Jason Robison

Professor Robison had the privilege of joining the UW faculty in fall 2013. He is the Carl M. Williams Professor of Law & Social Responsibility, the Co-Director of the Gina Guy Center for Land & Water Law, and an adjunct professor at the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources. Professor Robison earned his S.J.D. and LL.M. at Harvard Law School, J.D. at the University of Oregon School of Law, and B.S. in environmental studies at the University of Utah. Prior to coming to UW, he clerked for the Oregon Supreme Court and held legal and policy positions with the Harvard Water Security Initiative, Harvard Law School’s Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, Colorado River Governance Initiative at the University of Colorado Law School’s Getches-Wilkinson Center, Special Litigation Unit of the Oregon Department of Justice, and Motions Department and Office of Appellate Legal Counsel of the Oregon Court of Appeals.

Professor Robison loves western North America, and his writing revolves around water, public lands, and Native peoples in this magical part of the world, as well as comparative and international projects involving these areas. He authors the treatise Law of Water Rights and Resources (Thomson Reuters 2025), and he is the editor of Cornerstone at the Confluence: Navigating the Colorado River Compact's Next Century (Univ. of Ariz. Press 2022), and the lead editor of Vision & Place: John Wesley Powell & Reimagining the Colorado River Basin (Univ. of Cal. Press 2020). Recent journal articles include Beyond Binary Co-Sovereignty: Native Nations & Water Compacts, 135 Yale L.J. ___ (forthcoming 2026); Relational River: Arizona v. Navajo Nation & the Colorado, 72 UCLA L. Rev. 116 (2025); and Equity Along the Yellowstone, 96 Colo. L. Rev. 599 (2025).

Professor Robison’s writing and teaching are intertwined. His regular courses include Federal Courts, Public Lands & Natural Resources Law, and Water Law & Policy, and he also leads alternating Colorado River, Native Waters, and International Environmental Law seminars. In addition, Professor Robison enjoys teaching Federal Indian Law, Land Use Law, and Property Law, as well as field courses in Chile and the Colorado River Basin. Beyond the classroom, he has served on committees for graduate students in the Haub School; Program in Ecology; and Ecosystem Science & Management, Geography, and History departments.

Professor Robison was honored to receive the College of Law’s Faculty Research Award in 2025, Outstanding Faculty Award in 2022, and Frank J. Trelease Award in Environmental and Natural Resources Law in 2021. The Chief Washakie Foundation likewise graciously conferred on him the Distinguished Leadership Award in 2019. He is also honored to serve on the Water & Tribes Initiative’s leadership team and the Colorado River Research Group.

Fall 2025 Courses: Colorado River Seminar and Water Law & Policy.