Larry practices in the area of water and environmental law as it relates to the exercise of water rights. He represents clients in both the Gila River Adjudication and the Little Colorado River Adjudication pending in the state courts. He also represents a major decreed right holder under the 1935 Globe Equity Decree, a consent decree entered in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. Larry has advised states in connection with disputes over waters of the Missouri River and the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River System.

Larry is a former Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, and held numerous other leadership positions in that Section as well.

• J.D., with distinction, University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law
• B.A., University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Order of the Coif

OTHER EXPERIENCE

• Appeals
• Water Law

• Representing a client in litigation over the water right claims of the Hopi Tribe in In re Hopi Tribe Priority, No. CV 6417-201, Superior Court of Arizona, Apache County. In January 2014 he argued objections to the Special Master’s April 2013 report, which focused on the priority of the Hopi Tribe’s water rights.
• Represented clients opposing a claim by the Arizona State Land Department in both the Gila River and Little Colorado River Adjudications to a federal reserved water right for millions of acres of state trust lands. The Arizona Supreme Court held that no such reserved right exists. In re General Adjudication of All Rights to Use Water in Gila River Sys. & Source, 289 P.3d 936 (Ariz. 2012).
• Representing a client in litigation over the United States’ claim to a federal reserved water right for Fort Huachuca, a military installation in southeastern Arizona. In re Fort Huachuca, No. W1-11-605, Superior Court of Arizona, Maricopa County.
• Representing a client in litigation over the United States’ claim to a federal reserved water right for the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. In re San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, No. W1-11-232, Superior Court of Arizona, Maricopa County.
• Active on behalf of clients in efforts to resolve various federal water right claims through settlement.
• Represented the Town of Payson, Arizona, in negotiating an historic agreement with the Salt River Valley Water Users’ Association and the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District. Under the agreement, which was approved by the parties in the Spring of 2008, the Town acquired the right to an average of 3,000 acre feet per year of water from C.C. Cragin Reservoir. That quantity of water, combined with groundwater pumping the agreement allows the Town to conduct and the Town’s effective water conservation program, should provide a supply sufficient to meet the Town’s demand at anticipated build-out. The contract is the result of more than a decade of effort by the Town staff and Larry to obtain access to water from this reservoir.
• Advise clients on water resource planning, and the interplay between utilization of water resources and the impact of various environmental laws.

• Chambers USA, Leading Lawyers for Business, 2005-2022
• Best Lawyers in America^®, Litigation – Environmental, Natural Resources Law, Water Law, 1999-2023
• Best Lawyers in America^®, Lawyer of the Year, Water Law, 2011, 2020
• Southwest Super Lawyers^®, Energy and Natural Resources, 2007; 2010-2013 and 2016-2020
• Best Lawyers in America^®, Lawyer of the Year, Litigation – Environmental, 2012, 2016, 2018
• Best Lawyers in America^®, Lawyer of the Year, Natural Resources Law, 2015
• AV^® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated (the highest rating available), by Martindale-Hubbell

• Speaker, “CA Water: Building for the Future,” 2018 ACWA Spring Conference and Exhibition, May 2018
• Panelist, “Beyond D-1641: How the Water Quality Control Planning Process Works,” 2017 Association of California Water Agencies Spring Conference & Exhibition, May 2017

• Member, American Bar Association
• Past Chair, Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, American Bar Association
• Past Member of Council and Strategic Planning Committee Chair, Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, American Bar Association
• Past Chair, Water Resources Committee, Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, American Bar Association
• Past Program Chair, Annual Water Law Conference, Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, American Bar Association

• Arizona
• California
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Oregon
• U.S. District Court, District of Arizona
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
• U.S. District Court, District of Nebraska
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
• U.S. Supreme Court