Navajo Nation

Navajo Nation DOJ Job Posting

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

 ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL POSITION

TAX AND FINANCE UNIT

NAVAJO NATION DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

The Navajo Nation Department of Justice is seeking an energetic and motivated Assistant Attorney General to manages a component “Tax and Finance Unit” The qualified applicant will provide legal advice and representation to various programs, departments and divisions of the Navajo Nation government, regarding a wide range of legal issues, including statutory and regulatory grounds for local authority, contract disputes and procurement issues, and intergovernmental relations.  Emphasis will be in the area of Tax, Retirement, Insurance, Finance and Office of Management and Budget.

Current active state bar licensure in any state is required, with the expectation that within a year of hire, the applicant will obtain licensure in the Navajo Nation as well as one of the following states: Arizona, New Mexico or Utah. Preferred qualifications are current membership in good standing in the Arizona, New Mexico, or Utah State Bar Association and the Navajo Nation Bar Association.

Please direct applicant packets consisting of (1) Letter of Interest with current address, telephone numbers, and e-mail address; (2) Navajo Nation employment application; (3) resume; (4) recent legal writing sample; (5) copy of bar membership certificates; and (6) law school graduation documents to Navajo Nation Department of Justice, Attention: Kandis Martine, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Human Services and Government Unit, P.O. Box 2010, Window Rock, AZ 86515, and to the Navajo Nation Department of Personnel Management, P.O. Box 7080, Window Rock, Arizona, 86515.

Please visit http://www.dpm.navajo-nsn.gov/jobs.html to obtain a copy of the Navajo Nation employment application.  This position number #202237 will soon be listed on the Navajo Nation’s Job Vacancy Announcement document.  Applications are currently being accepted.  For any questions, please contact Ethel B. Branch, Attorney General at 928/871-6345.

Job Posting: Navajo Nation Assistant Attorney General

Kate Fort

Here

The Navajo Nation Department of Justice is seeking an energetic and motivated Assistant Attorney General to manages a component “Tax and Finance Unit” The qualified applicant will provide legal advice and representation to various programs, departments and divisions of the Navajo Nation government, regarding a wide range of legal issues, including statutory and regulatory grounds for local authority, contract disputes and procurement issues, and intergovernmental relations. Emphasis will be in the area of Tax, Retirement, Insurance, Finance and Office of Management and Budget.

 

Unpublished California ICWA Notice Case and the Passive Voice

Kate Fort

Opinion here. Court reversed termination and remanded for notice to Navajo Nation.

Classic example of the passive voice here:

The responsibility for compliance with ICWA falls squarely and affirmatively on the court and the Department. (Welf. & Inst.Code, § 224.3, subd. (a); In re Antoinette S. (2002) 104 Cal.App.4th 1401, 1409.)3 Both Robert and the paternal grandmother stated that there was native American heritage in the family. As early as the detention hearing, the juvenile court ordered the Department to make the necessary inquiries and send the required notices. Thereafter, as everyone acknowledges, the ball was dropped.

NYTs Profile of Navajo Water Lady

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is “On Parched Navajo Reservation, ‘Water Lady’ Brings Liquid Gold.”

We just came back from the Navajo Reservation:

Navajo

New Mexico Supreme Court Determines that Parcel Three of Fort Wingate on the Navajo Nation Reservation is Not Indian Country

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in State v. Steven B.:

NM SCT Opinion

Ninth Circuit Rejects Habeas Petition of Navajo Man Sentenced to Death

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here is the opinion in United States v. Mitchell.

Brief tk.

Federal Court Dismisses American Indian Arts and Crafts Act Claim for Lack of Article III Standing

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Native American Arts v. Peter Stone Co. (N.D. Ill.):

250 Peter Stone Motion for Summary J on Standing

267 Peter Stone Motion for Summary J

271-1 Native American Arts Motion for Summary J

279 Native American Arts Response to 250

281 Peter Stone Reply in Support of 250

323 DCT Order

NPR on Climate Change at Navajo

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is “Navajo Nation Witnesses Changing Landscape: Growing Sand Dunes.”

Navajo Nation Department of Justice Job Posting

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

ATTORNEY POSITION

LITIGATION AND EMPLOYMENT UNIT

NAVAJO NATION DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

REISSUANCE May 20, 2015

The Navajo Nation Department of Justice is seeking an energetic and motivated attorney to work in the newly formed Litigation and Employment Unit. The qualified applicant will focus on litigation for the Navajo Nation government before federal, Navajo Nation, and state courts and administrative tribunals in a variety of subject areas, including natural resources, public safety, and jurisdictional issues, with some work with Navajo Nation government programs advising and representing programs on labor and employment matters.

Current active state bar licensure in any state is required, with the expectation that within a year of hire, the applicant will obtain licensure in the Navajo Nation as well as one of the following states: Arizona, New Mexico or Utah.

The Navajo Nation Department of Justice gives employment preference as mandated by the Navajo Preference in Employment Act, 15 N.N.C. § 601, et seq.

Please direct applicant packets consisting of (1) Letter of Interest with current address, telephone numbers, and e-mail address; (2) Navajo Nation employment application; (3) resume; (4) recent legal writing sample; (5) copy of bar membership certificates; and (6) law school graduation documents to Navajo Nation Department of Justice, Attention: Paul Spruhan, Assistant Attorney General, Litigation and Employment Unit, P.O. Box 2010, Window Rock, AZ 86515. Any questions, please contact Paul Spruhan at pspruhan@nndoj.org.

Kanji & Katzen Attorney Ethel Branch Named Attorney General of the Navajo Nation

Teresa Walrod1 Comment

It is with a mixture of great pride and sadness that Kanji & Katzen, PLLC, announces that Ethel Branch is leaving the firm to become the eleventh Attorney General of the Navajo Nation. Since joining the firm in 2012, Ethel has served our clients with great distinction. She has brought her creative legal mind, unwavering attention to detail, and stellar work ethic to bear on matters ranging from natural resources protection to the enforcement of gaming compacts. Moreover, as co-chair of the Seattle Human Rights Commission, Ethel was instrumental in the City’s establishment of Indigenous Peoples Day and in the Commission’s decision to call for a boycott of corporate sponsors of the Washington NFL football team, a call the firm was pleased to heed. Ethel has been a wonderful colleague, and we have benefited greatly from her intellect, energy, kindness, and humor.

In short, Kanji & Katzen will be very sorry to see Ethel go. However, we know that she will bring the same qualities that have made her such a valuable colleague and attorney to her new position. As the head of the Navajo Nation Department of Justice, Ethel will have the opportunity to discharge what she rightly views as a sacred responsibility to her own Nation, supervising a highly qualified team of lawyers engaged in an array of challenging and important legal matters on behalf of the country’s largest Indian nation. We have no doubt that she will work tirelessly to protect and advance the interests not only of the Nation but of Indian country more generally. We wish Ethel the very best in her new endeavor.