Enrollment priority will be given to 3L students seeking the Indian Law Certificate, but enrollment may be open to other students depending on resources and logistics.

Cook Inlet Tribal Council (CITC) is a tribal nonprofit organization serving Alaska Native and American Indian people residing in the Cook Inlet region of southcentral Alaska. As one of the nation’s preeminent culturally responsive social-service organizations, CITC assists in various innovative partnerships to reaching often-untapped potential.

The Alaska Native Justice Center (ANJC) is housed at CITC and will serve as a partner in the delivery of the course. The ANJC promotes justice through culturally based advocacy, prevention and intervention services to restore dignity, respect and humanity to all Alaska Native people. ANJC was established in 1993 to address Alaska Native and Alaskan people’s unmet needs within the civil and criminal justice system, in response to the increasing disproportionate rates of victimization, incarceration, and other justice-related issues impacting Alaska Native people statewide. The course will also tap into the expertise of local attorneys at the Anchorage office of Native American Rights Fund and private law firms such as Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Mill & Monkman, LLP and others.

The class is designed to expose students to the unique legal issues of Alaska Native experience – and area of Federal Indian Law that is often marginalized and not fully treated in courses and texts. The subject matter areas will include access to courts, criminal and civil jurisdiction, land and natural resources and the delivery of a world-class intertribal health system. Also central to the course will be the myriad of legal issues that flow from the first fifty years of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (43 USC 1601 et seq).

The course will address the practical, legal and economic issues and solutions for Alaska Native communities and the core competencies required of lawyers that will work in this space. The course will also address comparative realities of Alaska Native populations to those communities in the lower 48 to increase awareness of Alaska Native issues for future general Indian law practitioners.

Additional Information:
Credit Hours: 2
Grading Option: Letter Grade Only
Graduation Writing Requirement: No
Flexible/Upper-Level Writing Requirement: Yes
Skills Requirement: No
Simulation Course: No
Experiential Learning: No
Seminar: No
Prerequisite: Federal Indian Law I
Special Withdrawal Course: No
Limited Enrollment Number: 15
Final Exam Given: No
Paper Or In-Class Presentation: Yes, final paper
Attendance Policy: Per Statement Of Student Policies
Teaching Method: In Person

* The law school has a policy that is used to calculate credit hours. Please see the Statement of Student Policies.