​Burns, Figa & Will, P.C.

​ ​Stephen H. Leonhardt is a shareholder with the firm of Burns, Figa & Will, P.C. in Greenwood Village, Colorado.  His practice concentrates on water law and related litigation, appeals and transactions.  Mr. Leonhardt has represented public agencies and private parties on a variety of water matters and in hundreds of water court proceedings.  He is an active member of the Colorado Water Congress, and has represented the Water Congress and other clients in legal proceedings involving proposed ballot initiatives in Colorado.
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Mr. Leonhardt graduated from Stanford Law School and holds a degree in civil engineering from Washington University in St. Louis.  He has been listed in Best Lawyers in America for Water Law since 2010.  He has spoken and written articles on water law issues, on legal ethics, and on the initiative and referendum process in Colorado.  He co-authored The Public Trust Doctrine: What It Is, Where It Came From, And Why Colorado Does Not (And Should Not) Have One, 16 U. Denv. Water L. Rev. 48 (2012), and a similar 1994 article.  His latest co-authored article, The Public Trust Doctrine and Environmental Rights Initiatives: A Tectonic Shift in Colorado Property Rights in Natural Resources?, was published in a 2016 edition of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Journal.