Friday, February 18, 2011,
“Gender Justice and Indian Sovereignty: Native American Women and the Law.”
This one-day conference will be held at TJSL’s brand-new state-of-the-art building in downtown San Diego (opening January 2011, our first major event there), 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.”
Information and a registration link may be found at http://www.tjsl.edu/wlc2011 (a very attractive conference rate, $138 plus tax per night, is available for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, Feb 17-19, for a limited block of rooms at The Handlery, a San Diego resort hotel a couple of miles from the school; suitable closer hotels were unfortunately booked up by conventions; we plan to provide a free shuttle bus to/from The Handlery and the law school).
Leeds will join a remarkable national assemblage of about two dozen speakers, including numerous American Indian women leaders from across California and the United States, and one Canadian First Nations attorney, along with two Native men and two non-Native women, all deeply experienced leaders of Indian Nation Tribal courts, governments, business, law practice, and academia.
In keeping with TJSL’s Women and the Law Project traditions, the conference seeks to combine nationally known speakers with strong local community involvement, reflected this year in several speakers who are leaders in San Diego County and Southern California Indian Nation communities.
The speakers will include 11 serving judges on the courts of more than a dozen Indian Nations, two Native women who are current or former state court judges, the first and only Indian woman to serve as U.S. Attorney, and most of the dozen or so Native women on the faculties of American law schools. 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.
It has been very difficult to choose from among the large array of extremely qualified potential speakers, while staying within the logistical limits of a one-day conference; a few additional invited speakers are still pending confirmation. We hope as many of you as possible may be able to attend.
The full list of speakers confirmed so far is below. More details with a conference schedule and full array of planned panels will be circulated later.
Best regards,Bryan H. WildenthalProfessor of LawThomas Jefferson School of LawFaculty Organizer for WLC 2011
LIST OF CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Stacy L. Leeds (Cherokee) (Lawrence, KS), Keynote Speaker and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lecturer for WLC 2011; Interim Associate Dean, Professor, and Director of the Tribal Law and Government Center, University of Kansas School of Law; Chief Justice, Supreme Court for the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma; Chief Justice, Supreme Court for the Kaw Nation; Chief Judge, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation District Court; formerly Justice, Cherokee Nation Supreme Court.
and, in alphabetical order:
Abby Abinanti (Yurok Tribe) (San Francisco, CA), Chief Judge, Yurok Tribe, and Commissioner, San Francisco Superior Court.
Lawrence R. Baca (Pawnee) (San Diego, CA), immediate past President, Federal Bar Association (FBA) (2009-10); served 32 years in the U.S. Department of Justice (1976-2008), including as Deputy Director, Office of Tribal Justice (2004-08).
Kristen A. Carpenter (Boulder, CO), Associate Professor, University of Colorado Law School; Chair, Federal Bar Association Indian Law Conference, 2010 and 2011.
Duane W. Champagne (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) (Los Angeles, CA), Professor of Sociology, UCLA.
Barbara Creel (Jemez Pueblo) (Albuquerque, NM), Associate Professor, University of New Mexico School of Law.
Sarah Deer (Muscogee [Creek] Nation) (St. Paul, MN), Assistant Professor, William Mitchell College of Law.
Meredith D. Drent (Osage Nation of Oklahoma, also descended from Native Chamorro people of Guam) (Los Angeles, CA), Staff Attorney, San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians; Justice, Supreme Court of the Osage Nation; and President, California Indian Law Association.
Angelique EagleWoman (Wambdi A. WasteWin) (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota Oyate, Lake Traverse Reservation) (Moscow, ID), Associate Professor and James E. Rogers Fellow in American Indian Law, University of Idaho College of Law; Judge Pro Tempore, Coeur d’Alene Tribal Court.
Carole E. Goldberg (Los Angeles, CA), 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.
Diane J. Humetewa (Hopi) (Phoenix, AZ), Attorney, Squire Sanders Public Advocacy, LLC; first Native American woman to serve as United States Attorney (for the District of Arizona, 2007-09).
Debora G. Juarez (Blackfeet) (Seattle, WA), Attorney, Williams Kastner; formerly Executive Director, Washington State Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs; Judge, King County Superior Court.
Elizabeth Ann Kronk (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan) (Missoula, MT), Assistant Professor, University of Montana School of Law; Chief Judge, Appellate Court, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians; Chair, Federal Bar Association Indian Law Section.
Michelle LaPena (Pit River Indian Tribe) (Sacramento, CA), Attorney, LaPena Law Corporation (negotiated one of the landmark 1999 California Tribal-State Gaming Compacts).
Linda Rose Locklear (Lumbee) (San Marcos, San Diego County, CA), Professor of Sociology and American Indian Studies, Palomar College.
Devon Lee Lomayesva (Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel) (Temecula, Riverside County, CA), Statewide Executive Director of California Indian Legal Services (CILS) and Co-Founder and Board Chair of American Indian Recruitment (AIR) Programs (helping Indian students achieve higher education goals); formerly Tribal Councilmember and In-House Legal Counsel, Santa Ysabel.
Angela M. Medrano (Cahuilla Band of Indians) (Escondido, San Diego County, CA), Staff Attorney, California Indian Legal Services Escondido Office; President, Native American Lawyers Association of San Diego County; formerly Lead Gaming Commissioner, Cahuilla Tribal Gaming Agency.
Aliza Organick (Dine [Navajo Nation]) (Topeka, KS), Professor, Washburn University School of Law; Chair, AALS Section on Indian Nations and Indigenous Peoples.
Wenona T. Singel (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Michigan) (East Lansing, MI), Assistant Professor and Associate Director, Indigenous Law and Policy Center, Michigan State University College of Law; Chief Justice, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.
Kate Spilde (San Diego and Riverside, CA), Associate Professor, San Diego State University (SDSU) School of Hospitality and Tourism, and Chair, SDSU Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming.
Rina Swentzell (Santa Clara Pueblo) (Santa Fe, NM), author of “Testimony of a Santa Clara Woman,” 14 Kan. J. L. & Public Policy 97 (2004).
Rebecca Tsosie (Yaqui) (Phoenix, AZ), 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 (starting Summer 2011); Justice, Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation Supreme Court.
Gloria Valencia-Weber (Mexican Indian) (Albuquerque, NM), Professor of Law, University of New Mexico School of Law; recently appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation; Judge, Southwest Intertribal Court of Appeals.
Christine Williams (Yurok Tribe) (Pleasanton, SF Bay Area, CA), Solo Practitioner; Of Counsel, LaPena Law Corporation; Chief Judge, Hopland Band of Pomo Indians Tribal Court; Judge, Appellate Panel, Northern California Tribal Court Coalition; Visiting Professor of American Indian Studies, Mills College.
Joanne Willis Newton (Cree Nation of Chisasibi, Quebec, Canada) (San Diego, CA), Solo Practitioner, Law Offices of Joanne Willis Newton, APC, and Judge Pro Tempore, Intertribal Court of Southern California; formerly Chief Judge, San Manuel Tribal Court; Staff Attorney, California Indian Legal Services; and President, California Indian Law Association.
Turtle Talk 