Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. (Ogletree Deakins), one of the largest labor and employment law firms representing management, announced that Joe Clees, a shareholder in the firm’s Phoenix office, has been named to Human Resource Executive magazine’s 2013 list of the “Nation’s Most Powerful Employment Attorneys.” This is the fifth consecutive year that he has been selected by clients and colleagues for inclusion in the Most Powerful list.

Attorneys were named to the list based on their excellence in guiding employers through today’s ever-intensifying legal landscape. To make the list, attorneys must receive glowing recommendations from corporate counsel who have benefitted from their services and would hire them again. Listed attorneys typically also must have practiced for more than 20 years and have amassed a number of accomplishments, including defending companies in headline-making cases and holding leadership positions within employment groups both in and outside of their firms.

Clees, who has practiced employment law for more than 25 years, represents employers throughout the United States. He also counsels clients on a wide array of state, federal, and tribal compliance laws. He has served as the chair of the Executive Committee of the State Bar of Arizona’s Employment and Labor Law section, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Arizona Affirmative Action Association and the Valley of the Sun Human Resource Association (VSHRA), and as employment law counsel to many industry and trade groups. Clees regularly speaks and trains on labor and employment law topics, both regionally and nationally.

Beyond the “Most Powerful Employment Attorney” award, Clees has been recognized as one of the Southwest Super Lawyers (2007-2013), including several years in the Top 50 Southwest Super Lawyers, and is regularly included in Chambers USA (2005-present). He has been included in Best Lawyers in America (2006-present), and this year, was named by Best Lawyers as the Phoenix “Employment Law – Management” Lawyer of the Year. Clees has also been singled out as one of the “The Legal 500.” Locally, Arizona Business Magazine rates him as one of the “Top Attorneys of Arizona,” and the Phoenix Business Journal designates him as a “Best of the Bar.”