Ann and Jesse share their thoughts on Fed Bar

Ann Otteman, "The Fed Bar conference on Federal Indian law was an amazing experience that I would encourage all students interested in indigenous rights to attend. Judges, attorneys and fellow law students all gathered to discuss the important impacts of Federal law and courts on the nation's indigenous populations. One of the most interesting things that I learned was that the eyes of the nations are on Hawaii as a model for native rights. It was a great experience I plan on repeating."

Jesse Smith, "The 2009 Fed Bar Conference and NALSA meeting provided our team members the opportunity to experience first hand and learn about the important issues facing Indian Country today. We were able to network with and make friends with other advocates in the field and those most affected by changes in the law. Unlike any other field of law, attending such a conference as Fed Bar entails the law coming to life right before your eyes as you are thrown into the sea of humanity for which the law is supposed to serve. If nothing else, such an experience teaches us that the law is much more than what is written in codes and case books, and that even here in Hawaii we have friends across the country who empathize with and support our cause."

After the conference ended, the Hawai'i group went to Santa Fe town where this photo was taken.


Also after the conference ended, the Hawai'i group shared a meal with a Navajo lawyer and a Washington D.C. attorney.

Five law students and 1 alumnus go on a voyage

For the first time in more than three decades, the Federal Bar Association (“FBA”) held its annual Indian law conference on an Indian reservation this year at the Buffalo Thunder on the Pojoaque Pueblo Reservation in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Concurrent with this conference was the National Native American Law Students Association’s annual meeting. Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law made it possible for five William S. Richardson School of Law students to attend the conference and meeting. You can read an on the spot blog of the conference by CLICKING HERE.

The five law students are: Ann Otteman (3L), Chris Santos (3L), Chasid Sapolu (2L), Jesse Smith (2L), and Ka’upenaikaika Soon (2L). These students are members of the 2008-09 WSRSL Native American Moot Court team and were accompanied by, Ka Huli Ao Post-JD Fellow and 2008 WSRSL alumnus, Derek Kauanoe.

From L to R, Ann Otteman, Chris Santos, Chasid Sapolu, Jesse Smith, and Ka‘upenaikaika Soon, and Derek Kauanoe pose here for a photo during the Thursday luncheon between conference sessions

The conference and meeting proved to be both an informative event covering issues in “Indian country” as well as an outstanding networking opportunity. The five students were introduced to a number of key people who also recognized their strong and impressive advocacy skills through moot court. A few of the people they met include:

• Patty Ferguson Bohnee, President-elect of the National Native American Bar Association and Director of the Indian Legal Clinic at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law,


• Nova Wilson, a 2008 graduate of the Michigan State University School of Law, now working in Washington D.C. at the National Congress of American Indians,


• Jennier “Gigi” Modrich who works at Washington D.C. based law firm Holland & Knight. Gigi is a 2008 graduate of the Cornell School of Law,


• Mary Modrich-Alvarado, a 2008 graduate of the ASU School of Law and current lawyer with the Navajo Nation,


• Paul Spruhan, a former clerk to the Navajo Nation Supreme Court but now working for the Navajo Nation Department of Justice,


• Ethel Branch, a 2008 graduate of Harvard Law School a tribal attorney working for Orrick,


• Summer Monteau, a 2008 graduate of the ASU school of law, and an attorney with the law firm of Luebben Johnson & Barnhouse of which the Pele Defense Fund was a client,


• Ezekiel Fletcher, an attorney with Rosette & Associates,


• Andrew Adams, general counsel for the St. Croix Band of of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.


• Lorinda Mall, a Punahou School graduate who also graduated from from the University of Arizona with an L.L.M. and currently pursuing a Juridical Science Doctorate degree while working for Board of Land Management in Washington D.C.

Our Richardson students also met a number of other students from law schools across the United States. Some of these other law students include:

• Naomi Bebo from the University of California Law Angeles School of Law,


• Burton Warrington from the University of Kansas


• Joshua Clause, incoming National Native American Law Students Association President, from the University of Michigan school of law


• Marilyn Phelps, from UCLA,


• Nicole Sieminski from UCLA,


• Aurora Lehr a 3L from the University of Washington,


• Nikki Borchardt a 3L from ASU,


• Jeremiah Swett from Cornell University,


• Jody Tallbear from Hamline University

The conference provided eight plenary sessions that covered: environmentalism on the reservation, tribal gaming, Supreme Court cases affecting Indian law, tribal economic development, renewable energy, genetically modified organism and food supplies. Hawaii issues and cases were briefly mentioned that included GMO kalo, Hawaii v. Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and Rice v. Cayetano.

Next year’s Federal Bar Association’s Indian Law Conference will be held April 7 - 9, 2010, at Buffalo Thunder. To find out what second year law students Chasid Sapolu and Ka‘upena Soon think about their time at the conference, go to http://tr.im/chaskau