Practice Areas

  • Water Rights Law
  • Natural Resources Law
  • Environmental Law
  • Irrigation Company Representation
  • Administrative Law before Utah State Engineer

 

Bar Admissions

  • California, 2004
  • Utah, 2010

 

Professional Activities

  • Co-Chair—American Bar Association, Water Resources Committee, 2013-2016
  • Reporter—Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, Water Law Newsletter, 2013-Present
  • Vice Chair – American Bar Association, Annual Water Law Conference, 2006-2016
  • 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 Cal, Davis, 2003
  • BA, Brigham Young University, 2000

 

Publications

Purchase

 

Jonathan R. Schutz

Partner

  (801) 359-3663 
  VCARD

 

Jon is a partner at the firm. He is a Utah water attorney specializing in Utah water law and water rights. He represents municipalities, public agencies, irrigation companies, ski resorts, individuals, and businesses in all aspects of Utah water rights law. He has litigated in state and federal court and appeared in administrative water rights hearings and settlement negotiations in water right enforcement actions before the Utah State Engineer.

Jon wrote An Overview Of Utah Water Rights Law available here. This book attempts to toe the line between being a thorough and accessible guide to water users and managers while not getting
lost in the minutia of water law.


Jon has been listed in Utah Business magazine’s Legal Elite in Energy & Natural Resources in 2016, 2018-2021 and a Rising Stars by Super Lawyers in 2016.

Jon has written and presented on various national and international water law topics, including Present perfected rights on the Colorado River, 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, Salt Lake City, Washington D.C., France, and Brazil.

Jon is licensed in both Utah and California.

Presentations

  • CLE International, Utah Water Law, October 11, 2017, Salt Lake City, UT: Water Rights Litigation and Legislation Update
  • Utah Water Law & Policy Seminar, March 20, 2017, St. George, UT: Meeting a New Reality: Exploring How Sister States Approach and Actualize Water Conservation
  • CLE International, Utah Water Law, October 24, 2016, Salt Lake City, UT: Water Rights Litigation and Legislation Update
  • CLE International, Utah Water Law, October 5, 2015, Salt Lake City, UT: Shareholder Change Applications and HB43
  • World Bank, Law Justice and Development Week 2012, December 12, 2012, Washington DC: Legal Challenges and Innovations to Secure Respect For Water,.
  • CLE International, Utah Water Law, October 27-28, 2011, Salt Lake City, UT: Water Right Takings, Where Are We?
  • International Water Resources Association, 14th World Water Congress, September 25-29, 2011, Porto de Galinhas, Brazil: Why the Western United States’ Prior Appropriation Water Rights System Should Weather Climate Variability, Particularly Through Water Markets
  • 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

  • Present Perfected Rights, The Most Senior Undefined Water Rights on the Colorado River, University of Denver Water Law Review, Vol. 16, Issue 2 (2013).
  • Why the Western United States' Prior Appropriation Water Rights System Should Weather Climate Variability, Water International, Vol. 37, No. 6 (2012).
  • 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)(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).