Mr. Targ co-founded the Howard University School of Law Environmental Law and Sustainability Program, and taught environmental law and environmental justice as an adjunct professor. Presently, he is an adjunct professor at UC Hastings School of Law teaching land use law.

Representative Experience

Credentials

Education
  • Boston College Law School, J.D.
  • University of California, Santa Cruz, B.A., Economics and Politics/Legal Studies
Bar Admissions/Licenses
  • California
Memberships
  • Portola Valley Planning Commission,Vice Chair
  • California Department of Toxic Substances Control, Land Revitalization & Redevelopment Collaborative
  • Center for Creative Land Recycling, Board Member
  • American Bar Association, President's Committee on Environmental Justice, 2022-2023
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, Executive Committee, 2010-2011
  • American Bar Association, Human Rights magazine, Editorial Board, 2003-2007
  • Bar Association of the District of Columbia's Environmental Law Section, past Director
Honors & Awards
  • Chambers USA – America's Leading Business Lawyers guide, Recognized Practitioner, 2016; Environment, 2022-2024
  • The Best Lawyers in America guide, Environmental Law, 2018-2025; Energy Regulatory Law, 2025
  • Leading Environmental & Energy Lawyers, Lawdragon 500, 2021
  • Lawdragon Green 500: Leaders in Environmental Law & Land Use, 2023, 2024
  • Holland & Knight Pro Bono All-Star, 2021
  • American Bar Foundation
  • Dedication to Diversity and Justice Award, ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, 2013 
  • Outstanding Leadership Award, Howard University School of Law, 2007
  • Bronze Medal for Outstanding Leadership, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Six-Time Recipient, 2000-2006
  • Secretarial Letter of Commendation, Honorable Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, 1999
  • Star Achievement Award, Two-Time Recipient, 1997, 1998
  • Director's Letter of Commendation for Drafting the First Dispute Resolution Policy for the Department of the Interior, Office of Hearings and Appeals, 1994
  • O'Keefe Family Scholarship, Boston College School of Law
  • Technology Award and Scholarship, Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Graduate School of Urban Studies and Planning

Publications

Speaking Engagements

News