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Native American Law Center at University of Washington: Providing Education and Support for Tribal Communities

published April 10, 2023

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( 7 votes, average: 3.5 out of 5)
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Summary

The University of Washington's Native American Law Center (NALC) is dedicated to teaching the law and helping the Native American tribes of the region. The center has been in operation for over 30 years and works with students, Native American tribal members, and the surrounding communities.

The NALC works with students to develop a meaningful legal education that takes into account the unique needs of Native Americans. Through the center's integrated curriculum, students are taught the Indian laws, tribal customs, and traditions of the Native American nations they are studying. The curriculum also includes mentoring, seminars, and internships in order to develop a more well-rounded legal education.

The NALC's legal research services are designed to help the tribes better understand their legal rights and obligations. Additionally, the center provides technical assistance to help tribes develop their own legal systems, and to challenge local and state laws that may be in conflict with their rights. Through targeted research assistance, the NALC helps tribes assess the impact of proposed or existing laws, regulations, and policies on their rights and resources.

The NALC also works to empower the community by providing resources and support. The center hosts an annual Tribal Forum to provide an informal setting for tribes to meet, discuss, and share information and ideas. The center also provides assistance to tribes in the form of mediations, trainings, and workshops.

By offering a variety of legal and educational services, the NALC has positioned itself as a leader in the field of Native American law. Through its innovative programs, the center has helped many tribes better understand and access the law, while also providing a positive forum for tribal members to learn, discuss, and work together to protect their rights and resources. The NALC has been instrumental in advancing the rights of Native Americans and their tribes.

The University of Washington's Native American Law Center (NALC) is a vital resource to the Native American tribes in the region, providing law students with an integrated curriculum of Indian laws; assisting Native American tribes in understanding their legal rights and obligations; and offering resources, support, and technical assistance. The center also hosts an annual Tribal Forum and provides mediations, trainings, and workshops. Through its work, the NALC has been instrumental in advancing the rights and resources of Native American tribes.
 

University of Washington's Native American Law Center

The University of Washington (UW) School of Law's Native American Law Center (NALC) was established in 1969 to help serve the legal needs of Native Americans and their tribes. UW's Native American Law Center is tasked with teaching students the intricacies of Indian law and helping to serve the legal needs of tribes and native communities throughout the United States.
 

Legal Education & Tribal Representation

Since its founding in 1969, UW's Native American Law Center has provided an important source of legal education, research, and advocacy on behalf of the interests of Native American tribes and their members. NALC offers students the opportunity to study in the areas of Federal Indian Law, Tribal Law, and Tribal government. NALC's goal is to educate students about the complexities of Indian law and to help serve the legal needs of Native American tribes.
 

Courses & Seminars for Students

NALC offers courses and seminars designed to train students in the areas of federal Indian law, tribal law, and tribal government. The courses are designed to provide an in-depth understanding of the legal and policy issues that affect Native American tribes. NALC also offers workshops, lectures, and other seminars that address the legal issues facing Native Americans, Native American tribes, and their individual members.
 

Comprehensive Legal Aid Services

In addition to providing legal education, NALC also provides comprehensive legal aid services to Native Americans and their tribes. NALC works closely with tribes and native communities to ensure that they receive the legal assistance they need. NALC also provides assistance to individuals in the form of legal advice, representation, and mediation. NALC's legal aid services are designed to help Native Americans and their tribes achieve their legal and policy goals.

The center provides educational opportunities for University of Washington law students and the greater university and holds conferences for legal education in Indian law, says Director Robert Anderson, who is an Assistant Professor at the law school and a member of the Boise Forte Band of Minnesota Chippewa.

The center's Tribal Court Criminal Defense Clinic involves students acting as the public defender's office for the local Tulalip Tribes. The clinic's goal is to train law students in trial work and to expose them to the tribal justice system, says Ron Whitener, director of the clinic program. Whitener is also Assistant Director of the Native American Law Center, an Assistant Professor at the law school, and a member of the Squaxin Island Tribe of Indians.

In the clinic, Whitener supervises third-year and a few second-year law students who represent indigent Tulalip tribal members charged with crimes. Students work in pairs on cases of common misdemeanors, such as theft, reckless or drunk driving, assault, drug possession, and some drug sales. The clinic only handles cases that are heard in tribal court.

Tribal judicial systems are "generally more holistic than you would find off the reservation," says Whitener. The clinic's cases are most often resolved through plea agreements focusing on the rehabilitation of the defendant.

The Indian Civil Rights Act says that tribes can only exact fines of no more than $5,000 and imprison those convicted of crimes for one year, says Whitener, so some violations of state law go to state courts, and more serious crimes—such as murder, rape, or kidnapping—go to federal court.

The center's clinical program will expand next year to include representation of indigent parents in child custody and other social services issues, says Anderson.

Working within the tribal courts is a "great opportunity for students here to get a feel for another country," says Anderson.

There are currently eight students working at the clinic. About five students work on other projects with an Indian law focus at the center, says Anderson. There is high interest in the field at the law school. Of a total 160 students at the law school, Anderson had 38 in his Basic Indian Law class last fall.

In addition to taking classes on Indian law, students concentrating on the field can find externships as tribal court judge clerks, at law firms that work on tribal issues, or with tribal prosecutors or public defenders. Most tribes that are large enough have their own prosecutors and public defender offices.

Legal issues for tribes are many and varied. Employment law issues are now a "big area of the law" for tribes these days, says Anderson, with questions arising on whether unions can organize on reservations.

Questions of tribal jurisdiction are in the spotlight as well, says Whitener. Over the last 20 years, the United States Supreme Court has eroded tribes' authority to regulate non-Indian activity on the reservations, he says. Reservation land can be classified in different ways, and some of it can be owned by non-Indians. The Supreme Court has been applying stricter scrutiny to jurisdictional issues concerning this non-Indian-owned reservation land.

Financing issues are also a large area of this specialty, both for tribal governments and businesses. Other tribal legal work includes government relations, repatriation of artifacts, water rights, hunting and fishing rights, land use planning, and also healthcare law, with some large tribes, such as the Navajo nation, forming their own HMOs.

Indian law is all areas of law, seen through the filter of tribes, says Whitener.

There are Indian law programs at other law schools, the strength of which currently seems to depend on geography, with a greater focus on the field in the western United States. Of the seven authors and editors of Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law, "the Bible of Indian law," says Anderson, five are based at western schools, including Anderson himself.

Washington was the first state to put Indian law on the bar exam; New Mexico, Oregon, and Idaho are considering doing the same, says Anderson.

The other western authors for the journal are professors at UCLA, the University of New Mexico, the University of Oregon, and the University of Tulsa. These schools have more of an institutional commitment to the study of Indian law, says Anderson, than law schools in other parts of the country, which might offer only a few classes each in the specialty.

The other two authors for the journal are from the University of Connecticut, and Harvard, which may develop its Indian law program further, says Anderson, with a recent endowment of $5 million. As it is, the academic field for this complex specialty is represented at many schools, yet remains highly concentrated at just a few schools.

published April 10, 2023

( 7 votes, average: 3.5 out of 5)
What do you think about this article? Rate it using the stars above and let us know what you think in the comments below.