Douglas Kemp Mertz
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Law Offices of Douglas Kemp Mertz |
Douglas Mertz is an attorney in private practice in Juneau, Alaska. His practice is primarily in the areas of environmental and administrative law, permitting, and government relations, including an active trial and appellate practice. He has tried numerous cases in the state and federal courts and has handled appeals before the Alaska Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Mertz is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School. He was an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Alaska from 1975 until 1991, when he opened his own law firm. During his years with the Attorney General's Office his primary area of expertise was regulatory law in a number of fields, including environmental and natural resource law, social services, and American Indian legal matters.
He first practiced in these fields in the Fairbanks office of the Attorney General, where he also served as chief assistant attorney general for that office, with responsibility for state legal matters throughout Alaska north of the Alaska Range. Among his other duties were litigation and legal advice to the Department of Health and Social Services, the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Natural Resources, on various issues, including wage and hour disputes and other employment-related controversies. After 1980, he moved to the Juneau office of the Attorney General, where he served as the primary legal counsel for the Department of Environmental Conservation. He has acted as legal advisor to every commissioner of environmental conservation from 1980 to 1991, and to every commissioner of natural resources during the same period. He served in both the Natural Resources section and the Oil & Gas section of the Attorney General's Office. He advised several agencies on issues related to employee conduct, including whistleblower claims, and was also responsible for legal advice on state employee adherence to the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.
While serving in the Alaska Attorney General's Office, Mr. Mertz was the State of Alaska's representative on environmental matters to the National Association of Attorneys General and was chair of that organization's Oil Spill Task Force. He has authored several articles and publications on resource law. (See list of publications.)
Mr. Mertz's substantive law practice with the Attorney General's Office included both an active litigation caseload, including trial and appellate work, and legal assistance in agency matters. He was counsel for the state in numerous matters involving complex permitting and administrative proceedings. In the course of representing various agencies, he helped develop and draft several current chapters of the Alaska Administrative Code.
In his current law practice, Mr. Mertz has maintained his interest in legal aspects of state and federal administrative matters, as well as an active litigation caseload. His practice includes extensive involvement in administrative proceedings; representation before state boards and commissions; and general litigation, including trials and appeals. He also regularly monitors the investment activities of the Alaska State Pension Investment Board (the trustees for public employee pension funds in Alaska), which is developing guidelines and regulations for exercising its trust duties in its investment activities. His clients include developers, government agencies, and public interest groups, and he has acted as environmental counsel for the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Alaska Bar Association, and the National Employment Lawyers Association.
Mr. Mertz has practiced for over twenty years before numerous federal and state administrative agencies, the Supreme Court of Alaska, the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. He has also acted as an administrative hearing officer for several agencies.
Natural Resource and Environmental Law - Native American Legal Issues - Employee Rights Law
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