J. Nathanael Watson

Nate Watson is an attorney in the firm’s Environment, Land Use & Natural Resources group. Nate’s practice focuses on regulatory compliance and litigation under a variety of federal and state tribal and environmental laws—including the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Clean Water Act (CWA), Clean Air Act (CAA), and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA)—and with regard to such matters as Fifth Amendment takings, Indian Gaming and land-into-trust issues, tribal recognition, federal common law trespass actions, and First Amendment freedom of association.

Prior to joining Stoel Rives, Nate was a trial attorney for the Environment & Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice—from 2009 to 2013 for the division’s Natural Resources Section in Washington, D.C., and from 2014 to 2017 for its Indian Resources Section in Denver, Colo. Nate began his DOJ career through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. After law school, he was a law clerk for the Honorable Andrew J. Kleinfeld of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.