About K. Allen Brooks

Allen began his career with the State of California (BCDC) protecting San Francisco Bay and its shoreline, focusing his efforts on previously underserved communities in Oakland and Richmond.   While there, he authored a journal article on federal preemption of state oil spill laws that was later cited as authority by the First Circuit.

For the next 20 years, Allen worked at the New Hampshire Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General.  He spent 16 of those as a Senior Assistant Attorney General and Chief of the Environmental Protection Bureau.  He provided counsel and litigation support to over a dozen agencies and commissions including the N.H. Dept. of Environmental Services, the N.H. Fish and Game Dept., and the N.H. Dept. of Energy.

While in New Hampshire, Allen participated in regional and national initiatives.  He helped provide legal counsel at the inception of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).  He became the State’s lead counsel in the suit by northeastern states against American Electric Power for violations of the Clean Air Act resulting in a settlement requiring billions of dollars’ worth of emissions controls.  Allen also served on the Executive Committee in the multi-state case against Volkswagen for its “ defeat devices,” eventually making New Hampshire the first “non-177” state to ever obtain a penalty for mobile source emissions.

Within New Hampshire, Allen supervised and was later the State’s lead counsel in State v. Exxon-Mobil Corp. related to the gasoline additive MtBE, resulting in the largest verdict in the State’s history at the time.  He later served as the State’s lead counsel in the $24 million case against Monsanto for PCB’s.  He prevailed after trial in a $28 million lawsuit filed by New Hampshire’s petroleum importers seeking to divert money from the MtBE verdict and settlements to themselves to offset their payments to the State oil insurance fund.  Allen was lead against Saint-Gobain for a PFAS air emission site occupying approximately 64 square miles and resulting in remediation estimated at over $60 million while simultaneously serving as lead attorney on a multimillion-dollar cleanup at a PFAS site owned by Textiles Coated International.  Allen also oversaw the State’s statewide PFAS litigation against 3M, DuPont, and others.

In various cases, Allen obtained millions of dollars for the State related to oil fund insurance fraud, hydro-electric energy payments, and other issues.  He has briefed and, when necessary, argued 25 cases before the New Hampshire Supreme Court.  Allen served as Counsel for the Public on numerous large energy projects and was the State’s lead negotiator during the relicensing of the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant.

Allen has testified before Congress on MtBE and many State legislative committees on environmental topics while helping author laws on hazardous waste, PFAS, water quality, greenhouse gas cap and trade, and wetlands protection.  Allen also oversaw a robust environmental criminal enforcement program resulting in numerous felony and misdemeanor convictions.

In addition to participating in a large number of federal environmental cases, Allen has represented the State judicial branch in federal court on several occasions, also providing federal defense for a State Superior Court judge and a federal magistrate in civil rights cases.

While in law school, Allen received the Order of Barristers Award for excellence in oral advocacy and brief writing.  In 2024, the N.H. Bar Association named him as a recipient of the Outstanding Service in Public Sector/Public Interest Law Award.

Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.