Litigation, like warfare, often proceeds from an “anything goes” sentiment. But what happens when it obstructs justice and wastes taxpayer money? What happens when lawyers use legal loopholes to maximize their fees, and use their license and position to tie up the legal system? You won’t believe what one woman in Wyoming uncovered.
Karen Budd-Falen‘s exhaustive research efforts yielded a startling discovery: to date, the US government has given attorneys $42 million in funding.
Karen Budd-Falen represents local governments and private citizens and currently serves as legal counsel to the Arizona/New Mexico Coalition of Counties for Stable Economic Growth. Karen was one of the authors of the first local land use plans written for Catron County, New Mexico, the first local government to recognize its right to participate fully as a decision-maker in federal agency decision-making processes. Karen is licensed to practice law before numerous federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, the Federal Court of Claims and the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeal.
Karen’s most recent publications include How To Survive the Bureaucratic Maze – A Guide to the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Appeals Process, 1989; Ecosystem Management: Will National Forests be “Managed” Into National Parks?, 1991; The Right to Graze Livestock on the Federal Lands: The Historical Development of Western Grazing Rights, Idaho Law Review, Spring, 1994; Protecting Community Stability and Local Economies: Opportunities for County Government Influence in Federal Decision and Policy Making Processes, Whitman College, 1996; and Counterpoint: Opportunities Lost and Opportunities Gained: Separating Truth from Myth in the Western Ranching Debate, Karen Budd-Falen editor, Lewis and Clark Law School Environmental Law, 2006.
Karen has been featured in Newsweek Magazine’s “Who’s Who: 20 for the Future” for her work on property rights issues (September 30, 1991). Karen was awarded Wyoming’s Outstanding Ag Citizen from the State of Wyoming’s agriculture citizens in 2001, the “Always There Helping” award from the New Mexico Stock Growers Association in 2003 and the “Bud’s Contract” award from the New Mexico Public Lands Council in 2006. Karen has presented testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Forest Health, Washington, D.C., April 8, 1997, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Resources, October 26, 1998, and the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Resources Task Force on Improving the National Environmental Policy Act, August 1, 2005.
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