Phillip Evan Katzen

Phil Katzen is a founding member of Kanji & Katzen and he serves as the firm’s Managing Attorney.  Phil works in the Seattle office.  Phil may be contacted at pkatzen at .

Education:  Phil received his A.B. degree in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1970.  He earned his J.D. degree, also from the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) in 1977.  During law school he also served as a law clerk in the Oakland office of California Indian Legal Services.

Prior Experience:  Phil was a staff attorney with the Native American Project of Evergreen Legal Services (which became Columbia Legal Services) from 1978 through 1999; he was also the Project Director from 1986 to 1992.  His primary responsibility with the Native American Project was representation of up to 13 Indian tribes in United States v. Washington, the long-running treaty fishing rights case, where he frequently served as a lead or coordinating counsel for the plaintiff tribes, including a leading role in vindicating the tribes’ treaty rights to regulate salmon harvests, to a fair share of the salmon, to take a fair share of shellfish from public and private property, and to protect the habitat necessary to fulfill the tribes’ treaty rights to take fish.  He continued to represent many of the plaintiff tribes in the treaty fishing and shellfishing rights litigation when he left legal services and opened his own office in 1999, where he remained until founding Kanji & Katzen in 2000.

Areas of Concentration: Phil continues his involvement in United States v. Washington and other treaty rights cases and he continues to be coordinating counsel in the ongoing litigation over implementation of the tribes’ treaty shellfishing rights, including on privately owned property.  Phil also represents and consults with tribes on matters related to tribal rights to fish, hunt and gather, protection of natural resources, taxation, and jurisdiction, both in litigation and before state and federal administrative agencies, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bonneville Power Administration, and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Community Service and Personal Interests:  Phil serves on the board of the non-profit Western Environmental Law Center and he serves as a guest lecturer at law schools and universities and as a speaker at continuing legal education seminars.  Phil likes long road trips with his wife in their camper van, hiking, camping, and reading, and he is a long-suffering Seattle Mariners and Seattle Seahawks fan.

Bar Memberships:

• Washington State Bar Association
• United States District Courts for the Western and Eastern Districts of Washington
• United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan
• United States Courts of Appeals for the Ninth, Sixth and D.C. Circuits
• United States Supreme Court