Jonathan R. Schutz

Since 2004, Jon has practiced water law, natural resources and environmental law, with an emphasis on water rights.  He has represented public agencies, individuals, and businesses in water, natural resources and environmental law matters.  Such matters include water rights, water quality, recycled water use and permitting, wetlands permitting, endangered species compliance, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance, and FERC hydropower relicensing.  He has litigated in state and federal court and appeared in administrative water rights hearings and settlement negotiations in enforcement actions.

Currently, Jon is a Vice-Chair for the American Bar Association’s Annual Water Law Conference and the Public Service Vice-Chair on the ABA Water Resources Committee.  Previously, he served on the Board of Trustees for the Sacramento River Watershed Program.

Jon has written and presented on various national and international water law topics, including water disputes between U.S. citizens and Mexico under NAFTA, wetlands law after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Rapanos, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s least environmentally damaging practicable alternatives analysis required for all wetlands projects.  He has spoken on water law topics at conferences in Palm Springs, Irvine and Santa Barbara, California and Montpellier, France.

Jon is licensed in both Utah and California.

Experience

• Attorney, Mabey Wright & James, 2010-Present
• Attorney, Somach Simmons & Dunn, Sacramento, CA, 2006-2009
• Attorney, Ellison Schneider & Harris, Sacramento, CA, 2003-2006
• Intern, California Attorney General’s Office, Public Rights Division, 2002
• Extern, U.S. District Court, District of Utah, Magistrate Judge Ronald Boyce, 2001

Professional Associations and Activities

• Public Service Vice Chair—American Bar Association, Water Resources Committee, 2009-Present
• Vice Chair – American Bar Association, Annual Water Law Conference, 2006-Present
• Member, Salt Lake County Bar Association
• Member, Utah State Bar (Energy, Natural Resources, and Environmental Law Section; Young Lawyers Division)
• Board of Trustees—Sacramento River Watershed Program, 2007-2010
• Sacramento County Bar Association, Environmental Section, Executive Committee, 2008-2009
• Reporter – California Water Law and Policy Reporter, 2006-2008

Education

• JD, University of California, Davis
• BA, English, Brigham Young University

Presentations

• The Seminar Group, Water Transfers and Supply Development: Meeting California’s Growing Water Needs, March 5, 2009, Santa Barbara, California: Area-of-Origin Water Rights.
• UNESCO, University of California, Irvine, and USGS, Water Scarcity, Global Changes and Groundwater Management Responses, December 2, 2008, Irvine, California: U.S. Water Rights Law: A Model for Sustainable Water Governance and Allocation?
• International Water Resources Association, 13th World Water Congress, September 1-4, 2008, Montepellier, France: Does U.S. Takings Law Provide a Good Model for International Water Right Expropriation Cases?
• Water Reuse Association 2007 California Section Annual Conference, March 4-6, 2007, Palm Springs, California: Case Studies of Conflicts Between the Water Rights Process and Water Recycling Policies: Obtaining A Change Petition to Use Recycled Water.

Publications

• Two Rivers Meet: At the Confluence of Crossborder Water Law and Foreign Investment Law, essay in Foreign Investment and Sustainable Development (Co-author w/ Paul Stanton Kibel)(Forthcoming, Kluwer 2010).
• Wetlands in A Post-Rapanos World, Sacramento Lawyer Magazine (May 2008).
• Rio Grande Designs: Texans’ NAFTA Water Claims Against Mexico, 25 Berkeley J. Int. L. 228 (2007) (Co-author w/ Paul Stanton Kibel).
• The Steepest Hurdle in Obtaining A Clean Water Act Section 404 Permit: Complying with EPA’s 404(b)(1) Guidelines’ Least Environmentally Damaging Practicable Alternative Requirement, 24 UCLA J. Envtl. L. & Pol’y 235 (2006).
• Complying with EPA’s 404(b)(1) Guidelines in Obtaining 404 Permit: Determining the Least Environmentally Damaging Alternative, 22 Cal. R. Prop. J., No. 4, 16 (2004).
• An Analysis of the 2001 National Energy Policy: Is a Domestic Production-based Oil Policy Appropriate for the United States?, 12 Penn. State. Envtl. L. Rev. 307 (2004).
• Is Ignorance Bliss for Potentially Responsibility Parties Under CERCLA?, 25 Environs Envtl. L. & Pol’y J. 1 (2001).

Bar Admissions

• Utah
• California

Languages

• Spanish