There is an enormous amount of discussion lately about the future of law schools (for a representative thread of discussion, see here). No doubt there appears to be a major glut in lawyers in the overall market, and many law students are beginning to see law school like trade school. They want to pass the bar and get a job. The liberal arts-style of legal education, along with the major development in the past decades of law clinics, is under attack, at least passive-aggressively.
I see a good chance that many law schools, possibly because they’ve lost a major lawsuit, will start streamlining their legal education palates. Subject areas not on the bar exam will fall by the wayside, or become even more marginalized (along with their instructors). When I was in law school, I skipped securities regulation and corporations in favor of legal history and immigration law, and an awesome death penalty seminar. Law schools that have robust curriculum in race studies, feminist legal studies, and Indian law will feel pressure to drop those classes.
I’m here to tell you that Indian law will be one of those classes that becomes marginalized or disregarded altogether. It’s already pretty marginalized in half of law schools, and disregarded altogether in another quarter.
Those law schools that still emphasize it (probably the same ones that do now) will become the holder and protected of a big secret — there is a market for lawyers in Indian country and in Indian law. American Indians are incredibly underrepresented in the field, Indian tribes are always looking for good lawyers, and tribal economies generate work for lawyers all over. State and federal judges are beginning to look for clerks with Indian law on the transcript — it’s a small number, but it’ll grow over time. If a student can master Indian law, then they can master anything (plus, more and more Indian law cases are coming).
I’m tired of people being warned out of Indian law, that there’s no money in it. I hear it all the time from teenagers to college kids. People out there telling American Indian students not to bother with law school and not to bother with Indian law are just plain idiots.
Turtle Talk 
About 25 years ago I was a young 3rd year law student from the University of New Mexico when I was invited to be on a student speakers panel at the ABA Convention in Detroit. I spoke about the need to add “apprentice” tracks to the normal law school curriculum which is still mostly geared to theory and analysis and not to the practicalities of practice. What few “clinical” credits we require is mostly confined to a single semester at most law schools although a student could take more than one voluntarily (I did.). Although students do take “Trial Practice” courses and write “play brief” and do “mock” appeals arguments there is nothing comparable to clinical studies that teaches students to actually deal with a “human being” rather than a case file. My argument 25 years ago before the ABA still stands; the practicalities of actual practice are learned by, surprise, “actual practice”. Under proper supervision, of course. Should law schools be shortened. I say no. But the “academic” programs that teach theory and analysis should be shortened and students should begin clinical studies from year one. If anything a 4th year should be added that is nothing but trial and appeals practice for indigent clients, including clients qualifying for Public Defender programs or Civil Law Legal Service Programs. That way the second or third generation “lawyers-in-training” will have to deal with human beings and realize that their are people out here that don’t need legal services pertaining to securities law, banking, contracts, UCC and finance but do need competant representation when they get ripped off or are facing a long-long jail term. The first generation lawyers would see the profession as a chance to help those that do live “on the borderline” and not view the profession as only “an escape” from the borderline. There’s nothing wrong with making money after law school, but it can be done without taking advantage of the very communities from which you came.
Not that this defeats your point, but there’s certainly less money in Indian law than there is in some other practice areas and career paths. But then if you’re doing what you’re doing only because you want to get stinking rich, then I’d rather you do that somewhere else.
Thank for a bit of encouragement. I am a rising 2L aiming my career directly at Indian Law. I am working this summer at an Indian legal aid office and love the work. It’s always good to be remind that there is a market for what I want to do.
My school currently offers 3 Indian Law classes (Federal Indian Law and two seminars all in the Fall) and an ICWA clinic. Still, they managed to schedule one of the classes to conflict with the classroom component of the clinic. I truly hope that law schools can strike a balance in finding a more practical approach.
Any must have classes for a 21st century Indian Law practitioner? My mentor and boss suggested Water Law (although he said Water Law is where good Indian lawyers go to die.) Anything else that people wish they had had (or had not) taken?
I’ve been Indian lawyers going into water law go there to die because they spend their whole career in water. It’s like … uh, job security.
Must have classes are Administrative Law, secured transactions, oh, and Federal Indian Law. And write! Write! Write!
I received a certificate in Indian Law from the University of New Mexico, one of the few schools that actually offers such a thing. I worked in Legal Aid on the rez and then for a well-known firm that specializes in Indian Law in, you guessed it, Water Law. It did not go well. After that experience, I left Indian Law for a while, but find myself back in it, running my own solo firm helping Native visual artists, authors and entertainers form small businesses, negotiate contracts and address intellectual property issues, among other things. All that to say that specializing in Indian Law did not limit me to practicing in only the expected Indian Law fields (eg. environmental law). There are Native nations and individuals out there that need all kinds of attorneys, so the idea that primarily serving a Native population is limited and/or not a moneymaker is simply not true. Study Indian Law, find your niche of what you really love to do, and then do it. A background in Federal Indian Law can only help expand your opportunities.
I’m also pleased to be joining the adjuct faculty at the Institute of American Indian Arts this fall to teach art and business law in their Business and Entrepreneurship Progam, another opportunity that probably would not have come my way had I not specialized in Indian Law.
I completely agree on the marketability of Indian law–I took the legal services route myself, but many tribes have successful businesses now, and firms serving the business community need to know how to represent and make contracts with them. That being the case, if you want to work for tribes, rather than individuals, I would add Corps/Bus Org to Matthew’s must have list.