A Critique of the Student Note Entitled “The Battle to Save the Verde: How Arizona’s Water Law Could Destroy One of Its Last Free-Flowing Rivers”

It is undoubtedly a rare thing for a Student Note to evoke such a visceral reaction that it prompts a detailed critique on its merits and underlying bias. The Note entitled, "The Battle to Save the Verde: How Arizona's Water Law Could Destroy One of Its Last Free-Flowing Rivers," published by the Arizona Law Review in Spring 2009, is such a Note. Like other published Notes, it is offered as an objective work of legal scholarship designed to influence the bar, the bench and other readers on the relative merits of an existing legal controversy—in this case, the Big Chino Water Ranch Project (Project).
But, in fact, as this critique will demonstrate, the Note is an advocacy piece for opponents of the Project that is both inaccurate and incomplete, thereby failing to fairly and objectively evaluate the legal validity of the issues presented. Each of these flaws alone is sufficient to mar the credibility of the Note but, in concert, render the Note wholly unreliable. Written by Colleen Auer, Deputy Town Attorney, Town of Prescott Valley. View Document.