Christopher Meyer

Practice Areas

Administrative and Regulatory Law

Environmental Law

Litigation

Natural Resources

Real Estate and Land Use

Road and Access Law

Water Rights

Career

Chris is nationally recognized as a creative thinker, a problem-solver, and a fierce advocate. Best Lawyers in America has named him “Lawyer of the Year” seven times. His clients appreciate his thoughtful insights into the most vexing problems. His books on law are read and studied by the other side.

Professional Memberships

Admissions

Idaho State Bar

Colorado State Bar

District of Columbia State Bar

U.S. District Court (U.S. District Court, 8th, 9th, 10th Circuits)

Publications

Meyer, Urban Growth, Land Use Planning, and Water Rights in Idaho (the Idaho Chapter of a publication by the National Judicial Council) (2017).

Allen, Meyer, Nelson & Lee, Idaho Land Use Planning Handbook, Givens Pursley (2017).

Fereday, Meyer & Creamer, Water Law Handbook: The Acquisition, Use, Transfer, Administration, and Management of Water Rights in Idaho, Givens Pursley (2017).

Meyer, Road Law Handbook: Road Creation and Abandonment Law in Idaho, Givens Pursley (2017).

Meyer, Ethics Handbook: Ethical Considerations for the Client and Lawyer in Idaho, Givens Pursley (2017).

Fereday & Meyer, What is the Federal Reserved Water Rights Doctrine, Really? Answering this Question in Idaho’s Snake River Basin Adjudication, 51 Idaho L. Rev. 341 (2016).

Meyer, Cap Fee Basics and News from the Legal Front, Association of Idaho Cities (2016).

Meyer, The Non-Appropriation Lease After Greater Boise Auditorium District v. Frazier, Idaho Association of Counties (2015).

Meyer, Mitigation of Injury to Water Rights: Law & Strategy in Idaho, The Water Report, at 14 (Dec. 2015).

Meyer, Planning for Future Needs Under the Municipal Water Rights Act of 1996, Association of Idaho Cities Conference on Municipal Issues (2011).

Meyer, Municipal Water Rights and the Growing Communities Doctrine, The Water Report at 1 (Mar. 15, 2010).

Meyer, “Development, Codification, and Application of the Growing Communities Doctrine in Idaho,” presented at American Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, 28th Annual Water Law Conference: Whose Spigot Is It? (Feb. 18-19, 2010).

Meyer, An Introduction to the Law of Interstate Water Allocation: From Compacts to Common Sense, Law Seminars International (2009).

Meyer, Interstate Water Allocation, The Water Report (Aug. 15, 2007).

Meyer, Idaho Chapter Author for Brownfields Law and Practice, Matthew Bender & Co., Inc. (2004) (named Best Law Book of the Year by the American Association of Publishers).

Meyer, A Comprehensive Guide to Redeveloping Contaminated Property (Idaho Chapter), American Bar Association (2002).

Meyer, The Federal Reserved Water Rights Doctrine in a Skeptical Age, 39 American Law Institute – American Bar Assn. 219 (2001) (Westlaw: SG039 ALI-ABA 219).

Meyer, All I Really Need To Know About Legal Ethics I Learned in Law School, 43 The Advocate (Idaho Bar Assn.) 15 (2000).

Allen, Himberger, Honhorst & Meyer, Land Use Law in Idaho, National Business Institute (1999).

Meyer, Aquifer Storage and Recovery in Idaho, University of Idaho (1999).

Meyer, Complying with Environmental and Special Use Regulations, in Land Use Law in Idaho, National Business Institute (1999).

Meyer, Municipal Water Rights in Idaho: The Growing Communities Doctrine and Its Recent Codification, Northwest Water Law & Policy Project (1996).

Meyer, Small Handles on Big Projects: The Federalization of Private Undertakings, 41 Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Institute 5-1 (1995).

Meyer, Instream Flows: Integrating New Uses and New Players into the Prior Appropriation System, in Instream Flow Protection in the West, Natural Resource Law Center (1993).

Meyer, Water Conservation: Looks Can Deceive, in River Voices (1993).

Meyer, Instream Flows: Coming of Age in America, in Proceedings of the Western Regional Instream Flow Conference (1989).

Meyer, Western Water Law: The New Frontier, in Audubon Wildlife Report (1989).

Meyer, New Developments in Water Rights on Public Lands: Federal Rights and State Interests, paper presented at conference sponsored by the Natural Resource Law Center, University of Colorado School of Law, Water as a Public Resource: Emerging Rights and Obligations (1987).

Meyer, Navigating the Wetlands Jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers, 9 Resource L. Notes 3, Natural Resources Law Center (1986).

Meyer, Two papers published in Winning Strategies for Rivers: Proceedings of the Tenth Annual National Conference on Rivers, American Rivers Conservation Council (1985).

Osann, Campbell, Meyer, & Allemang, Shortchanging the Treasury: The Failure of the Department of the Interior to Comply with the Inspector General’s Audit Recommendations to Recover the Costs of Federal Water Projects, National Wildlife Federation (1984).

Anderson, Campbell & Meyer, Solving the Water Crisis, V‑7 Policy Report 9, the Cato Institute (1983).

Meyer, Sporhase v. Nebraska: A Spur to Better Water Resource Management, 1 Envtl. Forum 28, Environmental Law Institute (1983).

Burwell & Meyer, A Citizen’s Guide to Clean Air and Transportation: Implications for Urban Revitalization, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1980).

Meyer, The Effects of Labor Organization on the Functional Distribution of Income in Manufacturing Industries in the United States for the Years 1948 through 1972, Senior Honors Thesis, University of Michigan (1978).

Personal

Recognition

Best Lawyers in America, Listed since 2007 in four categories: Water Law, Land Use and Zoning Law, Natural Resources Law, and Environmental Law.

Named "Lawyer of the Year" in Boise, Idaho in four categories: Land Use and Zoning Law in 2021, 2018, 2015; Natural Resources law in 2019, 2014, 2011; Water law in 2017; Environmental law in 2013.

Mountain States Super Lawyers (www.superlawyers.com) Listed since 2007 for energy and natural resources law. Named to "Top 100 Lawyers" in the Mountain West 2019.

Chambers USA, America's Leading Lawyers for Business (Natural Resources & Environment)

Who’s Who Legal - Environment (www.whoswholegal.com) One of only 11 environmental / natural resources lawyers recognized in Idaho. Listed since 2010.

Litigation Counsel of America (www.litcounsel.org) Inducted in 2010 as fellow in honorary society composed of less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers.

Marquis’ Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who in American Law (www.marquiswhoswho.com)

Martindale-Hubbell (www.martindale.com) Listed since 1996 with highest ranking (AV).

Idaho Yearbook Directory (2001) (www.ridenbaugh.com/catalog.htm) Described as a “key figure in Idaho water law” and “centrally located in the world of Idaho public affairs.” Listed among top 100 most influential Idahoans.

Dividing the Waters, the National Judicial College, a water law training program for judges. Serves on the Board of Advisors.

Work Highlights

Professional Experience

Partner, Givens Pursley LLP (1991-present)

Counsel, National Wildlife Federation, Rocky Mountain Natural Resources Clinic, Boulder, Colorado (1984-1991)

Associate Professor Adjunct, University of Colorado Law School, Boulder, Colorado (1984-1991)

Counsel, National Wildlife Federation, Water Resources Program, Washington, D.C. (1981-1984)

Litigation

Experience

For over three decades, Chris has been a leader in the fields of water law, planning and zoning law, constitutional law, and road and public access law. He has extensive litigation experience at the administrative, district court and appellate levels (including 21 Idaho Supreme Court cases). Best Lawyers in America has named him “Lawyer of the Year” seven times in the fields of land use, water, and natural resources. Super Lawyers placed Chris in the “Top 100 Lawyers” list for the Mountain West. Chris has played a significant role in shaping legislation and is described in the Idaho Yearbook Directory as “centrally located in the world of Idaho public affairs” and “a key figure in Idaho water law.”

Chris serves on the Board of Advisors to the National Judicial College’s “Dividing the Waters” water law program for judges. For two decades, he served as President of the Idaho Environmental Forum. His clients include cities, counties, highway districts, municipal water providers, Fortune Ten companies, energy companies, food producers, mining companies, and land developers. Before joining Givens Pursley in 1991, Chris practiced natural resources law with the National Wildlife Federation in Washington, D.C. and later taught water law and negotiation at the University of Colorado Law School’s environmental law clinic. Chris earned his law degree, cum laude, from the University of Michigan in 1981. He earned is A.B. degree from the same school with high honors in economics, Phi Beta Kappa, James B. Angell Scholar, and Osterweil Prize in Economics.

Education