At this year’s annual ABA meeting, lawyers and legal advocates gathered to support two prominent Native American legal warriors: John Echohawk (Pawnee Nation) and Mary Smith (Cherokee Nation.)

John Echohawk, executive director of the Native American Rights Fund, received the ABA’s Thurgood Marshall Award for his service in protecting and fighting for the rights of Indian Country. Dallin Maybee (’11), NARF director of development, sang the honor song with Steve LaPointe.

Stacy Leeds, the first Indigenous dean at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, administered the oath ceremony for Mary Smith, the first Native American woman to lead the American Bar Association.