Today, I will be make a presentation at the 2012 American Law Institute annual meeting (agenda here) in support of a proposed restatement or principles project on American Indian Law.

I organized a meeting on behalf of the ALI in March here in D.C. to discuss whether the ALI could effectively contribute the field (coverage of the meeting is here):

On March 29, the Institute hosted a conference on American Indian law at The Mayflower in Washington, DC, to discuss whether the ALI could produce work that would have a positive impact in the area of American Indian law. Among those attending the meeting, moderated by Professor Matthew L.M. Fletcher of Michigan State University College of Law, were government officials, judges, practitioners, and law professors with expertise in the field, including Deputy Solicitor General Edwin S. Kneedler; Arvo Mikkanen of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma; Jon M. Sands, Federal Public Defender for the District of Arizona; Judges William Cameron Canby, Jr., and William A. Fletcher of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit; Judge Diane P. Wood, U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit; Patricia Ann Millett of Akin Gump in Washington, DC; John E. Echohawk of the Native American Rights Fund; Dean Kevin K. Washburn of the University of New Mexico School of Law; and Dean Stacy L. Leeds of the University of Arkansas School of Law.