About Barton Hurst Thompson
Barton Hurst Thompson Jr. is a licensed attorney admitted to practice law in the State of California. He was admitted to the California State Bar in 1976. His license is currently in active status. Professor Thompson is the Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law at Stanford Law School, where he also serves as the Perry L. McCarty Director and senior fellow of the Woods Institute for the Environment. His office is located at Stanford Law School, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Building Laws, Stanford, CA 94305-8610.
Professor Thompson earned his Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration degrees from Stanford Law School in 1976. Prior to law school, he completed his undergraduate education at Stanford University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1972. During his time at Stanford Law School, he was a member of the Law Review and participated in the school's clinical legal education program.
Professor Thompson specializes in environmental and natural resources law and policy. He has contributed extensively to scholarship on environmental issues, including the future of endangered species, fisheries, and the use of economic techniques for regulating the environment. His practice encompasses all stages of litigation, including initial case evaluation, discovery, mediation, settlement negotiations, and trial proceedings in both state and federal courts. In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court appointed him as the special master in Montana v. Wyoming, a case that could affect water rights throughout the Yellowstone River system.
Throughout his career, Professor Thompson has handled cases in the Superior Court of California for the County of San Francisco, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He has also appeared before the California Court of Appeal on multiple occasions. Prior to joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1986, he was a partner at O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles and taught at UCLA School of Law. He was a law clerk to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Joseph T. Sneed of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Professor Thompson is an active member of the California State Bar and the American Bar Association. He serves on the board of the Resources Legacy Fund and the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, and is a California trustee for The Nature Conservancy. He is also a board member of the American Farmland Trust and the Natural Heritage Institute. He previously served as a member of the Science Advisory Board for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Professor Thompson is fluent in English and Spanish, allowing him to serve the diverse communities of California effectively.
