Barbara Cosens

Barbara joined the law faculty at the University of Idaho in 2004 as an Associate Professor.  She was granted tenure in 2009 and promoted to full professor in 2010.  She teaches Water Law, Water Policy, Law and Science, and a leads a team taught course in Interdisciplinary Methods in Water Resources.  She is a PI on development of the new Water Resources graduate degree program at UI which includes options for concurrent J.D./M.S. and J.D./Ph.D. degrees.  Her research interests include resilience and the law, the integration of law and science in water resource management and dispute resolution, and the recognition and settlement of Native American water rights.  She was previously an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies Program at San Francisco State University, and has served as both a mediator and negotiator in transboundary water disputes.  Barbara is a member of the California, Montana, and Colorado Bars.  Following law school she clerked for Justice Lohr of the Colorado Supreme Court.   Barbara served as lead negotiator for water right negotiations between the Montana Reserved Water Rights Commission and the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation, the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort Belknap Reservation and the Blackfeet Tribe from 1991 to 2000.