Lee H. Johnson

Lee H. Johnson was born and raised in Minnesota. He is a 1984 graduate of the University of Wisconsin/Madison with B.S. degrees in Economics and International Relations. He received his law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1988. Following the completion of a judicial clerkship with the Honorable Thomas J. Kalitowski of the Minnesota Court of Appeals, Lee moved to Colorado and became an associate at Carlson, Hammond & Paddock, LLC in October of 1989. He became a member of the firm in 1995 and manager of the firm in 2018. His primary area of practice involves water rights and water quality issues, but he has also worked in areas related to federal permitting, conservation easements and environmental law. He has over 34 years of experience in Colorado’s Water Courts, including representation of diverse clients in each of Colorado’s seven Water Divisions. He has significant experience representing clients before the Water Quality Control Commission on numerous rulemaking matters, including site-specific nutrient standards rulemakings for several large drinking water reservoirs, as well as various permitting issues before the Water Quality Control Division. His practice has involved representation of landowner clients in connection with several large scale conservation easement and real estate transactions, including the then largest conservation easement ever donated in Colorado. Lee continues to represent private ranch owners, ditch companies, and municipal water suppliers on various water matters and is general counsel to the Woman Creek Reservoir Authority, a political subdivision of the state and coalition of various municipal water suppliers intent on protecting a downstream municipal drinking water supply from impacts related to the former nuclear weapons facility at Rocky Flats. He is a member of the Minnesota bar (inactive), admitted to practice in Colorado and is a member of the Denver and Colorado Bar Associations and the Colorado Water Congress.