Alexandra Dapolito Dunn

Practice Areas

Alexandra Dapolito Dunn draws on her decades working with states and municipalities, and as a federal environmental regulator, to provide

counsel to organizations of all sizes, from multinational companies to startups, on critical environmental regulatory compliance and policy matters. Key focus areas include the management of emerging contaminants –particularly per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), environmental justice and risk communication, environmental counseling under all major statutes, and enforcement response.

Career

By unanimous consent of the United States Senate, Alexandra was confirmed to oversee the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s)

Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention from 2019-2021. There, she implemented domestic chemical, pesticide, and pollution

prevention programs, with $250 million budget and 1,075 career employees, managed multi-party negotiations and supported litigation strategy in

dozens of active cases. From 2018-2019 she was EPA New England Regional Administrator, overseeing federal environmental efforts in the

states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont and 10 tribal nations. She focused on restoring the iconic

waterways of New England, reducing childhood lead exposures, and environmental justice. Alexandra’s strength comes from her years of

experience facilitating productive state/federal/local relationships having served as Executive Director and General Counsel of the Environmental

Council of the States and of the Association of Clean Water Administrators, and as General Counsel of the National Association of Clean Water

Agencies. Her earliest legal practice was at American Chemistry Council and Winston and Strawn. From 2007 to 2010, Alexandra was Dean of

Environmental Law Programs and Adjunct Professor of Law at the nation’s top ranked environmental law program at the Elisabeth Haub School

of Law at Pace University. She designed one of the first LL.M. programs in the nation in Climate Change, and focused research and writing on

environmental justice and green infrastructure. While at Pace, Alexandra taught courses in Environmental Justice and Human Rights and the

Environment. She continues to teach Environmental Justice at George Washington University School of Law and at the Catholic University and at the Catholic

University of America’s Columbus School of Law.

Professional Memberships

Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, Alumni Advisory Council, (2023-present) American Law Institute (ALI) Environmental Law Advisory Panel (2022-present); American College of Environmental Lawyers, Board of

Regents (2021-present), Member (2015-present); Environmental Law Institute (ELI), Leadership Council (2021-present), Board, Executive

Committee (2014-2018); ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, Leadership Program Mentor (2021-present), Chair, Committee

on Coordination (2021-present), Section Chair (2013-2014); ABA Section of Litigation, Environmental and Energy Litigation Committee leader

(2021-present).

Publications

Alexandra regularly publishes articles on cutting-edge environmental policy and regulatory topics, including chemicals, environmental justice, and

regulation and enforcement. She is frequently quoted in leading publications. Some of her representative work is Meeting the Environmental Justice

Moment, EM MAGAZINE (Feb. 2022); The Business of Water, 47 ELR 10004 (2017) (w/Panelists); The Everywhere Chemicals, ELI Environmental Forum (Winter 2023); Firefighting and Forever Chemicals, 37 NR&E 34 (Fall 2022); The Lawyers’Role in Representing

Communities, chapter in ETHICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICE (ABA 2017) (w/Heineken); The Price of Reform: Models for

Financing a Toxic Substances Control Act 2.0, 45 ELR 10405 (2015) (w/Panelists); Reflections on the Role of States in the U.S. Regulatory

System, 32 PACE ENVTL. L. REV. 435 (2015) (w/Culleen); Advancing the Environmental Rule of Law, 21 SW. J. INT'L L. 283 (2015)

(w/Stillman); Perspectives to Reinvigorate Clean Water Act Cooperative Federalism, 4 GEO. WASH. J. ENERGY & ENVTL. L. 68 (2013)

(w/Boian); Environmental Justice in Permitting: State Innovations, 81 MISS. L. J. 747 (2012) (w/Weiss); Siting Green Infrastructure: Solutions to

Promote Healthy Communities, 37 B.C. ENVTL. AFF. L. REV. 41 (2010)

Personal

Alexandra received her Juris Doctor magna cum laude from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law in 1994. She served as

Editor-in-Chief of the Catholic University Law Review and received the Faculty Award for Outstanding Woman Law Graduate. She received

her B.A. cum laude in Political Science and French from James Madison University in 1989. She is admitted before U.S. Supreme Court and

federal courts and licensed in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and New York.