Purba Mukerjee is a Senior Attorney on Earthjustice’s Midwest team, and she is based in Chicago. Purba works with community groups to protect their rights to clean air, safe drinking water, and freedom from exposure to toxic chemicals like PFAS.

Purba is a dedicated public interest attorney who brings more than a decade of experience fighting for communities and consumers. Before joining Earthjustice, she practiced environmental law at the Center for Biological Diversity and Berkeley Law’s Environmental Law Clinic. Purba represented community groups in environmental litigation and administrative proceedings, advocating for rigorous implementation and robust enforcement of environmental laws.

She also served as a trial attorney at the Federal Trade Commission, where she enforced federal consumer protection laws against entities ranging from major corporations to fraudulent health insurance schemes.

Purba received her J.D. from Berkeley Law. She clerked for Judge Catharine Friend Easterly at the D.C. Court of Appeals and Judge Matthew F. Kennelly at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Before law school, Purba worked in both academic and startup research laboratories, and her scientific background informs her legal practice. Purba graduated from Cornell University, cum laude, with a B.A. in Chemistry and University of Wisconsin-Madison with an M.S. in Organic Chemistry.