Douglas E. Lee
e-mail: Douglas E. Lee

Douglas E. Lee concentrates his practice in civil and commercial litigation, personal injury, employment law, commercial law, and real estate. Mr. Lee represents banks, businesses, and individuals in a variety of matters, including formation of corporations and limited liability companies, negotiation of employment and other contracts, buying and selling of businesses and real estate, and federal and state litigation.

Mr. Lee is a member of the Illinois, Virginia, and District of Columbia bars and the Lee County Bar Association. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Fourth, Seventh, Tenth, and District of Columbia Circuits, the U.S. District Courts for the Northern District of Illinois and the District of Columbia, and the state courts of Illinois, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Mr. Lee joined the Firm in 1991, after spending four years as a litigation associate in the Washington D.C. office of Baker & Hostetler, one of the nation’s largest firms. In 1987, Mr. Lee graduated cum laude from the Northwestern University School of Law, where he was Order of the Coif and Coordinating Note and Comment Editor of the law review. Mr. Lee earned his Bachelor of Arts degree (summa cum laude) from the University of Illinois in 1984.

Mr. Lee is a frequent author on First Amendment issues and has written regularly for the web site of the First Amendment Center. Articles written by Mr. Lee also have appeared in the Sauk Valley Sunday, the Illinois Bar Journal, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review, and the Northwestern University Law Review.

Mr. Lee was named Dixon’s Citizen of the Year in 2001. He currently is President of the board of directors of Open Sesame Children's Learning Centers, Treasurer of the board of directors of KSB Hospital, Secretary of the Lee County Industrial Development Association, and the Legislative Chair of the Rock River Human Resources Professional Association. Mr. Lee also has served as a member (and former Chair) of the board of directors of the Dixon Area Chamber of Commerce & Industry and as a member and President of the Dixon School Board.

Mr. Lee’s articles concerning efforts to acquire documents from the Illinois Department of Corrections under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act were part of a Sauk Valley Newspapers investigative report that in 2009 won a second place award in the Illinois Associated Press Editors Association excellence contest.