Meet Our Team.

Peter W. Culp

Partner

Office:    (602) 888-7011 x10

Mobile:       (602) 402-6788

pculp@culpkelly.law

Education

J.D. University of Arizona, summa cum laude (2001)

B.A. University of California, honors in the major and college honors (1994)

Awards and Recognitions

Fellow, American College of Environmental Lawyers

Recognized in Chambers USA for environmental matters, including water resources law

Recognitions in Best Lawyers in America, Southwest Super Lawyers, and Arizona Business Lawyers

National Law Journal Energy and Environmental Trailblazers Award, 2015

U.S. Secretary of Interior, Partners in Conservation Award (2009 & 2014)

Arizona Capitol Times Leader of the Year Award in Public Policy - Environment (2014)

Nature Conservancy Outstanding Conservation Achievement Award (2013)

AZ Conservation Champion Award (2011)

Admissions

Arizona

Peter is a nationally-recognized Western water law and water policy attorney, and has more than 20 years of experience in water law and policy, natural resources law and policy, U.S. environmental law, and federal Indian law. His experience includes representing municipalities, water agencies, industrial and energy concerns, land developers, investment firms, and nonprofit organizations and foundations in matters related to surface water rights, groundwater rights, state and federal regulation, and the Law of the Colorado River, as well as with regard to the development of federal, state and local policy solutions and the design and deployment of innovative investment tools for the management of local and regional water resource scarcity. He also has extensive experience with regard to facility siting, permitting, and regulatory compliance arising under the major federal and state environmental laws; land development and master planning, development rights, public infrastructure financing, and representing clients doing business on tribal lands and issues related to the management, development and conservation of state trust lands and federal public lands. 

Peter has served on a variety of boards and commissions related to water and natural resource issues and policy matters, including serving by repeated gubernatorial appointment to the Arizona Colorado River Advisory Commission. He also continues to participate in a series of binational working groups under the US Department of State, International Boundary and Water Commission, developing and implementing new bi-national strategies for the management of Colorado River water supplies in the face of growing water scarcity. This work has included high-level participation in the development, negotiation and implementation of five new international agreements (Minutes 316, 317, 318,319, and 323) that have significantly re-shaped the relationship between the US and Mexico with regard to water resource management and ecosystem protection.

As a result of his extensive public policy work, Peter has been twice awarded the Partners in Conservation Award by the U.S. Department of Interior, given by US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar in 2009 in connection with his participation in the negotiation of a new seven-state and federal agreement with regard to the management of the Colorado River, and by U.S. Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell in 2014 in connection with his participation in the international and domestic negotiations and implementation of Minute 319. For the latter work, he was also a recipient of The Nature Conservancy of Arizona’s 2013 Outstanding Conservation Achievement Award and the Arizona Capitol Times Leader of the Year Award in Public Policy

At the state and local level, Peter has been a high-level participant in a number of water and public lands policy and planning efforts. This work has included service on Arizona’s State Water Advisory Group developing successful state-wide water reform legislation, working with the Arizona Department of Water Resources on the development of water supply and demand models for the 2012 Colorado River Basin Supply and Demand Study and Arizona's Water Resources Development Commission, supporting state trust land reform efforts in collaboration with the Arizona State Land Department, and working with state water managers to develop a successful solution to the international environmental controversy related to operation of the Yuma Desalting Plant. Peter also advises several nonprofit foundations, serves as a board advisor for the Arizona Heritage Alliance and the Tamarisk Coalition and serves on the Board of Visitors for the University of Arizona College of Law.

Peter’s previous experience includes 15 years in the Phoenix office of Squire Patton Boggs, LLP; after joining the partnership in 2008, he managed the firm's Western water and natural resources practice for an additional 8 years. Peter also worked as a law clerk in the Indian Resources Section of the US Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and as an in-house attorney with the Sonoran Institute, a nonprofit organization that works on land and water policy issues throughout the intermountain West. Prior to embarking on his legal career, Peter’s endeavors included managing a nonprofit public health technology enterprise for C. Everett Koop, the former US Surgeon General, managing forest fires in the Northern Rockies as part of an Incident Management Team, and driving long-haul refrigerated freight in the US and Canada.