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Frank Holleman

Senior Attorney with a focus on litigation

If SELC lawyers were ranked like boxers, Frank would be in the heavyweight division. He is a fiercely reputed senior attorney and litigator with ties to our North Carolina and South Carolina offices. His extensive legal training included clerking for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun and serving as deputy assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice. Between those roles, Frank played a major role in federal education and student loan reform that is still helping students across the country.

Recognized nationally as coordinator of SELC’s regional coal ash initiative, Frank is one of the nation’s leading experts on the topic. On his watch, utilities in the Southeast have become committed to excavate more than a quarter billion tons of coal ash that contaminated many of the region’s major rivers and lakes. Many sites are completely cleaned up, and cleanups are ongoing.

In 2023, he was elected as a fellow to the American College of Environmental Lawyers for his substantial contributions to the field of environmental law.

Frank lives near one of his favorite spots in the South, the Blue Ridge Escarpment of South Carolina, where his work has helped to conserve thousands of acres and to keep it a center of biodiversity and beauty for all. A birder at heart, you can also find him keeping an eye on the eastern bluebirds nesting in his backyard.

When it comes to making change, Frank has the formula: “Stand up, speak out, and show up.”

Previous experience

  • Wyche Law Firm 
  • U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, deputy assistant attorney general 
  • U.S. Department of Education, chief of staff to the secretary, deputy secretary 
  • U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Harry A. Blackmun, clerk 
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit, clerk   
  • M.Sc., London School of Economics  
  • J.D., Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, Harvard Law Review editor, Knox Fellowship recipient
  • B.A., Furman University, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Ulmer Political Science Medal
  • With SELC since 2011