Philip K. Verleger; Lawyer on Environmental Issues

Philip K. Verleger, 78, attorney who specialized in environmental and oil issues. Educated at UC Berkeley and Boalt Hall School of Law, Verleger was a partner in the Los Angeles-based firm McCutchen, Black, Verleger & Shea. He went into semi-retirement in 1990 when the firm merged into Baker & Hostetler. Verleger began his legal career in 1944, practicing admiralty litigation. But within a few years, he moved into air pollution and other environmental issues. In 1955 he began handling litigation against oil companies involving Terminal Island and an oil field in Long Beach. Three years later he became the environmental lawyer for the Western Oil and Gas Assn. (now the Western States Petroleum Assn.). Other major clients were Exxon and Chrysler. After a major oil spill off Santa Barbara in 1969, Verleger handled litigation involving offshore oil operations. For the remainder of his career, he specialized in litigation and was a consultant to other attorneys on environmental problems and antitrust law. Over the years, Verleger represented both plaintiffs and defendants in the oil and automobile industries. He also headed committees on antitrust and natural resources for the American Bar Assn. On Sunday in Los Angeles of a stroke.