Jody L. Williams - Lawyer in Salt Lake City, UT

For more than 30 years, Ms. Williams has helped clients navigate the complexities of doing business in the Mountain West, with a special focus on and a national reputation for water law. She understands the complex, competing demands for water across the region and the political, economic, and social contexts in which disputes arise. As a long-time problem solver, Ms. Williams has negotiated resolution of these conflicts with agencies, diverse stakeholders, and public interest groups. She is recognized throughout the industry for her knowledge of water rights, natural resources, commercial real estate transactions, and energy law. She has specialized in water issues in the Bear River Basin her entire career.

Ms. Williams was appointed by President Clinton, and reappointed by President Bush, to the Utah Reclamation Mitigation Conservation Commission, a federal agency responsible for mitigating environmental impacts from developing Utah's Colorado River apportionment by the Central Utah Project.

Ms. Williams has wide-ranging experience representing purchasers and sellers of water rights, licensing and permitting complex private and public water development projects, permitting energy development, acquiring approval to change the beneficial use of water, and performing due diligence review of water rights and real estate. She has negotiated complex public/private agreements regarding water regulated under an interstate compact. Ms. Williams has experience negotiating with state and federal water regulating and permitting agencies, representing developers of energy generation projects and natural resources companies, and acquiring water rights for developers and energy generating facilities. Her clients include industrial, commercial, and residential developers, water conservancy districts, energy and mining companies, ranchers, and water companies.

Prior to joining Holland Hart, Ms. Williams served on the Executive Committee and as the Managing Partner of the Salt Lake City office of an international law firm. Before entering private practice, she acted as in-house counsel at PacifiCorp, an electric utility company operating in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, and California.

Ms. Williams served as chair of the Utah Wildlife Board and chair of the Utah State Bar Energy Natural Resources Committee, from which she received the Lawyer of the Year award.