We are pleased to announce we have completed a national search for the inaugural pair of Getches-Wilkinson Water Law Fellows.
The Getches-Wilkinson Water Fellows program was initiated by a generous donation from David Bonderman, a lawyer, businessman, and significant supporter of conservation efforts. The matching funds came from an anonymous GWC supporter as well as the Water Funder Initiative, a collaborative effort to identify and activate promising water solutions through strategic philanthropic investments in the United States, starting in the West.
The intensive two-year program will immerse the two Fellows in the real-world challenges of water law and policy. They will address critical issues affecting western watersheds, conduct reform-oriented research on pressing issues in the field, and interact with public and private sector leaders to inform policymaking. The Fellows will be actively engaged in water law reform in the public interest and will hone their leadership, communication, advocacy, and research skills. The overarching objective is to create a matchless educational and mentoring experience that will prepare the Fellows to become leaders in the field.
Welcome to our inaugural Getches-Wilkinson Water Law Fellows
Chelsea Colwyn
Chelsea Colwyn fell in love with rivers the first time she went rafting on the Arkansas River in Colorado. Since then, she has turned her love for rivers into an academic and career focus. Colwyn has worked as a Fulbright Scholar in Adelaide, South Australia, studying environmental water buybacks, a Research Fellow with Vermont Law School’s Water and Justice Program, studying the history of the U.S. Forest Service and California water law, a Hansard Society Research Fellow at the London School of Economics, studying England’s privatized water sector, and for American Rivers. She currently works as a tribal staff attorney and teaches a public land management summer law course. Colwyn graduated from Dartmouth College in 2004, earned a master’s in environmental law and policy from Vermont Law School in 2011, and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 2018, where she was selected as a Wyss Scholar for Western conservation. In her free time, she loves being outdoors with her husband and two young daughters.
Jaime Garcia
Jaime Garcia is excited to join the Getches-Wilkinson Center as one of its newest fellows. Prior to accepting this position, Garcia was working as a litigation attorney for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in Austin, Texas. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and received his law degree from the Wake Forest University School of Law. Garcia is also an adjunct faculty member for Wake Forest’s Masters in the Studies of Law program. He is excited to bring his experience and passion for preserving our natural resources to this fellowship. His love of outdoor pursuits drives his support and passion for increasing access and conservation of public lands and waters. When not practicing law, Garcia enjoys hiking and kayaking with his wife and their three dogs. In addition to their own dogs, he and his wife foster for local animal rescues.
For more information, contact Shaun LaBarre at shaun.labarre@colorado.edu or 303.492.1286.