Tonkon Torp attorney Janet Neuman led an online seminar on Western Water Law to TELOS, an educational program for retirees through Bellevue College in Washington. She opened the seminar with a Water Law 101 overview, calling out the underlying fundamentals about this specialized area of law. Diving in deeper, Jan talked about the history and evolution of water law in the United States, and how over time it bifurcated into state-controlled systems that address issues distinct to the East and West regions of the country. Bringing the attendees to the present, Jan shared recent water law cases to explore what could be next for water law in an environment where there are no “new” water rights to assign, and climate change wreaks havoc on the nation’s water access.
Jan is Senior Counsel with Tonkon Torp’s Water Law and Environmental & Natural Resources practice groups and a nationally-recognized water lawyer and scholar. She handles water rights transactions, water project development, permitting, and litigation of water rights disputes for both government entities and private sector clients. Jan is a former professor and Associate Dean of Faculty at Lewis & Clark Law School and the author of a comprehensive book on Oregon water law.
