Jennifer Buckman has more than 20 years of experience representing public agencies and private clients on water and land use issues involving the federal and state Endangered Species Acts, federal reclamation and other water supply laws, and the California Environmental Quality Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. She also has extensive administrative law experience and has negotiated complex matters, such as the San Joaquin River Restoration settlement agreement and its implementing legislation, with regulatory agencies such as the United States Bureau of Reclamation, State Water Resources Control Board, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Before joining BKS, Ms. Buckman served as the in-house General Counsel for Friant Water Authority, a joint powers agency that delivers water to over one million acres of highly productive irrigated farm land on the east side of the southern San Joaquin Valley. Prior to joining Friant, she was in private practice for 16 years, where she represented clients in matters concerning a host of environmental and public law issues. 

Mr. Emrick has over 30 years’ experience in water rights, land use, business/real estate litigation and environmental matters. He practices throughout California. He earned his juris doctorate degree from the University of California School of Law, San Francisco in 1990. Mr. Emrick is admitted in both State and Federal Courts in California including the First. Third and Fifth District Courts of Appeals as well as the United States Northern and Eastern District Courts. Mr. Emrick has also practiced before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal. Mr. Emrick has represented numerous public agencies and private parties over the years on water rights matters, including water districts and cities. This experience includes water rights litigation, water rights due diligence and verification, water rights valuations, and practice before the State Water Resources Control Board. Mr. Emrick is a frequent lecturer on water and property rights law. He has appeared on radio programs including KZYX in Mendocino County.

Mr. Hicks is a California water law, real property, and conservation attorney who represents a variety of public interest organizations, landowners, and others on select public policy, transactional, administrative, regulatory, and litigation matters. Before law school, he was an energy and water policy analyst at the Natural Heritage Institute and the founder and executive director of the Headwaters Institute. He has interned at the San Francisco Office of the City Attorney, California State Water Resources Control Board, and American Rivers. Mr. Hicks founded and chaired the inaugural California Water Law Symposium sponsored by leading northern California law schools and is a Board member. He is the author of the Water Education Foundation’s 2020 Layperson’s Guide to Water Rights Law, recognized as the most thorough explanation of California water rights law available to non-lawyers. He is a former whitewater raft guide, kayaker, and Colorado Outward Bound School instructor. Mr. Hicks holds a J.D. degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law and a B.A. degree from the University of Vermont.

Hugo A. Loáiciga, Ph.D., P.E., B.C. WRE, PH is the Director of the Hydrology Laboratory and Distinguished Professor with the University of California Santa Barbara. His fields of specialization include Groundwater Hydrology/Water Resource Planning, Management and Natural Resources and Applied Mathematics/Statistics. Dr. Loáiciga has earned numerous awards and professional distinctions some of which include: 2026 Pioneers in Groundwater Award, American Society of Civil Engineers/Environmental and Water Resources Institute, 2025 Fellow, Environmental and Water Resources Institute, 2025 Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project and University of California, Santa Barbara, and the 2024 Outstanding Research and Innovation Award, American Academy of Water Resources Engineers (AAWRE). He has been published in 441 Scholarly Publications. Dr. Loáiciga earned his Master of Science degree and his Ph.D. in Hydrology & Water Resources from the University of California, Davis.