Colorado Law :: American Indian Law Program

American Indian Law Program

Colorado Law’s American Indian Law Program provides students with comprehensive opportunities to acquire specialized knowledge of American Indian law, through curriculum, the American Indian Law Clinic, the Certificate Program, National Tribal Court Law Clerks Program, research on federal and tribal Indian law issues, externships, Native American Law Students Association, conferences and events, expert faculty, affiliated organizations, and community outreach. In addition, students enjoy numerous opportunities to assist in scholarship and contribute to the national development of the field of American Indian law. What distinguishes Colorado Law from other law schools is the incorporation of American Indian law principles in the general law school curriculum, including civil procedure, property, and family law.

Certificate Program
Colorado Law offers an American Indian Law Certificate demonstrating the completion of a concentrated course of study in the legal issues facing America’s Native peoples and American Indian tribes. This Certificate is attractive to legal, tribal, and governmental employers, as well as employers seeking to do business with tribes and tribal members.

Certificate requirements include: 1) at least 95 credit hours (89 is required for the J.D.), and 2) at least 18 of the 95 credit hours in designated Indian law and related courses. Visit Rules of the Law School for complete details.

Required courses after the first year:

American Indian Law I
American Indian Law II
American Indian Law Clinic
One of:

One of:

Advanced American Indian Law Seminar (topics such as: American Indian Gaming Law, Native American Natural Resources Law, Contemporary Tribal Law and Governments, Economic Development in Indian Country)
Externship or Research Assistant with American Indian law focus AND/OR Compete in the National Native American Law Students Association Moot Court Competition

Faculty
Colorado Law has five full-time faculty with nationally recognized expertise in American Indian Law.

Dean and Professor David Getches is a co-author of the leading American Indian law casebook, Federal Indian Law. He has taught water and natural resources law, as well as seminars on American Indian law. Founding director and previous attorney with the Native American Rights Fund, he litigated a precedent-setting American Indian treaty fishing rights case in the State of Washington. He has served as director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and as a special consultant to the Secretary of the Interior.
Professor Charles Wilkinson is considered the leading expert on American West law, history, and society. He is the author of 12 books including Federal Indian Law, the standard law texts on federal public land law and books written for a broader audience. He teaches American Indian and natural resources law. He practiced law with the Native American Rights Fund and has advised the Departments of Interior, Agriculture, and Justice.
Professor Richard Collins teaches American Indian law courses and seminars as well as basic courses in property and constitutional law. After clerking for a U.S. Circuit judge, he represented American Indians and tribes while working for California Indian Legal Services, Dinebeiina Naihiilna Be Agaditahe (Navajo Legal Services), and the Native American Rights Fund. His work included several cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including McClanahan v. Arizona Tax Commission.
Professor Sarah Krakoff is a prior Director of the American Indian Law Clinic and teaches American Indian Law, American Indian Law Seminar, and Civil Procedure. She has published several articles on American Indian law and natural resource issues. After clerking for a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge, she worked as the Youth Law Project Director for DNA-People's Legal Services on the Navajo Nation.
Clinical Professor Jill Tompkins, an enrolled member of the Penobscot Indian Nation, serves as the Director of the American Indian Law Clinic. An expert on tribal justice systems, she is the founding executive director of the National Tribal Justice Resource Center. Past President of the National American Indian Court Judges Association, she served as chief judge of the Mashantucket Pequot and Passamaquoddy Tribal Courts. She is an appellate justice for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe, and the Pokagon Band of Potowatomi Indians.
Associate Professor Kristen Carpenter, teaches Property and American Indian Law and her research examines the real property interests of Indian nations, as well as issues of culture, religion, language, and interpretation. She worked at the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation’s Office of Legal Counsel and private Indian law firms in Colorado and Alaska. She also taught at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and Suffolk University Law School.

American Indian Tribes and Organizations
Colorado Law has long-standing relationships with Colorado’s two resident Indian tribes, the Southern Ute Tribe and the Ute Mountain tribes. With more than 30,000 American Indians living within a 30-mile radius of the CU campus, the Law School is ideally situated in what is referred to as the “Hub of Indian Country.” The annual Denver March Powwow is the second-largest American Indian gathering in the United States.

The American Indian Law Program often coordinates with the Native American Rights Fund, headquartered in Boulder, and with major American Indian organizations in the Denver-Boulder area, including the National Indian Law Library, the American Indian College Fund, the National Tribal Justice Resource Center, the Council of Energy Resources Tribes, and the Native American Fish & Wildlife Society.

NARF attorneys who have taught in the American Indian law Program, from left: Walter Echo-Hawk, Melody McCoy, Donald Wharton and John Echohawk (Executive Director).

Externships
Students serve as externs with local Indian law firms, non-profit entities serving the Native American community such as the Native American Rights Fund and Intertribal Council on Utility Policy, government agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Tribal Programs, and the Southern Ute Tribal Court. Students also work under the guidance of Colorado Law faculty on American Indian and tribal law research issues while providing much-needed legal work to those most in need.

Scholarships and Fellowships
The Colorado Indian Bar Association vigorously raises funds to provide scholarships to individuals studying American Indian law at Colorado Law. The American Indian Graduate Center posts fellowship opportunities for law students.

Career Opportunities
The quality legal education and clinical experience that our students receive make them highly sought after. Many Colorado Law graduates go on to specialize in the practice of American Indian law, working for the Native American Rights Fund, the Indian Law Resource Center, Indian legal service agencies, tribal governments, tribal courts, and American Indian law firms. Local law firms with Indian law practices include Arnold & Porter, Faegre and Benson, Greene, Meyer & McElroy, Hester and Zehren, Holland & Hart, Smith & Jolly, Wagenlander & Heisterkamp, and Whiteing and Smith.

The Office of Career Development maintains an extensive listing of American Indian law career opportunities and the Program faculty actively assists students in obtaining positions in the field.

Special Events
The Program often collaborates with Colorado Law’s Natural Resources Law Center and CU’s undergraduate Native American organization Oyate to host special Indian law focused events. Major events held at the Law School include: special sessions of the Navajo Nation Supreme Court and Peacemaker Court, an appearance by Native lands activist Winona LaDuke, a two-day Native American Sacred Lands Forum and distinguished visitor program featuring Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network Tom Goldtooth, overviews of current Indian law litigation, including “More than the Money: Restoring Government Accountability through Cobell v. Norton, public meetings of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, and workshops such as “Righting Wrongs for American Indians, or, How to Sue the Government.”

The University of Colorado at Boulder Law School

American Indian Law Program