Michael D. Shimmin
Michael D. Shimmin, Esq., was raised on an irrigated farm near Fort Morgan. He attended CSU (Bachelors Degree in 1975) and CU law school (JD Degree in 1978). Mike worked as a full time water rights attorney with the firm of Vranesh & Raisch in Boulder for his entire 36-year career. Mike represented water clients all over eastern Colorado, which included being general counsel for the BIG 4 GWMDs for his entire career, special counsel for a few other GWMDs from time to time, special water counsel for the City of Fort Collins for 28 years, and general counsel for the Bijou Irrigation System in Morgan County for 22 years. During his career, Mike worked on over 800 water court cases, numerous designated groundwater cases, and attended approximately 140 GW Commission meetings. Mike became active in water rights legislation in 1985, and was a member of the Colorado Water Congress State Affairs Committee for 29 years. He worked on many amendments to the 1965 Ground Water Management Act and the 1969 Water Rights Administration Act. Mike was selected in 2005 to be an original “at large” member of the South Platte Basin Roundtable, a position that he still holds, and also to be a member of the Interbasin Compact Committee, upon which he served until 2012. Mike retired from the practice of law at the end of 2014 and still lives in Boulder, where he stays busy doing “whatever he wants.”
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