Gender Justice and Indian Sovereignty: Native American Women and the Law

It is my pleasure to invite you to Thomas Jefferson School of Law’s upcoming 10th Anniversary Women and the Law Conference, “Gender Justice and Indian Sovereignty: Native American Women and the Law,” on Friday, February 18, 2011.

This one-day conference will be held at TJSL’s brand-new state-of-the-art building in downtown San Diego, and will feature the annual Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lecture (founded in 2003 with generous support from Justice Ginsburg), by our Keynote Speaker, Interim Associate Dean Stacy Leeds, University of Kansas School of Law, former Justice of the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court and currently chief judge of three Indian Nation tribal courts. Her Lecture will be titled: “Resistance, Resilience, and Reconciliation: Reflections on Native American Women and the Law.”

Leeds will join a remarkable national assemblage of about two dozen speakers, all deeply experienced leaders of Indian Nation Tribal courts, governments, business, law practice, and academia. They will address a wide range of issues affecting American Indian women, including gender-related violence and Indian Country law enforcement, development of Tribal courts, governments, and businesses, and the intersection of Native identity, civil rights, sexism, and racism.  The conference will combine nationally known speakers with strong local community involvement, reflected in several speakers who are leaders in San Diego County and Southern California Indian Nation communities.

More information and a registration link may be found at http://www.tjsl.edu/wlc2011. There will be a free shuttle service between the conference hotel, The Handlery (a conference rate is available for rooms there), and the law school.  The full conference program is pasted below.  For further information, you should please feel free to contact the faculty organizer:

Bryan H. Wildenthal
Professor of Law
Thomas Jefferson School of Law
bryanw@gmail.com

I hope to see some of you there!

–

Thomas Jefferson School of Law

10th Anniversary Women and the Law Conference

Friday, February 18, 2011  — 1155 Island Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101

Gender Justice and Indian Sovereignty:

Native American Women and the Law

Sponsored by the TJSL Women and the Law Project

Co-Sponsored by the California Indian Law Association

Program Schedule

8:00-8:30 am: Continental Breakfast (provided) and Social Gathering

Conference registration from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon; CLE available for all panels

8:30-8:40 am: Call to Order and Welcoming Remarks

Bryan H. Wildenthal, Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law; Conference Organizer; and Board Member, California Indian Law Association

Julie A. Greenberg, Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and Co-Founder, Thomas Jefferson School of Law Women and the Law Project

Rudy Hasl, Dean and President, Thomas Jefferson School of Law

8:40-9:40 am: Panel 1, Intersectionality and Civil Rights, Part One

This panel will address the intersection of Native, Tribal, and gender identities, including a focus on gender as a factor in Tribal citizenship.

Moderator: Catherine Deane, Reference Librarian, Thomas Jefferson School of Law

Rina Swentzell, Author and Member, Santa Clara Pueblo

Gloria Valencia-Weber, Professor, University of New Mexico School of Law, and Board Member, Legal Services Corporation

Joanne Willis Newton, Sole Practitioner (San Diego); Judge Pro Tempore, Intertribal Court of Southern California; Member, Cree Nation of Chisasibi, Québec; and former President, California Indian Law Association

9:40-9:50 am: Break

9:50-11:00 am: Panel 2, Intersectionality and Civil Rights, Part Two

This panel will address intersections of Native, Tribal, and other identities, focusing more broadly on racial, ethnic, and religious as well as gender identities, and considering ways in which struggles for Indian sovereignty and Native rights have played out within the broader context of civil rights movements and litigations.

Moderator: Kaimipono David Wenger, Assistant Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law

Kristen A. Carpenter, Associate Professor, University of Colorado Law School, and Chair, Federal Bar Association Indian Law Conference, 2010 and 2011

Wenona T. Singel, Assistant Professor and Associate Director, Indigenous Law and Policy Center, Michigan State University College of Law; Chief Appellate Judge, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians; and Justice, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians

Linda Rose Locklear, Professor of Sociology and American Indian Studies, Palomar College

Lawrence R. Baca, Former President, Federal Bar Association (2009-10); U.S. Department of Justice, Trial Attorney, Civil Rights Division (1976-2004), and Deputy Director, Office of Tribal Justice (2004-08)

11:00-11:10 am: Break

11:10 am-12:20 pm: Panel 3, Gender-Related Violence and Indian Country Law Enforcement

This panel will address the epidemic of gender-related violence, including domestic violence, faced by many American Indian women, and the related challenges of Indian Country law enforcement, including the roles of Indian Nation governments, Tribal courts, Federal and State authorities, PL-280, and the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010.

Moderator: Claire Wright, Associate Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law

Barbara Creel, Associate Professor, University of New Mexico School of Law

Sarah Deer, Assistant Professor, William Mitchell College of Law

Carole E. Goldberg, Jonathan D. Varat Professor and Faculty Chair, Native Nations Law and Policy Center, UCLA School of Law; Director, UCLA Joint Degree Program in Law and American Indian Studies; Justice, Hualapai Court of Appeals; Member, Indian Law and Order Commission; and former Vice-President and Founding Board Member, California Indian Law Association

Diane J. Humetewa, Attorney, Squire Sanders Public Advocacy LLC (Phoenix); former U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona (2007-09); Chief Counsel, U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs; and Judge Pro Tempore, Hopi Tribal Appellate Court

12:20-1:00 pm: Break, Hot Buffet Lunch (provided), and Open Seating for Lunchtime Keynote Address

1:00-2:30 pm: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lecture (Keynote Address) and Response (Panel 4)

The Ginsburg Lecture and response panel will address a wide range of issues affecting American Indian women, including gender-related violence and legal remedies, property law, economic development and the law, and the leadership roles of Native women in Indian law and Tribal courts and governments.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lecturer: Stacy L. Leeds, Interim Associate Dean, Professor, and Director, Tribal Law and Government Center, University of Kansas School of Law; Chief Justice, Supreme Court, Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma; Chief Justice, Supreme Court, Kaw Nation; and Chief Judge, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation District Court

Resistance, Resilience, and Reconciliation: Reflections on Native American
Women and the Law

Moderator: Marjorie Cohn, Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law

Angelique EagleWoman (Wambdi A. WasteWin), Associate Professor and James E. Rogers Fellow in American Indian Law, University of Idaho College of Law, and Judge Pro Tempore, Coeur d’Alene Tribal Court

Aliza Organick, Professor, Washburn University School of Law, and Chair, AALS Section on Indian Nations and Indigenous Peoples

Angela R. Riley, Professor, UCLA School of Law; Director, UCLA American Indian Studies Center; and Chief Justice, Supreme Court, Citizen Potawatomi Nation of Oklahoma

Rebecca Tsosie, Professor, Willard H. Pedrick Distinguished Research Scholar, and Executive Director, Indian Legal Program, Arizona State University College of Law; Professor, University of New Mexico School of Law (from Summer 2011); and Justice, Supreme Court, Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation

2:30-2:40 pm: Break

2:40-3:40 pm: Panel 5, Building the Future: Indian Country Economic Development

This panel will address Tribal economic development, gaming, and other fields of business, the role of law in facilitating such development, and the leadership roles of American Indian women.

Moderator: Luz Herrera, Assistant Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law

Debora G. Juarez, Partner and Chair, Tribal Practice Group, Williams Kastner (Seattle)

Angela M. Medrano, Staff Attorney, California Indian Legal Services; President, Native American Lawyers Association of San Diego County; former Lead Gaming Commissioner, Cahuilla Band of Indians Tribal Gaming Agency, and Treasurer and Board Member, California Indian Law Association

Kate Spilde, Associate Professor, San Diego State University School of Hospitality and Tourism, and Chair, Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming

3:40-3:50 pm: Break

3:50-5:20 pm: Panel 6, Building the Future: Developing Tribal Governments and Courts

This panel will address the development of Tribal courts and judicial systems, as well as executive and legislative functions of Indian Nation governments, with a focus on both California and national perspectives and the leadership roles of American Indian women.

Moderator: Michele Fahley, Deputy General Counsel, Pechanga Band of Mission Indians, and Board Member, California Indian Law Association

Abby Abinanti, Chief Judge, Yurok Tribe, and Commissioner, San Francisco Superior Court

Meredith D. Drent, Staff Attorney, San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians; Justice, Supreme Court, Osage Nation; and President, California Indian Law Association

Elizabeth Ann Kronk, Assistant Professor, University of Montana School of Law; Chief Judge, Appellate Court, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians; and Chair, Federal Bar Association Indian Law Section

Devon Lee Lomayesva, Executive Director, California Indian Legal Services; Member, Steering Committee, National Association of Indian Legal Services; Co-Founder and Board Chair, American Indian Recruitment Programs; and former Tribal Councilmember and In-House Legal Counsel, Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel

Jill Elizabeth Tompkins, Clinical Professor and Director, American Indian Law Clinic, University of Colorado Law School, and Appellate Justice, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, and Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians

Christine Williams, Sole Practitioner (Pleasanton, CA); Of Counsel, LaPena Law Corporation; Chief Judge, Hopland Band of Pomo Indians; Appellate Judge, Northern California Tribal Court Coalition; Consultant, California Court Appointed Special Advocates Association; Visiting Professor of American Indian Studies, Mills College; and former President, California Indian Law Association

5:20-5:30 pm: Closing Remarks

Bryan H. Wildenthal, Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law; Conference Organizer; and Board Member, California Indian Law Association