Lee A. DeHihns III

Lee DeHihns is a member of Alston & Bird’s Environmental and Land Use Group. He has practiced environmental law since 1974. He concentrates on regulatory matters and defensive litigation matters, including corporate audits, compliance program development, debarment, white-collar criminal defense, air quality, hazardous waste, water quality and wetlands matters for industrial and municipal clients. Lee works on many complex and high profile matters. For example, he has represented Gwinnett County Georgia in litigation challenging the County’s NPDES permit to discharge highly treated effluent into Lake Lanier. This case is the highest profile wastewater litigation in Georgia. Lee maintains an active practice in defending governmental enforcement cases brought against clients and fighting challenges and lawsuits to clients’ permits and business activities pursued by citizens and environmental groups. His corporate compliance practice includes conducting confidential internal investigations and participation in corporate compliance audits and assessments, as well as defense of white-collar criminal actions. He is an author on the topics of water quality and quantity, corporate environmental responsibility, and citizen suits, and a frequent speaker to professional organizations, including the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Georgia, the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia, the Georgia Municipal Association, and the Atlanta Bar Association. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America. Mr. DeHihns was ranked as a leading environmental lawyer in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers 2005. He is the Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy and Resources 2005-2006, he was previously a member of the Council, 2001-2004, and Chair of the Water Quality and Wetlands Committee, 1999-2001 and a Vice Chair of that Committee, 1997-1999. Lee joined the firm in 1990 after serving four years as Deputy Regional Administrator of USEPA Region 4, the Agency’s senior career position in the Southeast. His career began with USEPA in 1974 in Washington, D.C. where he rose to the position of Associate General Counsel. Lee received a Senior Executive Service Meritorious Rank Award from President Bush in 1989.