John Shurts

John Shurts is the Council's General Counsel. His undergraduate degree in history is from The Colorado College, with a law degree from Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland and a Ph.D. degree in American History at the University of Oregon, with an emphasis on environmental and legal history. His dissertation on the origin and development of Indian reserved water rights has been published by the University of Oklahoma Press as Indian Reserved Water Rights: The Winters Doctrine in its Social and Legal Context, 1880s-1930s. John is an adjunct professor at both the University of Portland and Portland State and has been an adjunct at both the law school and the undergraduate campus of Lewis and Clark College, teaching courses in water law and policy, energy law, natural resources law, environmental and natural resources policy, and environmental history.