PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Jeff is a business, real estate, civil rights, appellate, and constitutional lawyer since 1994. He came to Christensen & Jensen from the Utah Attorney General’s Office where he worked in the Constitutional Defense and Special Litigation Division.
Jeff’s experience has included constitutional litigation, outsource business counsel services, commercial and land use litigation, and public lands and environmental litigation.
AREAS OF PRACTICE
Constitutional and Civil Rights Law:
- Successfully Defended Utah’s Oil, Gas, and Coal Statutes against a constitutional challenge.
- Successfully Defended Utah’s process for imposing and rescinding mask mandates in public schools against a constitutional challenge.
- Successfully Defended Utah’s Anti-SLAPP Act against a constitutional challenge.
- Successfully defended property rights in eminent domain and regulatory takings cases.
- Forced change of management at resort hotel based on religious discrimination.
- Filed leading amicus curiae brief in the United States Supreme Court in landmark Second Amendment case, District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008).
Real Estate and Land Use Law:
- Obtained significant settlements from the State of Washington in eminent domain cases involving power plant and highway expansion.
- Protected farmers against destruction of productive farmland by flooding of Nooksack River.
- Recovered farm from purchaser in seller-financed sale of farm and successfully collected delinquent payments.
- Defended private property owner against uncompensated taking of land for county road.
- Successfully defended tenant at trial against false damage claims of landlord.
- Represented Washington Building Industry Association in legislative proceedings to downzone the Lake Whatcom and Lake Samish watersheds.
- Represented sign and awning company in warranty action by owner of commercial skyscraper.
Business Law:
- Visited China with other prominent business leaders as part of the State of Utah Salt Lake City Region Trade Delegation sponsored by the World Sky International Group in 2017.
- Saved paper and packaging company by enforcing non-compete and trade secret agreements against key employee who went to work for a competitor.
- Negotiated and enforced numerous business to business contracts.
- Negotiated substantial settlement for employee under Federal Tort Claims Act.
- Filed trademark applications and enforced trademarks of manufacturer of unique products.
Public Lands and Natural Resources Law:
- Wrote and filed the leading amicus curiae brief in support of successful petition for writ of certiorari and later on the merits to the United States Supreme Court in Public Lands Council v. Babbitt, 529 U.S. 728 (2000). Also participated in moot court session and several conferences to prepare lead counsel for oral argument in the Supreme Court.
- Negotiated settlement that saved more than 50 cattle ranches against challenge under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in Oregon Natural Desert Association v. Singleton, 47 F.Supp.2d 1182 (D.Or. 1998).
- Significant experience with National Environmental Policy Act, Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, Endangered Species Act, Taylor Grazing Act, Federal Lands Policy Amendments Act, Public Rangelands Improvement Act, National Forest Management Act, RS 2477, and other law related to land use and public lands management.
- Saved several ranches from going out of business by negotiating settlement with United States Forest Service to address endangered species, range improvements, and forage issues.
Other Experience and Service:
- Judicial Law Clerk to Honorable F. Michael Kruse and Honorable Lyle L. Richmond, 1994-1996, High Court of American Samoa.
- Candidate for the Washington State Court of Appeals in 2006 with a large number of high profile endorsements including: Former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton, State Supreme Court Justice J.M. Johnson, State Senator Dale Brandland, and American Hero Buck Compton.
- Serves on the Board of Advisors for the Foundation for Family Life of Utah, 2020-Present.
- Served on the Blaine City Planning Commission, 2008-2010.
EDUCATION
- George Washington University Law School, LLM, 2008
- Emphases: English and early American Constitutional History; Environmental Law
- Graduation: January 31, 2008 “with highest honors.”
- 3.88 grade point average.
- Brigham Young University Law School, J.D., 1994
- Senior Editor, BYU Journal of Public Law
- Brigham Young University, B.S., 1991
SELECTED ARTICLES & COMMENTS
- Jeffrey B. Teichert, Resisting Temptation in the Garden of Paradise: Preserving the Role of Samoan Custom in the Law of American Samoa, 2 Gonz. Int’l L.J. 2 (1999).
- Jeffrey B. Teichert & Sean Brotherson, Value of the Law in Shaping Social Perspectives on Marriage, 3 U. of Utah Jnl. L. & Fam. Stud. 23 (2001) (paper presented at Brigham Young University conference entitled “Revitalizing Marriage for the 21st Century” on March 11, 2000).
- Jeffrey B. Teichert & Sean Brotherson, The Normative Value of the Law in Strengthening and Protecting Marriage (July 11, 2000) (paper presented at World Family Policy Forum‑‑a gathering of United Nations diplomats, cabinet ministers and other leaders of more than 30 nations‑‑hosted by Brigham Young University).
- Jeffrey B. Teichert, New York v. United States: Constitutional Order or Commerce Clause Chaos?, Note, 7 B.Y.U. J. PUB. L. 377 (1993).
- Jeffrey B. Teichert, The Enlibra Doctrine and Preserving the Unique Rural Cultures of the West, Utah Bar Journal, Jan. 2000, at 10.
- Jeffrey B. Teichert, State High Court Expands Government Power to Take Private Land, Whatcom County B. Ass’n Newsl. (Whatcom County Bar Association), January 2006, at 6 (regarding In re Seattle Monorail Auth., 155 Wn.2d 612 (2005)).
- Jeffrey B. Teichert, Temporary Regulatory Takings, Urban Land, March 2003, at 26 (regarding Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 535 U.S. 302 (2002)).
- Jeffrey B. Teichert, The Washington Supreme Court Chooses Equality over Property Rights, Whatcom County B. Ass’n Newsl. (Whatcom County Bar Association), June 2002, at __ (regarding Prot. Dist. v. City of Moses Lake, 145 Wn.2d 702 (2002)).
