Author Archives: Indian Legal Program

Job Posting – Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona

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Exciting news! Our jobs have
recently posted.

  1. Deputy Prosecutor
  2. Tribal Court
    Improvement Program (TCIP) Coordinator [Grant funded 3 year position]

To work in Indian Country while the TLOA and the new changes in VAWA are being implemented is a chance of a lifetime!  An added bonus is that they get to work in one of the best legal departments in Indian Country and operate in a multi-jurisdictional
landscape as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (SAUSA).  The Prosecutor’s
Office will continue to progress and evolve to better serve and protect our
community!

The person selected as the TCIP Coordinator will have the opportunity to orchestrate an evaluation of our Child Welfare System and help usher in change that is long overdue!

Please advise them that the positions will not be open long (1 to 2 weeks tops), the process will be fairly quick, and they should be expeditious as well.

Remember, we are looking for self-motivated, All-Stars who have an insatiable hunger for justice!

Below is the link to our
external internet H.R. website.
Any questions up to the time we conduct interviews can be directed my way.

http://www.pascuayaqui-nsn.gov/_static_pages/employment/index.php

Respectfully,
Fred Urbina,
Chief Prosecutor
Prosecutor’s Office, Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona
7777 S. Camino Huivisim, Building A
Tucson,AZ 8575
(o) 520/879-6263
(f) 520/879-6260
e-mail   alfred.urbina@pascuayaqui-nsn.gov

Contract Position – Management and Program Assistant BIA

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Management and Program Assistant who is Native American, starting May 6 if possible.

This position provides program support and secretarial assistance to the Office of Self Governance in Washington, responsibilities are focused on supporting the growth of Indian self-governance tribes and office internal requirements, such as records management, internal budget tracking, inclusion of tribal transportation data input. This position is critical for self-governance tribes to receive their compact, funding agreement and amendments in a timely and organized manner. This position offers on-going evaluation and improvements in the efficiency in the administrative processes for OSG. This position monitors and studies reports and recommends actions to correct deficiencies or improve administrative operations. This position drafts briefings for new tribes, performs research projects, handles all office procurement and internal budget management, produces a variety of documents to analyze tribal economic and compacting trends, develops surveys, uses databases and spreadsheets software to retrieve data for standard reports, meets OSG internal control review requirements in tracking funding agreements, compacts, amendments, audits, and performs administrative duties for the Office of Self Governance SES Director and other OSG staff. Salary range $35-45k starting.
Contact Sharee Freeman if interested.  sharee.freeman@bia.gov

Women in Philanthropy Article highlights the Indian Legal Clinic and students

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These are just some of the expressions
of gratitude we heard March 28 at our Dollars at Work event at the beautiful
ASU SkySong in Scottsdale. While we gathered together for lunch we had the
opportunity to hear from not just program directors but students whose academic
careers were shaped by our investments.

Over the past 10 years, Women & Philanthropy has awarded $2.6 million through 67 grants and we learned that the impact of that is being felt around the world — from Arizona’s American Indian reservations to a village in Ghana, Africa, where children are breathing easier because we invested in new cooking technology.

As our Co-chair Cindy Watts said in her welcome remarks, Women & Philanthropy
members are affecting peoples’ lives: “Every penny has gone to an ASU
program; you all should be very proud of yourselves for that.”

It was inspiring to meet students who have benefitted from our scholarships, and
to speak with the program directors who care so deeply about their work.

We tried something unique and broke into three groups, and each spent about 15 minutes hearing from participants. That way, Women & Philanthropy members could learn about programs in an “up-close and personal” way.

Here is what grant recipients had to say:

The Motivated Engineering Transfer Students (METS)
Program | 2011–12 | $100,000

Among
the several students we met from the METS program was Lauren McBurnett, who at
19 is in graduate school studying civil engineering despite struggling with
dyslexia, and who told our members:  “We really appreciate what
you guys do for our program…I know without this scholarship I would not be in
graduate school.”

And we met Erick Ponce, a civil engineering student from Guatemala who is
the first in his family to graduate from college and the first to go to
graduate school, who said:  “I’m so happy and I’m so grateful for
Women & Philanthropy because if it wasn’t for you guys I wouldn’t be
graduating.”

METS provides community college transfer students with tutoring, mentoring,
job-skills training and social and emotional support to help them transition to
a four-year university.

We learned from Mary Anderson-Rowland that this juncture in a student’s academic
career can be difficult. She likened a transfer student to a fish that has to
leap from one bowl, hang in the air, and then land successfully in another
bowl. Transfer students often don’t know what resources are available at a
university, they’ve already taken the easiest classes at community college and
they feel like freshmen all over again.

GlobalResolve | 2007–08 | $50,000

When we awarded funding to GlobalResolve it had 28 students involved in projects.
Today, it has about 140 in eight countries.

Henderson, its executive director, says our involvement was important to its success: “Thank you so much for the funding you gave us. It came very early in our founding and we have really made strides since then.”

GlobalResolve is a social entrepreneurship program in which students and faculty work
together on projects that improve the lives of people around the world. The
project we funded helped students develop clean alternatives to cooking fuel as
smoky cooking fires cause so many illnesses, especially in women and children.

Today students are working on projects from India to Peru. One student even developed a prototype light source powered by a chunk of coal, which is inexpensive and readily available to poor villagers.

Indian Legal Clinic | 2004–05 | $20,000

Patty Ferguson-Bohnee and her students were articulate advocates for the clinic,
which champions Native American voting rights and legal training at ASU.

Our funding was important because until last year the clinic received no state funding,
Patty said, and our grant helped establish its reputation:  “With
the initial money we received from you we were able to ask for money from
others, and because it was a success they were willing to donate.”

Native American voting rights is still a pressing issue. Arizona’s Native Americans
weren’t allowed to vote until 1948 and even then the state added literacy
restrictions that prevented many from voting until well into the 1970s. We
learned from third-year student Lily Yan how the Arizona Native Vote Election
Protection Project works to remove those obstacles.

We learned from third-year student Fernando Anzaldua how the clinic is making an
impact locally and nationally. In Arizona, students from the clinic do legal
work in tribal prosecutors’ offices as well as in civil cases. Nationally,
students are involved in important cases like that brought by Gulf Coast tribes
in Louisiana who are suing BP for the 2010 oil spill that devastated their
fishing grounds.

“How proud are you of what we’ve done?” Cindy asked after
spending time with these inspiring students and faculty. “Let’s be sure we keep
that going!”

How do we keep that going?

Guest speaker Roz Abero, vice president and managing director of Affinity at the ASU
Foundation, said Women & Philanthropy is building a culture of
philanthropy within our families and communities that will ensure our
collective and individual impact endures.
At the same time, ASU and the foundation are deeply committed to connecting people back tothe university where they can connect to their passions.  “The
cool thing about ASU is — whatever you are passionate about, we’re doing it.
And we’re doing it well,” Roz said.

One way to continue that impact is to help meet our goal of 100 percent
participation in the Women & Philanthropy New American University
Scholarship Endowment. So far, 62 members have contributed $87,000.

“If you haven’t already invested in the scholarship — please do so. To those who have, we thank you,” Roz said. “How could anyone not want to be a part of this kind of impact?”

ASU Foundation for A New American
University

P.O. Box 2260 • Tempe, AZ 85280-2260

Website | Invest | Privacy Policy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clinton interviewed on Voice of Russia American Edition

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04/19/2013

            Robert Clinton

Robert Clinton, Foundation Professor of Law, and affiliated faculty member of the College of Law’s Indian Legal Program, was interviewed by Carmen Russell-Sluchansky on The Voice of Russia: American Edition, on Tuesday, April 17.

Russell-Sluchansky’s segment, Due Diligence, explored The U.S. Supreme Court case of Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, which asks whether a federal law can limit the adoptions of Native American children.

In the initial hearings in trial court and the South Carolina  Supreme Court, it was held that non-Native parents Matt and Melanie Capobianco could not adopt a Native American child without complying with the requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The adoptive couple in this case petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case, and the court agreed to hear the case on April 16.

After the initial rulings, the child was turned over to the biological father, Dusten Brown.

“The Indian tribes have a right to control who adopts their kids,” Clinton said in the interview. “In many ways, the ICWA was intended to bolster that right.”

According to Clinton, the biological father of the adopted child has been misrepresented in an effort to overturn the State Supreme Court’s decision.

To hear the interview, click here.

Professor Robert N. Clinton interviewed on AZ-TV

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04/04/2013

Professor Robert Clinton of the College’s Indian Legal Program, was interviewed recently by AZ-TV 7 about a controversial tribal proposal to build a casino in Glendale.

In 2009, the Tohono O’odham Tribe made plans to construct a casino on land in Glendale that they acquired through a congressional act that was a result of damage done to their land by a dam.

First, the tribe would have to get the chosen land taken into trust, which has been opposed by the City of Glendale, Arizona, Governor Jan Brewer and other tribes in Arizona. Clinton said this is due in part to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which generally prohibits the acquiring of new land for casinos.

Next, he said, the proposal would have to qualify under the very limited circumstances listed in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

“A large number of tribes have announced these kinds of plans,” Clinton said. “I think in the history of the Act, only five of them have ever succeeded.”

To see the interview, click here.

Clinton teaches and writes about federal Indian law, tribal law, Native American history, constitutional law, federal courts, cyberspace law, copyrights and civil procedure. He is an Affiliated Faculty member of the ASU American Indian Studies Program. He also is a Faculty Fellow in the Center for Law, Science & Innovation.

Students from the Indian Legal Clinic file Amicus Brief in The Supreme Court of the United States

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Students in the Indian Legal Clinic were afforded a rare opportunity to apply their legal
knowledge in a case involving the Indian Child Welfare Act pending before the
United States Supreme Court.  Indian Legal Clinic students Stephanie Whisnant, Stephanie Skogan, Brittney Burback, Michael Mainwold, Fernando Anzaldua, Kristin McPhie, Miguel Zarate, and Lily Yan, prepared the Brief of Amicus Curiae The National Native American Bar Association Supporting Affirmance under the supervision of Professors Robert Clinton and Patty Ferguson-Bohnee.  The Court will hear oral
arguments in the case of Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, a minor child under the
age of 14, No. 12-399, on April 16.

To see brief click here: NNABA+Amicus

Job Posting – Associate General Counsel – ASU

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Arizona State University
Associate General Counsel
POSITION: Associate General Counsel
INSTITUTION: Arizona State University
CONTACT:  Locate this job posting at  https://www.asu.edu/go/employment/?auth=guest&jobid=30524&SiteId=1&PostingSeq=1

Duties and Responsibilities

The Associate General Counsel is responsible for providing a high level of professional legal service by representing and advising the Arizona Board of Regents and Arizona State University on a broad range of issues including business law, education law, procurement law, public law, knowledge and research enterprise development, and other legal matters. This position will concentrate primarily on supporting ASU’s business activities.

-Responsible for: complex commercial transactions and relationships; finance, and public procurement; conflicts of interest; regulatory compliance; risk assessment and management; knowledge and research enterprise development; other regulatory matters.

-Provide advice relating to:research grants and sponsored programs administration; HIPAA; other local, state, federal and ABOR regulations or policies impacting research at Arizona State University.

-Assist with the development of educational training programs for administrators, faculty, and staff.

-Interact regularly with senior level administration and with state, local, and federal regulatory offices.

Minimum Qualifications
J.D. or L.L.B. degree from an ABA accredited law school and six (6) years of experience in the practice of law, including experience in the primary practice area(s) designated by the Senior Vice President and General Counsel.

Must be an active member in good standing with the State Bar of Arizona within twelve (12) months of hire.             

Desired Qualifications
Demonstrated knowledge of business, administrative, public procurement, research and regulatory issues.  Experience in: working in a diverse and complex environment; working with structuring, negotiating, and drafting complex transactions and agreements relevant to a complex public research university; legal research; advocacy; problem solving. Evidence of effective verbal and written communication skills.

Close Date
Initial close date is April 26, 2013. Applications will continue to be accepted and reviewed every week thereafter until the search is closed.

To Apply
For a complete position description and application instructions, please visit  https://www.asu.edu/go/employment/?auth=guest&jobid=30524&SiteId=1&PostingSeq=1

Arizona State University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.