Austin Waisanen is a first-generation lawyer who grew up with a liberty-minded family in Deadwood, South Dakota. His first experience dealing with local land use authorities was at 11 when he persuaded the city council to grant a variance to allow him to keep a few hens within city limits. The family home on an old mining claim was in a constant state of remodel led by dad. Austin never quite knew what “Planning and Zoning” meant, who they were, or why the soffit color selection concerned them, but he understood it to be a pejorative term.
Before law school, Austin worked in the construction and forestry trades throughout the Mountain West. He spent several years with the U.S. Forest Service, leading pack animals deep into wilderness areas for trail-maintenance projects and, during the winters, grooming and patrolling snowmobile trail systems. Eventually frustrated by the realities of federal bureaucracy, he returned to private industry, building and remodeling homes as a carpenter in northwest Wyoming.
At law school, Austin took a special interest in property and constitutional law, earning high marks in those classes. In private practice, he became increasingly troubled by the frequency with which government officials, regulators, and prosecutors overstepped their authority—and by how prohibitively expensive it often was for ordinary people to challenge them. He joined Pacific Legal Foundation to help vindicate the constitutional rights and civil liberties of ordinary Americans.
In his free time, Austin enjoys exploring the western mountains with his family and friends, tinkering on small engines and other equipment in the shop, and helping out on the family farm in the Bighorn Basin.
