Seattle University School of Law has recently announced the creation of The Center for Indian Law and Policy, the latest in a number of centers at the law school that focus efforts and interest on specific legal topics and issues.
One unique component of the Center will be a dispute resolution project designed to address the often intractable conflicts that arise in Indian law between Indian tribes and their people, and with non-Indian people, governments and entities. These disputes are special because their cultural, social and historical components often play singularly important roles with roots that extend back many decades. To solve these conflicts effectively requires an ability to understand Indian law and an awareness and respect for the cultural and inter-generational divides that characterize these disputes.
The Dispute Resolution Project will be led initially by Center Director Douglas Nash and Michael Mirande. Nash brings to the process 39 years of work as a tribal advocate. Mirande has worked on Indian law issues for private and public, non-tribal entities for more than 23 years and currently teaches Indian Law at SU School of Law as an adjunct faculty member.
Nash and Mirande have substantial experience in resolving Indian law issues outside of traditional litigation and mediation, including as opposing counsel in several complex cases in which they were successful in bringing parties on opposite sides together in sustainable, long-term settlement agreements that provide benefits to both parties far beyond what might be realized through litigation.
Drawing upon that experience, the Dispute Resolution Project will be driven by a marriage of cross-cultural education and legal doctrine adapted to the unique situation of co-existing indigenous and non-indigenous peoples and incorporating other disciplines such as history and anthropology.1 The project is special in that it will be dedicated solely to questions of Indian law disputes with a unitary focus on Indian law issues and an emphasis on a multi-disciplinary approach.
The project will draw upon other Center and law school faculty. Students will play an important role in each stage of problem solving, from initial interaction with clients through efforts to institutionalize among the parties ongoing relationships that should serve as a framework for avoiding future conflicts. This will provide cost-effective problem solving and an important source of professional learning and experience as well.
The Center’s Dispute Resolution Project is open to tribal and non-tribal governments and entities that are seeking resolution of conflicts whether or not those conflicts are in active litigation. The conflicts can be between tribal and non-tribal parties or between competing tribes trying to sort out their respective prerogatives.
The new Center is built upon the operation and success of the school’s initial Indian law program — the Institute for Indian Estate Planning and Probate. The Institute opened its doors at SU in August 2005 and developed programs that provide estate planning services to Indian people and informational programs that have been delivered to Indian communities, attorneys and governmental officials.
The Institute will continue to exist and operate as one of several components within the new Center. Nash, who initially established the Indian Estate Planning Project at the University of Idaho School of Law in 2003 and brought the Institute to SU as its director, is director of the Center.
The Center will charge for its services with a competitively based fee schedule. For further information about the Dispute Resolution Project, contact Nash at 206-398-4276 or dnash@seattleu.edu or Mirande at mmirande@nwlink.com.
1 See M. Mirande, “Sustainable Natural Resource Development, Legal Dispute, and Indigenous Peoples: Problem Solving Across Cultures,” 11 Tul. Envtl. L.J. 33 (1997).
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