Susan Reeves

Susan Reeves manages the firm’s environmental practice. Ms. Reeves has practiced law in Alaska since 1984. She practices exclusively on issues involving natural resources and environmental law. Susan has extensive experience representing clients in the mining, transportation, construction, recycling and banking industries and representing facility owners and operators as well as owners of contaminated properties.

She also represents municipalities, Alaska Native corporations, federally recognized tribes, and other government entities. She has advised clients regarding compliance with federal and state environmental laws, negotiated permits and other authorizations, and resolved the allocation of liability among potentially responsible parties. Ms. Reeves’ work on environmental matters has taken her from the Valdez Marine Terminal to the North Slope and to many points between. Ms. Reeves has extensive experience on matters involving air emissions, water discharges, waste disposal and contaminated sites.

She worked on the development of Alaska’s regulatory programs for air and water quality, waste disposal, and contaminated sites. This depth of experience benefits the firm’s clients whenever these laws affect their operations. As an example, Ms. Reeves’ experience on Alaska air issues includes following and advising on the development of the Alaska Air Quality Control statutes (AS 46.14) during the 1991-92 and 1992-93 legislative sessions (for Alyeska Pipeline Service Company) and developing the implementing regulations during the next several years (for Chugach Electric Association). She is very familiar with both the federal and state statutory schemes, and she has worked with many of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Alaska Department Of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) personnel in the agencies’ air quality control sections.

Ms. Reeves is a frequent speaker on environmental law subjects. She is a past chair of the Alaska Bar Association’s Environmental Law and Natural Resources Section, past vice-chair for EPA Region 10 (Alaska, Idaho, Washington and Oregon) of an American Bar Association environmental law committee, and she represented the American Bar Association in a series of lectures in the Russian Far East on U.S. natural resources law. Ms. Reeves’ resume reflects her experience as corporate counsel for BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. She is a frequent speaker on Alaska natural resource and environmental law and is a coauthor of “Utilization, Development and Conservation” of Natural Resources for the Maximum Benefit of Alaskans: Scrutinizing Alaska’s Permitting Regime for Large Mines, Alaska Law Review (June 2009). Susan Reeves has received the highest available “AV Preeminent” rating from Martindale-Hubbell, an organization that evaluates an attorney’s ethics and legal ability through a peer review process.

Because of Ms. Reeves, the firm itself has been recognized for expertise in environmental law. The firm is identified in an international peer review journal as “active across the waterfront of environmental and natural resource issues.” Chambers USA 2006. The publication states that the firm “guides its clients from conception to completion [of a project], securing permits and providing strategic advice as needed.”