Monthly Archives: June 2022

Job Announcement: Visiting Assistant Professor

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Washburn University
Topeka, Kansas
Posting #2770622

Washburn University School of Law invites applications for a full-time visiting faculty position teaching Legal Writing beginning in the 2022-2023 academic year. This is a 9-month visiting position, although the position has a possibility of renewal contingent on the need for services and the availability of funding. In addition, Washburn may have a tenure-track legal writing appointment available after the 2022-2023 academic year depending on budget and curricular needs. If a tenure-track position is approved for the 2023-2024 academic year and beyond, the law school will conduct a national search and the visiting faculty member will be welcome to apply for the position.

We seek candidates whose performance to date has demonstrated effectiveness in teaching, scholarship, and service or the potential for achievement in each of these job functions. Application materials should clearly articulate the candidate’s record of work supporting diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and state how the candidate will contribute to Washburn University’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Washburn University is a teaching-focused, student-centered, public institution. The Washburn campus is located in the heart of Topeka, Kansas, blocks from the historic state capitol. Topeka features affordable housing; beautiful, historic neighborhoods filled with well-maintained parks; and a nationally recognized public library. It is also the home of the Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Site.

Washburn is dedicated to recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty, staff, and student body and cultivating a vibrant and inclusive working environment and curriculum. We offer competitive wages, an excellent benefits program, a supportive leadership team, and a healthy work/life balance. At Washburn, we strive to ensure a campus climate that supports the success of every employee and appreciates the unique skills and expertise each contributes to serving our students.

The ideal candidate will have law school teaching experience, but entry-level candidates will be considered.

Required Qualifications:

  • JD degree from an ABA-approved law school
  • Demonstrated commitment to developing inclusive teaching practices that engage students from diverse backgrounds.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Training or experience in teaching first-year legal research and writing (LRW) courses
  • Record of published legal scholarship and/or demonstrated potential for such scholarship

Responsibilities:
Fulfill teaching expectations associated with a visiting assistant professor appointment as outlined in the faculty handbook. Teach a full workload of two first-year legal writing courses (6 credit hours per semester).

This visitor will fulfill service expectations by engaging in service activities in the department, university, and profession.

To apply, see website.

ILC: 2022 Year in Review

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This year, Professor Helen E. Burtis (’07) helmed the Indian Legal Clinic while Professor Patty Ferguson-Bohnee  sharpened her focus on other projects on sabbatical. During the academic year, eleven student attorneys worked over 3600 hours handling 22 cases covering a variety of subjects and venues, including tribal, state, and federal courts. Some of the accomplishments that students realized on behalf of their clients included assisting an elder to officially enroll in her tribe after a lifetime of paperwork complications, creating bylaws for a nonprofit funding youth in the arts, and successfully starting or concluding several appointments of personal representatives in probate cases. Students also researched and recommended options to protect tribal land, to recover expenses for services not performed, and to recover debts. 

This was the first year students were able to appear in tribal courts for criminal cases since the start of the pandemic. While still not at full capacity, seven student attorneys made appearances in tribal courts for both prosecution and defense. For many students, this was their first appearance in court. 

The ILC also expanded services for Indian Wills Clinics, forging new partnerships with two tribes while continuing two existing partnerships. In September 2021, 3L student attorneys Jacob Broussard, Liliana Elliot, Lindsay Ficklin, Zaine Ristau and Dwight Witherspoon and Professor Burtis traveled to Winterhaven, California for the third Wills Clinic for the Quechan Indian Tribe and in October, the same team also provided the third Wills Clinic for the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians in Temecula, California. 

In February 2022, clinic students Gwendolyn Bell (2L), Ryan Maxey (2L), Lena Neuner (2L), Claire Newfeld (2L), Ravynn Nothstine (2L) and David Streamer (3L) and Professor Burtis traveled to Santa Rosa Rancheria, California for the first Wills Clinic for the Tachi Yokut Tribe. 

In March, this team remotely provided another first Wills Clinic from ASU Law to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation in Connecticut. 

Overall, student attorneys created estate planning documents including wills, healthcare powers of attorney, and financial powers of attorney for 45 tribal clients during these Wills Clinics.

The ILC Team, including Native Vote Fellows Torey Dolan (’19) and Blair Tarman-Toner (’21) and Professor Ferguson-Bohnee, continues to work with tribes to protect tribal land and resources, uphold tribal sovereignty, advocate for cultural protections, support voting rights, and assist with status clarification of Tribes. Notably, Ferguson-Bohnee successfully argued and won a case before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that found “intratribal disputes are generally nonjusticiable in federal courts.”

Tarman-Toner presented to the National Congress of American Indians’ Federal Recognition Task Force. Her presentation provided updates on Tribes seeking to gain federal recognition through legislative, judicial, and administrative avenues. 

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Honore Callingham (’18)
Law Fellow, Indian Legal Clinic, ASU Law

Danielle Williams
Program Coordinator Sr, Indian Legal Program, ASU Law

Job Opportunity: Deputy General Counsel

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The Hopi Tribe
Office of General Counsel

The Deputy General Counsel provides professional legal counsel and representation to the Hopi Tribal government – including the legislative and executive branches of the Hopi Tribe, the administrative departments, offices and programs. The Deputy General Counsel performs highly professional and advisory work involving considerable depth of knowledge and analytical/organizational skills in a broad range of subject areas of the law, and exercises broad and independent judgment in providing legal advice on any political/legal dimension and its effects on Tribal entities. The Hopi Tribal Council sets the overall objectives and priorities of the Office of General Counsel. The General Counsel establishes the duties and responsibilities of the Deputy General Counsel pursuant to these priorities and the priorities of the Executive Branch. . The Deputy, in consultation with the General Counsel develops deadlines for work to be accomplished. The Deputy General Counsel, having years of experience in the legal field is responsible for planning and carrying out all assignments and resolving conflicts as they arise. Work is reviewed from the overall standpoint of meeting identified requirements and achieving expected results.

Minimum Qualifications

  1. Required Education, Training and Experience:
    Education: Juris Doctorate degree or equivalent from an accredited law school and admission to at least one state bar. Deputy General Counsel must be a member of the Arizona State Bar in good standing OR must take and pass the Arizona State Bar Exam not later than one and a half years after appointment to position unless otherwise determined by the General Counsel;
    AND
    Experience: Six (6) years of responsible legal experience in Indian law, which includes trial practice, government and municipal law, civil rights, land use, corporate and business law, gaming law, real estate law, tax law, and civil legal services.
  2. Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
    Knowledge: Must have knowledge of judicial procedures and rules of evidence; available legal resource information and legal research techniques; local, state and federal court practices and procedures; business law, gaming law and administrative practices which effect the operation of tribal entities.

    Skills: Must have skill in effective techniques in the presentation of cases in court, effect legal writing, and effective oral communication in a wide range of settings.

    Abilities: Must have ability to effectively plan, organize, and execute legal assignments; to be diplomatic and use discriminating judgment in legal matters effecting tribal issues; to analyze and appraise a variety of legal documents and instruments; to present oral and written material clearly, logically, and persuasively; to work within the overall tribal policies, goals, and budget limits; to effectively negotiate grants/contracts, leases, etc.

For full job description and application information, go to: The Hopi Tribe Job Listing

ASU ILP’s Native Vote Recap

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This year, Professor Patty Ferguson-Bohnee and Native Vote Fellows Torey Dolan (’19) and Blair Tarman-Toner (’21) worked on a variety of voting rights issues. The goals of the Arizona Native Vote Election Protection Project at ASU Law for this year was to: analyze the 2020 election cycle, track democracy developments in the state legislature and with the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, and prepare for the upcoming midterm election.

Mapping & Redistricting
The U.S. Constitution requires states to redraw their congressional and state legislative district boundaries every 10 years following each decennial Census. The goal of redistricting is to protect the constitutional right to “one person, one vote” by ensuring that each district has approximately the same number of people. In Arizona, the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) is tasked with redrawing the State’s congressional and state legislative districts. 

Why It’s Important for Arizona Native Voters
Ensuring that the redistricting process remains fair is critical for Native American voters in Arizona, as it determines whether voters can elect their candidates of choice into state and federal offices. The redistricting process ultimately determines access to resources as well as a communities’ political representation.

ILC Redistricting Efforts
Tarman-Toner joined the Native Vote team as a Native Vote Fellow and hit the ground running by tracking the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission as they redrew the State’s congressional and legislative districts. Tarman-Toner tracked the Commission’s deliberations over the course of its fourteen decision-making meetings as well as tracked the public comments made at thirty-two public hearings. The ILC created a redistricting guide, regularly presented to Tribes regarding the redistricting process, and assisted Tribes in drafting public comments. The ILC submitted oral and written testimony regarding compliance with the Voting Rights Act, maintenance of a strong Native American majority-minority district, and respecting reservation boundaries as communities of interest.

Tarman-Toner also created a redistricting summary from the 2021 redistricting cycle to share with Tribes.

Dolan was recently quoted in The Guardian’s article “Redrawn Arizona congressional map drains Native American voting power.”

Litigation
In September 2021, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe reached a settlement with Pima County to restore  an in-person early voting location on the reservation. This provides voters living on the reservation an opportunity to vote in-person early, safely, and in their community just as other Arizonans have voted across Pima County for the past four years. The settlement agreement also provides for cooperation on voter registration and outreach. Student attorneys at the time Aspen Miller (’21), Jens Camp (’21) worked with Ferguson-Bohnee and Dolan to prepare for the preliminary injunction hearing in Fall 2020. 

In April 2022, ILP legal team defends voting rights in Arizona. ILP advisory council member Judith Dworkin (JD ’86) and Ferguson-Bohnee represented the Inter Tribal Association of Arizona in an amicus brief regarding the constitutionality of early voting.  Dolan and Tarman-Toner assisted in drafting the brief.

Testimony and Reports
The Native Vote Election Protection Project actively to protect the rights of Native American voters in Arizona. On October 27,  Ferguson-Bohnee testified at the “Voting Matters in Native Communities Hearing” before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Native Vote Fellows Dolan and Tarman helped prepare the testimony that was delivered to the Committee.

Dolan and Tarman-Toner co-authored an article discussing the Native American Voting Rights Act for the Daily Journal.

The team issued its 2018 Native Vote Election Protection Project Report, which details voter issues faced by Tribal voters in the 2018 election. 

Legislative Analysis
Throughout the 2022 Legislative Session, Dolan and Tarman-Toner tracked bills impacting the right to vote and identified 142 democracy-related bills in the Arizona State Legislature—72 in the Senate and 70 in the House of Representatives.

Outreach
The ILC coordinated with its voting partners, Tribes, and counties to address issues in anticipation of the 2022 election cycle. As members of the Arizona Native Vote Coalition, the ILC worked with ITCA and All Voting is Local to host and present at monthly Native Vote Strategy Sessions. In addition to strategic planning for 2022, Dolan and Tarman-Toner regularly provided legislative analysis and updates to Tribes at the sessions.

In September 2021, Ferguson-Bohnee emceed the Secretary of State’s first-ever Tribal Nations Conference. 

On May 4, the ILC joined the “May the Vote Be With You” event organized by Angela Salazar-Willeford (MLS ’22) and hosted by her tribe Salt River-Maricopa Indian Community and ITCA.