Arthur L. Littleworth

Partner

Riverside
3750 University Avenue, Suite 400
P.O. Box 1028

TEL: (951) 826-8207
FAX: (951) 686-3083
Arthur.Littleworth@bbklaw.com

Arthur L. Littleworth is one of the preeminent water law attorneys in the United States and Senior Partner at the law firm of Best Best & Krieger LLP.  In his fifty years of legal practice, he has participated in all aspects of water law, including transactional and litigation matters.  In 2003 he was named as one of the “Top 100” lawyers in California.

Mr. Littleworth represented the State Water Contractors and their 20 million users who receive water from the State Water Project in the Bay-Delta hearings before the State Water Resources Control Board, and in related litigation and extensive statewide settlement negotiations.  He was also involved in the Mono  Lake litigation, representing local water users in that controversy.  He represented the East Bay Municipal Utility District in a major lawsuit challenging the District’s contract with the Bureau of Reclamation to take water from the American  River, and more recently in environmental litigation challenging that several hundred million dollar project.

Mr. Littleworth has had extensive water rights adjudication experience.  He recently represented Rancho California Water District in negotiations with the U.S. Justice Department concerning the water rights of the Marine Corps and Camp  Pendleton, and currently represents the Lake Hemet Municipal Water District in negotiations concerning the water rights of the Soboba Band of Mission Indians on the San Jacinto  River.  He has been involved in a general adjudication of the Mojave  River system.  He also acted as lead counsel for Riverside  County defendants in an action involving more than 1,000 parties brought by the downstream Orange County Water District to adjudicate all water rights within the Santa Ana  River watershed.  He is counsel for the Desert Water Agency, and negotiated groundwater storage agreements with The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California for the underground storage of Colorado River water in the Coachella  Valley.

Mr. Littleworth has had wide experience in the planning and use of groundwater resources and in the marketing of water rights, representing a number of water districts and property owners.  He is also Special Counsel to The Irvine Company with respect to future water supplies, water quality and water related environmental matters.

He is co-author of the book California Water, published in the Spring of 1995 by Solano Press, widely viewed as the definitive book on this subject.  The book is now being updated.

In 1987, he was appointed by the United States Supreme Court as Special Master to hear a case of original jurisdiction between the States of Kansas and Colorado involving the Arkansas River.  The trial of the case was completed in 1993, and his Fourth Report was argued before the Supreme Court in October 2004. 

Mr. Littleworth graduated, with honors, from Yale  University in 1944, holds an M.A. from Stanford  University and received his L.L.B. from Yale  Law  School in 1950.  He was admitted to practice in California in 1951 and was the first chairman of BB&K’s Public Law Department. Mr. Littleworth is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell and is listed in the Best Lawyers in America.

Bar & Court Admissions

• California, 1951

Education

• JD, Yale Law School, New Haven, CT
• MA, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
• BA, Yale University, New Haven, CT