
:: The Indian Legal Program

Back by popular demand, the original Indian Legal Program update!

Do you want to know what is happening between ILP updates? You can now stay current with ILP activities on Facebook (ASU Indian Legal Program), Twitter (ASUILP), and the ILP blog (ASUILP.blogspot.com)! Please let us know how you are doing and where you are. We love to get news and updates from each of you.

Program News:

Tsosie Will Stay at ASU!

The Indian Legal Program is proud to announce that Professor Rebecca Tsosie will continue her leadership of our program! The faculty, staff and students all appreciate your support and words of encouragement over the past couple months. We are excited to see what the next era of Indian Legal Program will bring!

Carl Artman joins the Indian Legal Program faculty
I am pleased to report that Carl Artman has accepted the College of Law’s offer to become a Professor of Practice as part of our new initiative on Economic Development in Indian Country.

Carl J. Artman is currently a shareholder on the Godfrey & Kahn’s Indian Nations and Environmental & Energy Practice Groups. Prior to joining Godfrey & Kahn, Carl was the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs for the United States Department of the Interior in Washington, DC. He served also as the Associate Solicitor for Indian Affairs at the Department. Prior to the appointments, Carl was Chief Legal Counsel for the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin in Green Bay. Carl has represented clients in environmental, corporate, emerging technologies, telecommunications and bankruptcy matters. Carl is licensed to practice in Wisconsin, Colorado and Pennsylvania. Carl currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center. He served on the Board of the Presidential Board of Advisors on Tribal Colleges and Universities, Oneida Nation Electronics, Qubit Technology Inc., Airadigm Communications, Inc. and Personal Communications Industry Association. He was the Chairman of the Tribal Management Advisory Committee and the Tribal Budget Advisory Committee. He was a member of the U.S. Delegation to the United Nation’s Convention to Eliminate Racial Discrimination. While at the Department of Interior, Carl served as a member of the Trust Executive Steering Committee, Climate Control Task Force Steering Committee and Fire Policy Council. He was a member of the Board of Governance for the National Indian Programs Training Center and the Board of Regents for the Haskell Indian Nations University. He served as an editor for the Denver Journal of International Law Policy.

Artman received his bachelor’s degree from Columbia College in Columbia, Mo., his law degree from Washington University in St. Louis, and his Master of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin Business School.

Yates Grant Continued!

The ILP Yates grant has been continued for 1 more year! This critical funding provides students scholarship support, tribal clerkships, and community outreach funding. With tuition rates going up ($18,000 in-state and $31,000 out-of-state) we really need to work on scholarship support. If you have not already made a contribution to the ILP scholarship fund please consider doing so. Also, please let us know if you have any fundraising suggestions.

Scholarship Donation to Honor Brad Downes
The Indian Legal Program received a large donation from Elk Valley Rancheria California in honor of Brad Bledsoe Downes ('94). The Tribe made the donation to honor Brad's hard work, integrity, professionalism and years of service to the tribe. A $5,000 scholarship will be given each year to an ILP student with these similar qualities. Thank you to Elk Valley and Congratulations to Brad!

ILP/NALSA Graduation - 5/16/9 at 5:00 p.m.
On behalf of the Indian Legal Program and the Native American Law Students Association, I would like to invite alumni and friends of the program to attend the ILP/NALSA graduation reception on Saturday, May 16th at 5:00 p.m. The event will take place in the College of Law Rotunda. Dinner will be served. Please RSVP to Sunny Larson at Sunny.larson@asu.edu.

Need CLE?
Need to finish your CLE? Why not try an on-line CLE class and support the ILP scholarship fund?! All the net proceeds from the on-line CLE go to the students. Take a look at our on-line offerings by visiting this link. http://www.legalspan.com/ilp/intro.asp

Summer Law Camp
On the June 16-17, 2009 the Indian Legal Program is partnering with the State Bar of Arizona to host a summer law camp. The program is for high school and early college age students. We hope to provide them with information to prepare them for the law school admissions process. We will also introduce them to current law students and attorneys. I have attached the flyer and the application. Please share with anyone you think may be interested.

Students:

Pro Bono Winners!
Congrats to our students who earned Pro Bono Distinction!

Highest Pro Bono Distinction (150 hours or more) – Joe Sarcinella (3L)
Pro Bono Distinction (50 – 99 hours) – Nikki Borchardt(3L)
Congratulations for Sarah Cedar Face (2L) for being selected for a Summer Fellowship!

Pro Bono Participants
Sarah Cedar Face
Dan Lewis
Brad Martin
Rebecca Ross
Naomi White
Mandy Cisneros
Michael-Corey Hinton
Pat Kincaid

Sarcinella Wins 2009 Charles H. Cook Leadership Award
Joe Sarcinella (3L) was selected for the Cook leadership award. For the last 97 years the Cook Leadership School has been providing education and tools for empowerment for American Indians to be effective leaders in their communities. Though the focus has been primarily on religious education, the school launched the Native American Community Leadership Program (NACLP) in 2007, a non-religious program whose mission is to promote and provide leadership education and training for a broader scope of current and future leaders. The NACLP is proud to present this award as an opportunity to celebrate young people who are
demonstrating the principles of good leadership through involvement in their community. Honorees will receive a cash reward of $500.00 and will be highlighted
in an upcoming issue of Indian Highways. Congratulations Joe!

National NALSA Awards

Please join me in congratulating our ASU NALSA members and the COL alumnus who were honored by the National NALSA Executive Board at the Federal Bar Association’s Indian Law Conference last week. These students were nominated by the ASU Chapter of NALSA and voted on by the National NALSA Executive Board. Congratulations!

NNALSA Outstanding 1L of the Year - Khia Grinnell
NNALSA Outstanding 3L of the Year - Nikki Borchardt
NNALSA Outstanding Alum of the Year - Marlene Rae Jones (’97)

ILP Students co-author "Arizona Attorney" article
Indian law should be added to the Arizona State Bar Examination for practical and professional reasons, according to an article written by two students in the College of Law's Indian Legal Program and published in the May issue of Arizona Attorney.

"State and tribal interactions are increasing at an exponential rate," wrote authors Brian Lewis (Choctaw) and Raymond Campbell (Gila River Pima), third-year students at the College of Law who are working in its Indian Legal Clinic. "In Arizona today, attorneys need to have at least a modicum of Indian law knowledge to serve their clients competently. And learning at least some Indian law will ensure that Arizona's attorneys meet the requirements of the Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct."

Many Indian law issues may arise in Arizona, from the adoption of Indian children and probate of real property on tribal lands to auto accidents on reservations that may involve complex jurisdictional dilemmas, Lewis and Campbell wrote in the article, "Indian law: A needed addition to the Arizona Bar Exam."

The magazine invited the students to write the article, because a proposed Arizona Supreme Court rule change would include Indian law as a topic to be tested on the Bar exam. The comment period on the proposal ends May 20.

In 2003, New Mexico became the first state to include Indian law on its Bar exam, followed by Washington state in 2004, and other states are working to add it, Lewis and Campbell wrote. Arizona, the state with the largest percentage of Indian lands in the country, should not fall behind, they wrote.

To read the full article, click here.

Alumni

Autumn Monteau ('08) is now an Associate at Luebben Johnson & Barnhouse LLP. The firm is located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Rodina Cave ('01) is now a Partner at Nordhaus Law Firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Congratulations to Rodina!

Samuel Lofland ('08) is now an associate at Ryley Carlock & Applewhite in Phoenix, Arizona.

Katosha Nakai ('03) is now the Policy Advisor on Tribal Affairs to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer.

Doreen N. McPaul ('01) is now an Assistant Attorney General for the Tohono O'odham Nation Office of Attorney General.

Professors:

Tsosie named Outstanding Teacher!
As you may know, every year the students vote on the outstanding teacher at the College of Law. This year, the vote was a tie, and Carissa Hessick and Rebecca Tsosie will share the award. Both Carissa and Rebecca, in addition to their obvious dedication to teaching, both also maintain a very active roster of scholarly, conference, and community service activities.

Clinton testifies in Churchill case
Foundation Professor of Law Robert N. Clinton is scheduled to testify as a defense witness for the University of Colorado on Friday, March 20, at a civil trial in Denver about the discharge of a faculty member.

Clinton served as a member of a Special Investigatory Committee that looked into allegations of research misconduct involving Ward Churchill, a former professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

In its report, issued in May 2006, the committee unanimously found that Churchill committed several forms of academic misconduct, including falsification, plagiarism, failure to comply with established standards regarding author names on publications and serious deviation from accepted practices in reporting results from research. To read the report, click here. After numerous other proceedings, Churchill ultimately was discharged by the Colorado Board of Regents on an 8-1 vote.

Ferguson Bohnee Testifies before Congress on Elections

Patty Ferguson Bohnee recently testified before the Congressional Subcommittee on Elections. The Hearing on "The 2008 Election: A look back on what went right and wrong" was held on March 26, 2009. Her testimony was regarding the Native Vote Election Protection efforts.

Indian Legal Clinic:

Indian Legal Clinic Recognized by President Crow

President Crow recently awarded Patty Ferguson Bohnee and the ILC the 2009 President’s Medal for Social Embeddedness for the Arizona Native Vote – Election Protection Project. This honor recognizes the Indian Legal Clinic, Arizona Indian Gaming Association and the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona project’s superior accomplishment in identifying a community need or issue and developing mutually-supportive partnerships between ASU and Arizona communities to advance successful solutions.

The Arizona Native Vote – Election Protection Project helped strengthen the ties between the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and ASU with tribal communities. The Indian Legal Clinic was able to bring ASU, the College of Law, and the Indian Legal Program students, faculty, staff and alumni to tribes across Arizona by setting up volunteers on numerous reservations, a direct response to a need identified by the tribes. Throughout the election season, the Native communities of Arizona knew that the ASU Indian Legal Clinic was the principal resource for voting questions and assistance.

Indian Legal Clinic Assists ACLU of Texas

The ASU Indian Legal Clinic, lead by Professor Patty Ferguson Bohnee, assisted the ACLU of Texas in its effort to enjoin a Texas school district from enforcing a regulation that would prevent a Native American kindergartner from wearing his hair in braids at school in violation of his constitutional rights. The policy prohibits boys from wearing long hair so the family applied for a religious exemption, which the school district denied. Because of the policy, the student was placed in in-school suspension. The student believes "that his long hair is not only an expression of his ancestry and heritage, but also a sacred symbol of his life and experience in this world," and the requirement that boys' hair "shall not cover any part of the ear or touch the top of the standard collar in the back" violates his sincerely held religious belief.

Last semester, Student-Attorneys Joe Sarcinella and Mike Carter assisted in drafting the complaint to include provisions regarding the importance of hair and hair's religious significance to Native Americans. The Student-Attorneys also helped to identify ASU Professor James Riding In as an expert witness for the preliminary injunction hearing. On January 20, 2009, the Southern District of Texas permanently enjoined the School District's dress code exemption policy, and the student is allowed to attend and participate in regular classroom activities.

Indian Legal Clinic files Amicus Brief

The Indian Legal Clinic and Sacks Tierney filed an amici brief in the above-reference case regarding the constitutionality of the Section 5 pre-clearance requirements. Indian Legal Clinic Student Attorney Nikki Borchardt (3L), Adjunct Professor and ASU Alum Judy Dworkin and Professor Patty Ferguson Bohnee prepared the brief.

Brief of the Navajo Nation, Anthony Wounded Head, et al. Amici are concerned that if the Court declares that the reauthorization of Section 5 is unconstitutional, American Indian voting rights will be significantly impacted and result in a reversal of the strides made in recent years to ensure greater Indian voter participation. This would negatively impact many American Indian voters who only recently secured the right to vote, continue to face discrimination in voting, and who cannot shoulder the financial burden to bring lawsuits under Section 2 of the VRA.

Other:

Indian Law on the Bar Exam

Dear Member of the Indian Law Section,

As you know, the State Bar of Arizona has petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court for a change to Supreme Court Rule 35(b). The change will mean that certain Indian law topics (jurisdiction and immunity) will be fair game subjects for testing on the State Bar Exam.

I write to request that you submit a comment in support of the State Bar’s petition. The attached packet contains instructions for how to file a comment on-line, a copy of the petition, and our thoughts regarding why the rule change is appropriate. Comments must be filed by May 20^th.

Thank you,

Jim Stipe (Chair)

_____________________

James M. Stipe

Burch & Cracchiolo, P.A.

702 East Osborn Road, Ste. 200

Phoenix, Arizona 85014

Direct Line: (602) 234-8779

Main Office: (602) 274-7611

Fax: (602) 850-9779

E-mail: jstipe@bcattorneys.com

Web: www.bcattorneys.com

McAllister & Orange Streets P.O. Box 877906
Tempe, Arizona 85287-7906 480.965.6181