Jeff is a senior practitioner in Givens Pursley’s natural resources, environmental and energy group. Jeff practices chiefly in the areas of water rights, environmental law, endangered species, wetlands, mining and public lands. He has been active on behalf of many clients in the Snake River Basin water rights adjudication since it began in 1987. He has negotiated and helped fashion settlements with Indian Tribes and the Federal Government concerning reserved water rights claims. He has argued several cases in the Idaho Supreme Court on water law issues. He frequently appears before the Idaho Department of Water Resources on behalf of clients, including trying contested cases pertaining to water rights applications and transfers.
Jeff is co-author of the Idaho Water Law Handbook.
In February 2001, the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College conferred upon Jeff the law school’s Distinguished Environmental Law Graduate Award. The award is presented to those graduates who have made significant contributions in the fields of environmental and natural resources law. Jeff received the Idaho State Bar Association’s Pro Bono Service Award for 1991. He is also listed in The Best Lawyers in America and in Mountain States Super Lawyers in the fields of Environmental and Natural Resources Law, and in The International Who’s Who of Mining Lawyers.
Jeff is a frequent lecturer to business, government, and professional groups in the areas of water law, environmental law, and natural resources law and policy. He has published several articles in these fields. His professional and civic activities include: former Trustee, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation and currently Idaho Reporter for the Foundation’s Mineral Law and Water Law Newsletters; past president, Water Law Section of the Idaho State Bar; past president of the Idaho Nordic Group, a winter sports advocacy organization. He has served on other state and community boards and volunteers for various causes in his community.
Jeff has been married to Kay Hummel since 1981. They have two boys, Wyatt (21) and Charlie (17).
