Alexandra Dapolito Dunn is First ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources Chair from Nonprofit Sector

WASHINGTON, D.C., Aug. 6, 2012 — The American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources has announced that Alexandra D. Dunn will serve as section chair for a one-year term commencing Aug. 5.  Dunn, the executive director and general counsel of the Association of Clean Water Administrators, is the first chair of SEER to originate from the nonprofit sector.

Dunn, an environmental attorney, focuses her practice of environmental law, regulations and policy, including the last 11 years in water quality, water treatment and implementation of the Clean Water Act. She has represented a variety of parties and amicus curiae in over 25 environmental cases.

“The American Bar Association, and the Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, has been my professional home since I was a law student.  There is no other organization that has given me unparalleled opportunity for growth, learning, friendship and professional support.  The leaders of this section represent the best in our practice.  I am honored to serve as chair, and to fulfill our mission of being ‘the premier forum for environmental, energy and resources lawyers,’” said Dunn.

Dunn previously served as the section’s vice-chair and chair of the In-House Counsel Committee, a member of the section’s council and its education officer, among other leadership roles. She has long been active in the section, advancing from section vice-chair, to chair-elect and chair.

As chair, Dunn has identified three key areas for attention, in addition to the section’s core efforts in the areas of delivering high-quality educational, membership and publications services.  Her initiatives include increasing connections with lawyers from all practice settings and at all career levels; emphasizing the section’s work on domestic and international environmental rights and justice; and improving communications and external relations.

A lecturer in law at the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America, and advisor to the school’s Environmental Law Society, Dunn is a published author and speaks regularly on water policy, sustainability and environmental justice. From 2007 to 2010 she served as dean of Environmental Law Programs at Pace Law School, where the environmental curriculum is ranked among the top nationally. There, Dunn taught Environmental Justice, and Human Rights and the Environment. 

Dunn is serving a four-year term on the Board of Directors of the Environmental Law Institute and is also secretary of the nonprofit Clean Water America Alliance.

Past professional positions have included general counsel of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, counsel to the American Chemistry Council and an environmental attorney at Winston & Strawn. 

Dunn is a member of the bar in Washington, D.C., Maryland and New York; the U.S. Supreme Court; and federal courts.

Dunn received her J.D. from the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America, where she was editor-in-chief of the Law Review.  She earned her B.A. from James Madison University.

The ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources is the premier forum for strategies and information for environmental, energy and resource lawyers. Representing nearly 11,000 members with a wide range of professional interests, the section keeps its members abreast of development trends, current court decisions, legislative initiatives and statutes concerning environmental, natural resources and energy law.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

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