Biography

A leading expert in environmental and natural resources law and policy, Barton H. “Buzz” Thompson 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, co-director of the Woods Institute for the Environment, and a senior scholar at the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies.

Professor Thompson is chairman of the Natural Heritage Institute and a board member of the the Nature Conservancy of California, the American Farmland Trust, the Resources Legacy Fund, and the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1986, Professor Thompson was a partner at O’Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles and a lecturer at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law. He was a law clerk to the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist ’52 (BA ’50) of the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge Joseph T. Sneed of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Key Works

• Barton H. Thompson, Jr., Tragically Difficult: The Obstacles to Governing the Commons, 30 Environmental Law 241-278 (2000).
• Barton H. Thompson, Jr., People or Prairie Chickens: The Uncertain Search for Optimal Biodiversity, 51 Stanford Law Review 1127-1185 (1999).
• Barton H. Thompson, Jr., The Endangered Species Act: A Case Study in Takings & Incentives, 49 Stanford Law Review 305-80 (1997).
• Barton H. Thompson, Jr., Institutional Perspectives on Water Policy and Markets, 81 California Law Review 671-764 (1993).
• Barton H. Thompson, Jr., Judicial Takings, 76 Virginia Law Review 1449 (1990).

In the News

• Two Neighbors, Both Trying To Go Green, Get In Each Others' Way
  CBS News, April 07, 2008
• Panel Urges EPA To Use 'Ecosystem Services' In National, Local Decisions
  Risk Policy Report, March 18, 2008
• Stanford, Aquarium, and MBARI launch new centre to tackle global threats to oceans
  Fish Update Magazine, January 11, 2008
• New Center to Focus on Solving Ocean Problems
  Los Angeles Times, January 10, 2008
• New Center Will Focus on World's Oceans
  San Francisco Chronicle, January 09, 2008

Courses & Programs

Courses

• Property

Programs

• Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program (ENRLP), Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law

Publications & Cases

Recent Publications View All

• Jeff Koseff and Buzz Thompson, Transforming Ivory Towers to Eco-versities, Stanford Report, August 22, 2007.
• Katherine Ellison and Barton H. "Buzz" Thompson Jr., Sustainable Agriculture Should Become New Farm Bill Priority, San Jose Mercury News, July 26, 2007, p. 15A.
• Barton H. Thompson, Jr. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist: Prizing People, Place, and History, 58 Stanford Law Review 1695 (2006).
• Joseph L. Sax, Barton H. Thompson, Jr., John Dr. Leshy and Robert H. Abrams, Legal Control of Water Resources, St. Paul, MN: Thomson/West, 4th ed., 2006.
• Paul Goldstein and Barton H. Thompson, Jr., Property Law: Ownership, Use, and Conservation, New York: Foundation Press, 2006.
• Barton H. Thompson, Jr. Conservative Environmental Thought: The Bush Administration and Environmental Policy, 32 Ecology Law Quarterly 307 (2005).
• Barton H. Thompson, Jr. Uncertainty and Markets in Water Resources, 36 Mcgeorge Law Review 117 (2005).
• Barton H. Thompson, Jr., Water Management and Land Use Planning: Is it Time for Closer Coordination? in Wet Growth: Should Water Law Control Land Use? Craig Anthony Arnold, ed., Washington, DC: Environmental Law Institute, 2005.
• Barton H. Thompson, Jr. Watershed Protection: Capturing the Benefits of Nature's Water Supply Services, 29 Natural Resources Forum 98 (2005). (with S.L. Postel)
• Barton H. Thompson, Jr. The Trouble with Time: Influencing the Conservation Choices of Future Generations, 44 Natural Resources Journal 601 (2004).

Affiliations & Honors

Professional Affiliations

• Chair, Science Advisory Board Committee on Valuation of Ecological Systems and Services, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Chair, Board of Directors, Natural Heritage Institute
• Co-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

Honors and Awards

• Recipient, John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching, Stanford, 1993