USVI Attorney Lee Rohn Named Finalist for National Trial Lawyer of the Year Award

ST. CROIX — Attorney Lee J. Rohn, a pillar of the Virgin Islands legal community for nearly four decades, has been named a finalist for the prestigious Trial Lawyer of the Year Award, presented annually by the national advocacy organization Public Justice. The award recognizes attorneys whose work has made the most significant contribution to the public interest through precedent-setting or socially impactful litigation.

Rohn’s nomination stems from her role in securing a landmark victory in "In re Red Dust Claims", a case that held an alumina refinery accountable for decades of environmental harm caused by hazardous red mud waste dispersed into nearby neighborhoods on St. Croix. The case, which took 27 years to litigate, brought justice to largely low-income, local residents who had endured the harmful effects of carcinogenic dust for years.

Rohn, alongside her legal team at Lee J. Rohn & Associates, partnered with attorneys Rick Yelton and Jayde Encalade of Burns Charest LLP to lead the complex litigation to a hard-won resolution. “I’m so gratified that the Virgin Islands is being recognized for this,” Rohn said during an interview with V.I. Consortium. “I don’t think anybody knows that we really do cutting-edge law in the Virgin Islands, and we have enormous problems that people would never think about—like environmental racism.”

The Red Dust case is one of three national cases selected as finalists for the award. The others include Held v. State of Montana, where the Montana Supreme Court declared that residents have a constitutional right to a stable climate system, and Wren v. Affinitylifestyles.com Inc. and Brown v. Affinitylifestyles.com Inc., which resulted in a record $8.3 billion verdict against a water company found liable for selling drinking water contaminated with a chemical used in rocket fuel.