D. Rees Alexander focuses on environmental litigation, regulatory matters and environmental issues in transactions. His practice includes all facets of environmental law, including matters under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, CERCLA and Safe Drinking Water Act. A uniquely experienced litigator for someone at his career level, Rees is also a leader in the environmental law community, currently serving on the executive committee for the Ohio State Bar Association’s Environmental Law Section.
Rees has served as trial counsel in numerous trials and administrative hearings, primarily concerning surface water and drinking water issues, and has also provided oral arguments at the appellate level. In addition, he advises several clients in the automotive and engine manufacturing industries regarding compliance with new and existing environmental and transportation regulations. In this area, he focuses on risk management and enforcement defense with respect to Clean Air Act mobile source regulations.
Rees is a former Ohio Assistant Attorney General, and represented Ohio EPA and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management. In that role, he served as the lead environmental counsel in the state’s challenges to rulemaking addressing the definition of “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act.
Rees has been recognized as an Ohio Super Lawyers “Rising Star,” an honor given to the top 2.5% of Ohio lawyers age 40 and under. In law school, Rees competed on the National Moot Court team, which placed first in its region, and he received the Regional Best Oral Advocate Award and George R. Beneman Award for Outstanding Performance in the Moot Court Program. He also served as a judicial extern to Chief Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr. in the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
Rees is also the former chair of the Columbus Bar Association’s Environmental Law Committee and is a member of the Ohio Manufacturers Association, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, the Ohio State Bar Association and the Columbus Bar Association.
He is active in the community, serving in an advisory role for Broad Street Achievement Programs, a free afterschool tutoring program. He is also active in the moot court program and other mentoring programs at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.
