 |
Matthew Fletcher directs
UND's Indian Law Center.
(Photo:
Chuck Kimmerle/University Relations) |
UND's Law
School aims to be a leader in education and expertise
for American Indian legal matters
The University of North Dakota Law School is emerging
on the national scene as a source of expertise, research,
scholarship, and service in a specialized area that
has become increasingly important: American Indian
law.
Congress and the courts recognize 564 separate tribes
of American Indians and Alaska Natives, says Matthew
Fletcher, assistant professor of law and the new director
of the School’s Indian Law Center. Some 275
reservations are recognized by the federal government,
all with the status of independent nations within
the nation. Parts or all of five reservations are
located in North Dakota, with many more in the surrounding
states.
“Fundamentally you have federal law and state
law,” Fletcher said. “Then you have Indian
tribal law. The states in which they are located have
limited power over them, and only as provided by federal
law. There are many gray areas — jurisdictional
differences, land claims, the regulation of gaming,
environmental issues, and many others. Each year,
Indian-related cases reach the U.S. Supreme Court.”
The focus of the Indian Law Center is on recruiting
and supporting more Indian law students and working
with tribes to understand and refine tribal law.
It’s important to understand that each tribe
has its own tradition and culture and the tribal law
fits into that, Fletcher explained. For instance,
marriages in many tribes would follow state law. But
there are some who would like to marry on the reservation
under tribal law. Many tribes are creating drug courts
that have the flexibility for alternative sentencing.
Fletcher observed that without question the tribes
are leaders in this area. Each tribe has laws that
reflect its own values.
Fletcher says few law schools provide an emphasis
on Indian and tribal law. “North Dakota includes
up to eight Indian law-related courses in its curriculum
with five instructors steeped in the practice and
theory of Indian law,” he said.
“Every student who graduates from law school
in North Dakota is going to experience tribal court
or will have a client involved in tribal court. I
have seen attorneys with 20 years of experience who
flounder because they have no knowledge of tribal
courts that do not answer to the state.”
A growing number of the area’s new attorneys
are American Indians. Currently, 14 American Indians
are enrolled in the UND School of Law, which is actively
recruiting more. The U.S. Department of Justice has
awarded the School a $148,422 grant to support an
American Indians Into Law program. The funds will
be used for student scholarships, stipends, and retention
and outreach initiatives.
In 1968, Fletcher observes, there were only 15 licensed
American Indian attorneys in the United States. “There
are a few thousand of us now. There is just a huge
need for Indian attorneys and Indians who want to
go back and work on the reservations. That is why
UND and other schools recognize that Indians bring
their own ethics and morality to the practice of law.
This helps the whole profession become more diverse.”
Fletcher is a member of the Grand Traverse Band of
Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in Michigan and a 1997
graduate of the University of Michigan Law School.
He remains an appellate judge for the Pokagon Band
of Potawatomi Indians Tribal Court.
|
