Practice Areas & Industries

Water Rights

Our Water Law practice group is the largest and most distinguished in the state. Our lawyers represent water users including municipal suppliers, industrial production facilities, farms, ranches, food processors, homeowners, and recreational facilities in acquiring and selling valuable water rights and in evaluating the priority and validity of water rights. We handle transactions both routine and cutting edge: water transfers, including exchanges, contracts, sales and leases of water rights; mitigation plans; ground water recharge programs; forfeitures; protests; municipal "future needs” water rights; federal water rights and transactions; instream flow matters; and litigation at all levels. We regularly represent both ground water districts and municipal supply interests in a variety of matters, including contractual, permitting, and licensing arrangements involving the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the various fish and wildlife agencies. We are particularly adept at negotiating the complex interaction between water law and environmental law at the state and federal levels.  Our lawyers are some of the region’s preeminent water law practitioners and have been integral in negotiated water allocation hearings for the Snake River Valley aquifer.