Barton H. “Buzz” Thompson, Jr.
Barton H. “Buzz” Thompson, Jr.
- Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law
- Senior Fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment
- Room N343, Neukom Building
Expertise
- Climate Change Law & Policy
- Conservation Law & Policy
- Environment & the Law
- International Environment Law
- Land Use Law & Policy
- Natural Resources Law & Policy
- Nonprofit Organizations
- Property & Real Estate Law
- Regulatory Policy
- Supreme Court
- Sustainable Development Law & Policy
- Takings
- Water Law & Policy
Biography
A leading expert in environmental and natural resources law and policy, Barton H. “Buzz” Thompson, Jr., JD/MBA ’76 (BA ’72), has contributed a large body of scholarship on environmental issues ranging from the future of endangered species and fisheries to the use of economic techniques for regulating the environment. He is the founding director of the law school’s Environmental and Natural Resources Program, Perry L. McCarty Director and senior fellow of the Woods Institute for the Environment, and a senior fellow (by courtesy) at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. In 2008, the Supreme Court appointed Professor Thompson to serve as the special master in Montana v. Wyoming (137 Original). Professor Thompson is chairman of the board of the Resources Legacy Fund and the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, a California trustee for The Nature Conservancy, and a board member of both the American Farmland Trust and the Sonoran Institute. He previously served as a member of the Science Advisory Board for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1986, he was a partner at O’Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles and a lecturer at the UCLA School of Law. He was a law clerk to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist ’52 (BA ’48, MA ’48) of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Joseph T. Sneed of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Education
- BA Stanford University 1972
- JD/MBA Stanford Law School/Stanford Graduate School of Business 1976
Related Organizations
Courses
Affiliations & Honors
- Chair, Science Advisory Board Committee on Valuation of Ecological Systems and Services, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Chair, Board of Directors, Natural Heritage Institute
- Perry L. McCarty Director, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University
- Senior Fellow (by courtesy), Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University
- Member, Science Advisory Board, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Member, Board of Trustees, California Chapter, The Nature Conservancy of California
- Member, Board of Directors, Resources Legacy Fund
- Member, Board of Directors, Resources Legacy Fund Foundation
- Member, Board of Directors, American Farmland Trust
- Recipient, John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching, Stanford, 1993
Professor Buzz Thompson on the Need for Policy Changes to Foster New Water Tech and Combat Drought
Key Works
News
What If California Had Won The 1963 Case Over The Division Of The Colorado River?
...& The West
This is the first of a series of occasional posts looking at at how the West would have changed if a major historical event had — or had not — occurred. Scholars are often wary of such counterfactual explorations, but, carefully framed, they can help our understanding of today’s disputes.…
Read More