Erich Birch - Attorney

Erich Birch has over twenty-three years of legal experience primarily in the areas of environmental, administrative, and contract law. His practice is focused on permitting and compliance issues involving air quality, industrial and solid waste, recycling, environmental audits, and Superfund proceedings. Erich's business and legal experience spans the areas of private business, public governmental service, and private law practice. He began his legal career in the public sector as an attorney with the Texas Water Commission, predecessor to the current Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), where he also served as the agency's Public Interest Counsel, evaluating permit applications and other matters pending before the Commission and independently advocating positions that best represented the interests of the people of Texas. 

Prior to practicing law, Erich was an engineer in the petrochemical industry, working for thirteen years with Monsanto Chemical Company as a project engineer, design engineer, reliability engineer, and later as manager of the design group. Through this experience he gained hands-on familiarity with many types of manufacturing equipment and process systems and developed management experience. Erich was also a specialist and instructor of a logical problem solving technique, and he facilitated many group participatory problem identification and resolution sessions.

Erich is an experienced provider of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services. He has facilitated highly technical problem identification and resolution matters and option development and decision analyses, and he has facilitated and moderated public meetings involving controversial environmental issues and local communities. For over fourteen years he has served as a neutral in mediation and arbitration and as an umpire in insurance dispute matters. He has handled a wide variety of matters, and with his background and experience in private sector engineering and public sector law, he is particularly well-suited for matters involving complex technical and regulatory issues. Erich received training in mediation from the University of Texas Center for Public Policy Dispute Resolution and arbitration training from the American Arbitration Association. He currently serves on the Board of the Texas Association of Mediators and serves as past-Chair of the ADR Council of the State Bar of Texas, and Section Representative on the State Bar of Texas Board of Representatives. Erich was also co-chair of the 2014 Annual Conference of the Texas Association of Mediators in Austin.

Erich received a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt University in 1976, and received a law degree from the University of Houston in 1989. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Texas and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Texas, the Austin Bar Association, the Texas Association of Mediators, and the Austin Association of Mediators.

LICENSES AND EDUCATION
Admitted to State Bar, Texas, 1990
Licensed as a Professional Engineer, Texas, 1991
Vanderbilt University (Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering), 1976
University of Houston (Juris Doctorate), 1989
University of Texas Dispute Resolution Mediator Training, 2000
American Arbitration Association Construction Arbitrator Training, 1999

MEMBERSHIPS AND ASSOCIATIONS
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
State Bar of Texas, past-Chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, Council Member of the General
Practice and Solo Firm Section, Environmental & Natural Resources Law Section
Austin Bar Association
Texas Association of Mediators Board Member, 2014 Annual Conference Co-chair
Austin Association of Mediators
San Antonio Manufacturing Association Member, Environmental Committee
Credentialed Mediator - Texas Mediator Credentialing Association
Texas Attorney-Mediators Coalition

PUBLICATIONS AND SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Erich is an experienced speaker and speaks to both legal and engineering groups regarding environmental law, law firm management, and ADR topics.