Lee Ellen Helfrich

Helfrich@LNLlaw.com

Practice Experience

Partner, Lobel, Novins & Lamont LLP, Washington, D.C., 1980 to present.

Representation of State agency and organizational clients on matters involving energy regulation and policy; mineral royalty valuation, audit and management; state and federal tax policy, and public lands policy.  Practice experience includes administrative and civil litigation, appellate advocacy, rulemakings, negotiation of multi-million dollar settlements, and legislation.

Other practice areas include constitutional law, defamation, fiduciary obligations, malpractice, professional ethics, escheat of unclaimed property, and the Freedom of Information Act.

Adjudicative Experience

Board Member, District of Columbia Board of Responsibility (appointed by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals), 2004-2006.

Sat, with the nine-member Board, in appeals from and regular review of the recommendations of Hearing Committees in attorney discipline cases.  Drafted reports and recommendations to the D.C. Court of Appeals in both original and reciprocal discipline matters.  Served as the Board’s Contact Member for approval or disapproval of diversion agreements.

Hearing Committee Member, District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility, 2000-2004.

Chair, Hearing Committee Number Two, 2002-2004; Attorney Member, Ad Hoc Committee, 2000-2002.

Sat, with three-member committees, as a trier of fact in evidentiary hearings in original attorney discipline cases.  As Chair, conducted preliminary hearings, issued pre-hearing orders, made evidentiary rulings and managed the proceedings.  Drafted reports and recommendations to the Board on Professional Responsibility.  Conducted Contact Member review of case disposition proposals of the Office of Bar Counsel.

Instructor/Educational Experience

Legal Ethics Instructor, Georgetown University Paralegal Studies Program, 2006 Summer Intensive certificate program.

Continuing Legal Education Committee, D.C. Bar Board of Governors’ standing committee, 1998-2002.

Instructor, Mandatory Course for New Admittees, D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct,  D.C. Bar Continuing Legal Education Program, 1997-2002.

Instructor/Course Developer, Lobbying for Lawyers, D.C. Bar Continuing Legal Education Program, 2001-2002.

Legal Methods Instructor, The American University Washington College of Law, 1982/1983.

Panelist, The D.C. Attorney Disciplinary System: Pending Reforms and Alternatives, D.C. Bar Section on Courts, Lawyers & the Administration of Justice, April 2007.

Panelist, Lobbying by Non-Profit Organizations, American Bar Association Annual Meeting, August 2002.

Speaker, Valuation of Oil and Gas for State Royalty Purposes, National Oil and Gas Royalty Conference, Professional Development Institute, University of North Texas, November 1997.

Panelist, Federal and State Royalty Issues, Annual Conference of Eastern and Western State Land Commissioners, 200-2002.

Past Employment

Federal Trade Commission, Office of Commissioner Patricia Bailey, Law Clerk, 1980

Consumers Union, Legal Intern, 1979.

Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press, Legal Intern, 1978/1979.

Education

Harvard Law School, L.L.M. 1984 (Pedagogy/Constitutional Law).

The American University Washington College of Law, J.D. 1980 (Summa Cum Laude, Law Review, Dean’s Fellowships, WCL Honor Society).

Ohio Wesleyan University, B.A. (Journalism/Politics & Government) 1977 ( Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Society, Student Judiciary, Student Scholar publications, Student newspaper).

Publications

$100 million to accountants?, NiemanWatchdog.org,  Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University (January 25, 2006).

Cobell v. Norton, ‘a window on the balance of power in Washington’, Nieman Watchdog.org, Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University (December 16, 2005).

An Interior Case That Lays Bear Government as Usual, Washington Post (Outlook, July 20, 2003).

Playing Games in the Senate, Legal Times (October 25, 1999).

The Black Box Used to Justify Energy Tax Subsidies, 100 Tax Notes 399 (July 21, 2003) (co-authored with H. Banta and M. Lobel).

Transfer Pricing and Oil Royalties: A Cautionary Tale, 84 Tax Notes 151 (July 5, 1999) (co-authored with H. Banta and M. Lobel).

Myths, Tax Policy and the Oil Industry, 82 Tax Notes 1675 (March 15, 1999) (co-authored with H. Banta and M. Lobel).

Valuation Under State Leases: State Land Trusts – A Thumb on the Scale of Justice?, 16 Petroleum Accounting and Financial Management Journal 28 (Fall/Winter 1997).

Additional Professional Membership and Volunteer Activities

Member in good standing of the Bar of the District of Columbia, admitted 1980

Co-Chair, Thirty-Second Annual Disciplinary Conference, District of Columbia, April, 2004

Public Representative, Royalty Policy Committee, United States Department of the Interior, 2000-2002

Chair, Publications Committee, Litigation Section, D.C. Bar, 1998.

Chair, D.C. Digest Committee, Litigation Section, D.C. Bar, 1994-1998.

Moot Court Judge:  2007 National High School Tournament, Washington College of Law Moot Court Honor Society (2007); Judge William H. Karchner Competition, The Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project (2007); ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition (1996, 1999); George Mason University School of Law Moot Court Competition (1996).

Co-Chair, Committee on Executive Endorsements, Women’s Bar Association, 1997-1998.

Member, Subcommittee on Valuation, Royalty Policy Committee, United States Department of the Interior, 1995.