"Given my family background, I was born to be a cowboy lawyer. We started this firm to ensure our children could continue in the ranching profession if that is what they choose to do."

Karen Budd-Falen

Karen Budd-Falen is an attorney, and with her husband Frank Falen, is the owner of the Budd-Falen Law Offices, L.L.C. located in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Before moving back to Wyoming, Karen served for three years in the Reagan Administration, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., as a Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management. She later served as a law clerk to the Assistant Solicitor for Water and Power. Karen has also worked as an attorney at Mountain States Legal Foundation, a conservative public interest legal foundation located in Denver, Colorado.

In addition to representing local governments and private citizens, Karen currently serves as legal counsel to the Arizona\New Mexico Coalition of Counties for Stable Economic Growth. Karen was one of the authors of the first local land use plans written for Catron County, New Mexico, the first local government to recognize its right to full participation as a decision maker in federal agency decision making processes.  Karen is licensed to practice law before numerous federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, the Federal Court of Claims and the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeal.

Karen's most recent publications include, How To Survive the Bureaucratic Maze - A Guide to the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Appeals Process, 1989; Ecosystem Management: Will National Forests be "Managed" Into National Parks?, 1991; The Right to Graze Livestock on the Federal Lands: The Historical Development of Western Grazing Rights, Idaho Law Review, Spring, 1994; Protecting Community Stability and Local Economies: Opportunities for County Government Influence in Federal Decision and Policy Making Processes, Whitman College, 1996; and Counterpoint:  Opportunities Lost and Opportunities Gained:  Separating Truth from Myth in the Western Ranching Debate, Karen Budd-Falen editor, Lewis and Clark Law School Environmental Law, 2006.

Karen has been featured in Newsweek Magazine's "Who's Who: 20 for the Future" for her work on property rights issues (September 30, 1991). Karen was awarded Wyoming’s Outstanding Ag Citizen from the State of Wyoming’s agriculture citizens in 2001, the “Always There Helping” award from the New Mexico Stock Growers Association in 2003 and the “Bud’s Contract” award from the New Mexico Public Lands Council in 2006.  Karen has presented testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Forest Health, Washington, D.C., April 8, 1997, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Resources, October 26, 1998, and the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Resources Task Force on Improving the National Environmental Policy Act, August 1, 2005.

Karen grew up as a fifth generation rancher on a family-owned ranch in Big Piney, Wyoming.  She received her undergraduate degrees and her law degree in 1987 from the University of Wyoming. Karen and Frank have two children, Isaac and Sarah.