John Thorson

Plains, Montana

John Thorson is Assistant Chief Administrative Law Judge with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in San Francisco concentrating on water cases, adjudicatory matters, and alternative dispute resolution. For a decade, Thorson was Special Master for Arizona's general stream adjudications. He has consulted on water law issues concerning the Missouri River, Colorado River, Columbia River, San Francisco Bay-Delta, Rio Grande, Red River of the North, Mackenzie River, Big Horn River, among others. Thorson also served as counsel for the Western Governors' Conference and Executive Director, Conference of Western Attorneys General.

From New Mexico, Thorson received his law degree from Boalt Hall, University of California at Berkeley, where he was an editor of the California Law Review, and his doctorate in public administration from the University of Southern California (USC). He is a member of the bars of four states and the U.S. Supreme Court bar.

Thorson has served as Chair of the Water Resources Committee and Publications Officer of the ABA Section of Environment, Energy and Resources. He is also co-founder/co-convenor of Dividing the Waters, a project for judges involved in complex water litigation.

Thorson has authored or co-authored four books and over fifty articles. He teaches as adjunct faculty at the University of San Francisco School or Law and USC. He served on the Managing the Columbia River Committee of the National Research Council/National Academies of Science.

Thorson's work on the Missouri River does not reflect the opinion of the CPUC.

John Thorson's Resume [176kb PDF, 14 pages]

For comments or questions about this website, please contact: usiecr@ecr.gov. This page was last updated 7/17/2019.