American Indian Law Program
The American Indian Law Program at Colorado Law
At Colorado Law, we are committed to education and advocacy in Indigenous Peoples鈥 Law. Accordingly, our American Indian Law Program offers a full slate of doctrinal and clinical classes to prepare students for tribal, federal, and international law practice. Drawing from the legacy of our earliest alumni, including the famous legal intellectual听Vine Deloria听鈥70, and our relationship with the听, our approach to American Indian Law is deeply grounded in Indian Country and in Indigenous communities throughout the world. Our students, faculty, and staff work closely with tribal governments in the United States, especially on issues of treaty rights, natural resources, cultural property, religious freedoms, and economic development. The AILP is also active at the United Nations, where we work to advance Indigenous Peoples鈥 human rights through .听Our Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) is extremely active, with recent top finishes at the National NALSA Moot Court Competition, an annual Fall Harvest Feast, and other educational and social events throughout the year. In all of these ways, American Indian Law is thriving at Colorado Law. We hope you will join us!
To support the American Indian Law Program, please follow or click the button below, and select our program fund in the dropdown list under "Gift Designation".
American Indian Law Program Full-time Faculty
Colorado Law's full-time faculty are nationally recognized experts in American Indian Law.
Resident faculty
On leave or emeritus
In memoriam
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American Indian Law Certificate Program
Colorado Law听 offers an American Indian Law Certificate demonstrating the completion of a听 concentrated course of study in the legal issues facing Native peoples and American Indian tribes. This Certificate is attractive to legal, tribal, and governmental employers, as well as employers seeking to do听 business with tribes and tribal members.
Certificate requirements include: (1) at least 92 credit hours (89 is required for the听 J.D.), and (2) at least 18 of the 92 credit hours in designated Indian law and听 related courses. 兔子先生传媒文化作品 for complete details.听
To register for the American Indian Law Certificate, please complete听the following steps:听
(1) Consult with the Director of the American Indian Law Program () about your planned selection of courses;听
(2) Complete the when听registering for your second year of law school.
Course Requirements:
Required courses after the first year (14 credits):
From the American Indian Law Curriculum
- 听(the seminar rotates among topics with recent topics including Indigenous Peoples in International Law; Economic Development & Resources in Indian Country; Indian Country & the Regulatory State)
- (upon the approval of the AILP Director)
- 听on an American Indian law topic (upon approval of the AILP Director)
- 听with an American Indian law focus (upon the approval of the AILP Director)
- Any course from the University of Colorado鈥檚 Native American Indigenous Studies (鈥淣AIS鈥) graduate certificate (upon approval of the AILP Director)
- American Indian law course at another law school on a topic not regularly offered at Colorado Law (upon the approval of the AILP Director)
From the Environment and Natural Resources Law Curriculum
From the Government and Public Law Curriculum
From the Litigation, Negotiation, and Alternative Dispute Resolution Curriculum听
From the Business & Commercial Law Curriculum
From the International and Comparative Law Curriculum
From the Labor & Employment Curriculum
From the Property, Trusts and Estates & Land Use Curriculum
From the Family & Juvenile Justice Curriculum
From the Legal Theory, Jurisprudence, and Social Policy Curriculum
From the Research & Writing Curriculum
From the Intellectual Property, Technology, and Telecommunications Curriculum
Other
- Other classes that may be approved by the AILP Directors and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
The American Indian Law Clinic
Mission and Clients 听听听听听
The American Indian Law Clinic, established in 1992 as one of the first of its kind, provides quality legal representation to low-income clients with specific Indian law related problems. Many in the Denver region have limited access to legal assistance and that access is further restricted when the issue involves Indian law. They have nowhere to turn when certain rights, some guaranteed by treaty, are denied. The Clinic鈥檚 student attorneys provide hundreds of hours of pro bono legal work to assist these people with direct legal assistance when possible, or by acting as a referral source when unable to help directly.
Scope 听听听听听
During this听 yearlong course, students receive classroom instruction and hands-on experience听 regarding Indian law issues, focused primarily on Colorado cases and projects that have a听 uniquely Indian law dimension. 鈥淯niquely Indian law鈥 issues are addressed by听 that body of law that concerns the status of Indian tribes and regulates the听 legal relationship between them, the federal government, the states and their听 citizens鈥攃ommonly known as federal Indian law. All cases accepted and projects听 undertaken by the Clinic involve issues of federal Indian law or the law of a听 particular tribe. Student attorneys handle cases under the supervision of a听 licensed attorney, the American Indian Law Clinic Director.
Type of听 Legal Assistance 听听听听听
Colorado Law听 students provide valuable legal advocacy research, writing, and education to individuals,听 the tribal courts, and tribal communities.
- Tribal sovereignty
- Preservation of tribal identity (including matters governed by the federal )
- International Indigenous Peoples Law
- Preservation of Native lands
- Religious freedom
- Tribal court support
- Tribal governance enhancement, including drafting of legislative codes听 and regulations
- Cases generally not handled by the Clinic: criminal (including听 post-conviction review), traffic citations, those that would provide a fee to a听 private attorney (such as personal injury or workers' compensation claims), and听 non-Indian or non-tribal law issues. 听听听
Projects听 听听听听
The American听 Indian Law Clinic seeks out opportunities to expand its legal听 services to the Native American community in critical areas. In addition to the听 representation of Native Americans and tribes, the Clinic has undertaken the听 following projects:
- American Indian听 Community Legal Education Outreach Projects:听 The American Indian Law Clerk engages in annual outreach projects that provide听 legal education on cutting-edge topics of federal Indian law to tribal communities听 and to Colorado鈥檚 Native population. These projects provide a unique learning听 opportunity for the student attorneys as they travel to different Indian听 communities to provide this important information. Recent community education听 topics have included:听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听
- The first Colorado听 Tribal-State Judicial Seminar, 鈥淚mproving Implementation of Federal Full Faith听 and Credit Mandates鈥
- Colorado Indian听 Community Law Day with the theme 鈥淟egal Issues Affecting Native American听 Children鈥
- Workshops for the听 Southern Ute, Ute Mountain Ute and the Shoshone and Arapahoe tribal communities on the impact of the American Indian Probate Reform Act on tribal member land听 interests
- A training for the听 Northern Cheyenne Tribe on how to improve the outcome of child welfare cases in听 Colorado courts involving tribal member children.
- Workshop with Tribe on Free Informed Prior Consent (FPIC)
- Workshop on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation entitled "Know Your Rights Under the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)" presented in conjunction with Lakota Peoples' Law Project
- Workshop for students on incorporation, entity formation, and jurisdiction for the Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
- Family Preservation Project: Under its Family Preservation Project, the American Indian Law Clinic听 works with the Denver Indian Family听 Resource Center听 to help maintain and strengthen the Indian family unit in the Denver metropolitan area. The Clinic delivers听 legal assistance to Indian individuals on family law, employment, and civil听 rights issues. The Clinic is especially active and successful in ensuring听 compliance with the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, which among other things,听 helps ensure that Indian children are placed with extended family members or听 with other Indian families.听
The Native American Law Student Association (NALSA)
The Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) of CU is a student association of Native American law students as well as non-Native law students interested in Federal Indian Law and Native issues in general.
NALSA provides academic, social, and cultural support to Native American students at the University of Colorado Law School, and to any and all students interested in federal Indian or Tribal law. NALSA hosts and supports numerous events throughout the academic year that provide education on Native issues, connect interested students to Indian law practitioners, and facilitate interaction with other Native American student organizations and members of the local Native community.
Past Activities
Every year in September, NALSA and the American Indian Law Program host听a social for the incoming students to meet the current NALSA membership. In November, NALSA also sponsors the Fall Harvest Feast and as well as Spring Feast in late April, a Native American community potluck for law students, members of the Colorado Indian Bar Association (CIBA), and Native American community members. NALSA has also participated in National NALSA Moot Court, the Federal Bar Association's Indian Law Conference, as well as various other community events throughout the academic year.
Officers
| President: Malorie Stick |
| Vice President: Jessica Garcia |
| Secretary: Haley Rimmer |
| Treasurer: Hannah Ahders |
| EMAIL: 听NALSA@colorado.edu |
NALSA Affiliate Website: 听
NALSA Student Group website on Canvas:听
On the NALSA Canvas site, students will find organizational information about NALSA, upcoming events, opportunities (moot court and writing competitions, fellowships, scholarships, externships, clerkships, jobs, etc.), and member contributions to current Native issues. There are also sign-up sheets for event volunteers, surveys, and e-mail access to the NALSA membership.
AILP Community Events & News
UPCOMING EVENTS
Self-Determining Greenland: Understanding Inuit Rights and International Law - Feb. 24, 2025
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For background information, review 鈥Self-Determining Greenland: A Primer"
To join the event virtually, please click .听
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PAST EVENTS
2024 Ruth Wright Distinguished Lecture in Natural Resources: Public Lands, Water, and Tribal Sovereignty in an Era of Energy Transition - Sept 26, 2024
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2024 Martz Symposium on Public Lands: The Future of Public Lands 鈥 People, Place and Power - Oct 4 & 5, 2024
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The 54th Algonquian Conference听- October 20-23, 2022
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Indigenous Youth and Human Rights: An Indigenous Peoples Day Event - Wed., Oct. 12听
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Stories From The Euchee Reservation听- March, 14, 2022
Former Muscogee (Creek) Nation Judge Gregory Bigler read excerpts from his upcoming book,听Stories From The Euchee Reservation, a reflection on traditional and modern stories from the Euchee Reservation. 听Presented by the American Indian Law Program and the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder.
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Information Session: American Indian Law Certificate - Feb. 16, 2022
The American Indian Law Program will be hosting a virtual Information Session covering important details about the Graduate Certificate in American Indian Law that can be earned alongside your Juris Doctor. AILP Director Kristen Carpenter, Professor S. James Anaya,听兔子先生传媒文化作品ing Professor Chase Velasquez, and Program Fellow Kevin Miller (c/o '20) will explain the registration process, requirements for earning the Certificate, how the Certificate sets candidates apart during job searches, and answering questions from attendees.
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INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND CLIMATE CHANGE: Preparing for COP26
A Zoom event featuring Fawn Sharp (National Congress of American Indians President), Kim Gottschalk (Native American Rights Fund Staff Attorney), and Andrea Carmen (International Indian Treaty Council President) to discuss the annual United Nations Climate Change Summit听COP26听in Glasgow on Oct. 31 - Nov. 12, 2021.
To view the recording of this panel, please .
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LAWYERING THE INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ACT: History and Background of the Act and Event Information
Authored by Colorado Law 2L Student Emiliano Salazar (c/o 2023)
An event presented by the American Indian Law Program with guest speakers Matthew Fletcher听and Wenona Singel听for a talk on the Indian Child Welfare Act, the petitions challenging the Act听currently pending before the Supreme Court of the United States, and the potential ramifications for American Indians and American Indian law if the Act is ruled unconstitutional.听
Fletcher is the Foundation Professor of Law at Michigan State University College of Law and Director of the Indigenous Law and Policy Center. He is also a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. Singel is an Associate Professor of Law at Michigan State University College of Law and the Associate Director of the Indigenous Law & Policy Center. She is a member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.
The case Fletcher and Singel will be discussing is Brackeen v. Haaland (formerly Brackeen v. Bernhardt) a lawsuit brought by Texas, Indiana, Louisiana, and individual plaintiffs alleging that the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) is unconstitutional. ICWA is a federal law that provides tribal governments with jurisdiction over custody, foster care, and adoption disputes that involve children residing or domiciled within reservation boundaries and children eligible for enrollment as听tribal members. From the perspective of many child welfare advocates, ICWA sets the 鈥済old standard鈥 for maintaining children鈥檚 connections to family, culture, and community. But others perceive ICWA as a barrier to their interests in making Indian children available for adoption by non-Indians and to state sovereignty over family law matters.
ICWA (25 USC 搂 1915) was passed in 1978 to reverse and remedy a long history of federal policy breaking up Native families in the name of assimilating Indians into mainstream society, religion, education, and economies. For decades Indian children were removed, even absent abuse or neglect, because child welfare workers, courts, and agencies believed they would be better off with white parents. However, Congressional testimony showed the opposite; both Indian children and their families were suffering psychological and other trauma as a result of the assimilation and adoption policies.
ICWA created a series of safeguards to prevent the unlawful removal of children from their tribal lands and cultural heritage. For example, when an involuntary custody proceeding is initiated involving an Indian child as defined by statute, notice must now be issued and sent to the child鈥檚 parents, the child鈥檚 Indian custodian, and agents of each tribe in which the child may be eligible for enrollment. If a child falls under the jurisdictional rules of ICWA, the tribe can maintain jurisdiction over the custody determination and exercise authority to prioritize placement with tribally enrolled relatives or foster care providers in the absence of good cause to the contrary.
Professors Fletcher and Singel, who have authored a book on ICWA and its place in the socio-legal landscape of the United States, will be examining the case and its two overarching questions: 1) whether ICWA is unconstitutionally race-based, and 2) whether Congress exceeded its authority by entering the arena of child placement when it authorized ICWA rather than leaving Indian child placement to determination by the states.
The Brackeen plaintiffs claim that ICWA unconstitutionally discriminates against non-Indian parents seeking to adopt Indian children by focusing on race-matching, preventing the children from finding the best possible home. They say this race-based discrimination should be barred by the equal protection clause of the constitution. However, tribes and Indian advocates assert the long-standing rule that Indian status is political versus race-based and does not violate equal protection. This key distinction is at the heart of many Indian policies, such as those relating to education, housing, and healthcare.
As challenges to the ICWA unfold in the United States, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples provides: "Indigenous peoples have the collective right to live in freedom, peace, and security as distinct peoples and shall not be subjected to any act of genocide or any other act of violence, including forcibly removing children of the group to another group." In 2021, a study of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognized the ICWA as an important measure for advancing Indigenous children鈥檚 rights in the U.S.
For additional reading:
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Colorado Law Native American Law Students Association Host 2022 National Moot Court
The National Native American Law Students Association, in partnership with the University of Colorado Law School, and the CU NALSA Chapter, are excited to host the 30th Annual NNALSA Moot Court Competition in Boulder, Colorado on February 26th and 27th, 2022.
Professor and American Indian Law Program Director Kristen Carpenter will serve as the problem author, and the competition will see teams from law schools around the country visit Colorado Law to argue before a panel of guest judges.
For more information and to stay up to date on news and information regarding this event, please visit the competition's 听or contact the 2022 NNALSA Moot Court Administrator directly at听nationalnalsa.mootcourt@gmail.com.
, a tribal attorney with experience at the Navajo Nation Department of Justice and the San Carlos Apache Tribe鈥檚 Department of Justice, has joined the University of Colorado Law School as a visiting clinical professor and interim director of the American Indian Law Clinic.
Velasquez is an enrolled member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe. He was raised on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in northeastern Arizona.
Indigenous Leaders, Lawyers, and Community Members
Mark your calendars and join us for a very special webinar series featuring indigenous experts
as well as representatives from the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the
World Intellectual Property Organization.
September 10 and September 24, 2020 at 9-11 A.M. Mountain Time Zone
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For more information about AILP's 2019 Conference: Implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the United States, please go to the "2019 Conference" tab.听
Follow us on and on Instagram at @AILPCULaw!
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Latest Whitepaper:
Past Events:
"Implementing the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the United States"
March 15-16, 2019
The University of Colorado Law School and Native American Rights Fund hosted this conference as the initial program of the "Project to Implement the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the United States."听 The conference gathered practitioners, scholars, and advocates to discuss how to advance the promises of the Declaration and develop a strategy for its implementation in the United States, toward the true flourishing of indigenous peoples, healing, and justice for all.
The conference included听high-level discussions on challenges in Federal Indian Law and the role of international human rights in advocacy efforts, plus workshops on issues of tribal self-governance, land rights and sacred sites, climate change, business and entrepreneurship, Indian child welfare, technology and telecommunications, and a special feature on the UN's 2019 Year of Indigenous Languages.
University of Colorado Law School
Boulder, Colorado
"Celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of the Adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples"
Thursday, November 5, 2015
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Wittemyer Courtroom
Monday November 10, 2014, 6:00 pm -7:00 pm
Wittemyer Courtroom
Invitation
Wolf Law Building, University of Colorado at Boulder
September 12, 2014, 8:00 am 鈥 3:30pm
Wittemyer Courtroom
Agenda
"Free Informed Prior Consent Conference"
November 1, 2013
Repatriation Lecture by Edward Halealoha Aya '89
October 10, 2013
"People of the Shining Mountains: Legal Past, Present, and Future of the Ute Tribes"
April 4-5, 2013
James S. Anaya, U.N. Special Rappateur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
January 25, 2013
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American Indian Law Program Newsletters
- 2024-2025 AILP Newsletter 听-- NEW
- Fall 2023 AILP Newsletter
- Fall 2022 AILP Newsletter
- Fall 2021 AILP Newsletter
- Winter 2000 AILP Newsletter
- December 2018 AILP Newsletter
- November 2018 AILP Newsletter
- Spring 2016 AILP Newsletter
- Spring 2015 AILP Newsletter
- Fall 2014 Newsletter
- Fall 2012 AILP Newsletter
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Tatanka Legal Times Newsletters