Litigation

With nearly two decades of litigation experience, our firm specializes in bringing lawsuits on behalf of tribes and tribal members against a wide range of wrongdoers, including local and state governments and the United States Department of the Interior. Whatever your concern, we can successfully handle it, as we’ve previously vindicated compact rights, protected a restored tribe from re-termination, blocked the Bureau of Indian Affairs from reorganizing an existing federally-recognized tribe, prevented the Bureau from confiscating private tribal records, helped hold state officials accountable for misusing tribal blood samples, and brought the fraudulent practices of a number of multinational corporations to light and, more importantly, to justice.

Gaming

Gaming is the life-blood for many Indian reservations, and our role as gaming attorneys is to increase a casino’s operating margin while simultaneously raising customer satisfaction and community support. Additionally, as compact litigators and relentless proponents and protectors of tribal sovereignty, we also vigilantly ensure that state agencies don’t abuse or subvert federal law by obtaining unlawful amounts of revenue sharing from, or impermissible levels of control over, these reservation-based activities.

Most recently, we obtained a decision against the State of California saving the Pauma Band of Mission Indians over $100 million in compact payments, which also entitles the Tribe to restitution for payments made under a compact amendment induced by misrepresentation. See the article

Governance

Ensuring that tribal governments are properly structured, funded, and well represented is absolutely critical to the work we do in Indian Country. Our firm has years of experience in the legislative and judicial arenas and will happily assist your tribe in accomplishing any number of tasks in these areas, including drafting constitutions/ordinances, acquiring grant funding, and meeting and negotiating with government officials.

Member’s Issues

All too often, tribal members resort to retaining attorneys with little to no familiarity with Native American culture or basic principles of Indian law to handle their legal issues. Not only does this typically have a detrimental impact on the quality of the representation but it also puts each tribal member in the vulnerable position of placing his or her trust in a complete stranger. Because of this, we devote a fixed portion of our practice to the issues of individual tribal members, so they too can take solace in the fact that accomplished attorneys within the Indian community are ready and able to handle their legal issues.