About the certificate
The Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute offers the Native American Law and Sovereignty Certificate to allow students to explore the cross-cultural fields of Native American Law to include: Indigenous legal principles, Tribal law, federal Indian law, and the relationships between Tribal Nations and other governmental entities and systems. Through this certificate, students will gain foundational skills to practice in legal settings and fora involving Native American Law.
The Native American Law and Sovereignty Certificate is comprised of 18 credits as detailed below. All J.D. students may pursue this certificate. Students interested in this certificate should contact Professor EagleWoman to meet on the application process.
Foundational required courses (9 credits)
The prerequisite course, 4313 Native American Law, is offered synchronously each fall semester and is offered online, asynchronously each spring semester. The required courses below are offered asynchronously online.
LAW-3455: This course is a prerequisite for all other Native American law courses.
Native American Law Experiential Requirement
This requirement may be fulfilled by taking the CLI-1065 Native Law Clinic: Tribal Code Drafting (4 credits) or through an approved externship.
Writing requirement
Long Paper Requirement
As a requirement for graduation all students must complete a comprehensive research paper after their first year of law school. The paper is generally required to be written under the supervision of a full-time faculty member, and up to four independent study credits can be applied for.
This legal research paper must be approved by a faculty advisor on a Native American law topic and meet the Advanced Research and Writing (ARW) standards. This requirement may be satisfied in the LAW-3355 Introduction to Tribal Law course, other Native American law electives, a directed study under faculty supervision, or a law/journal paper under faculty supervision.
Native American law concentration and elective courses (6 credits)
Through faculty advising, students select an area of concentration to receive the certificate. The areas of concentration are chosen from one of these six area:
- Criminal law,
- Economic development and transactional law,
- Family law,
- Governance law,
- Litigation, or
- Natural resources management law.
Native American law electives and courses in the general law school curriculum may satisfy this requirement.
LAW-3335 is irregularly offered in JTerm.
Advising requirement
Faculty Advisor
Students must meet with Professor EagleWoman to fill out the NALS Certificate application and to develop a plan of study for obtaining the certificate. Regular meetings with the advisor on the progress towards the Native American Law and Sovereignty Certificate are expected of the student.
Student engagement
Students pursuing the Native American Law and Sovereignty Certificate are encouraged to be actively engaged in extracurricular activities related to Native American law and sovereignty over the course of their law school career, through any of the following: