UM Directory

Kekek Stark is a Professor of Law with the Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana. In this capacity he is the Director of the Indian Law Program and the Margery Hunter Brown Indian Law Clinic. He is also a faculty advisor to the American Indian Governance and Policy Institute and the Public Lands and Resources Law Review. He is a Turtle Mountain Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) of the Bizhiw (Lynx) Clan. Kekek is a former president of the Minnesota Native American Bar Association, a forum Bush Foundation Leadership Fellow and alumnus of Hamline University School of Law. Kekek worked as an assistant professor with the American Indian Studies Department at the University of Minnesota – Duluth as well as an adjunct faculty member at several institutions. In addition to his teaching experience, Kekek served as the Attorney General for the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, as a policy analyst in the Division of Intergovernmental Affairs for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, and as a policy analyst for the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians. As a practitioner of Indigenous law, Kekek has firsthand experience in training students in how to work productively with Indigenous principles and procedures. Along the way, he has helped build institutions grounded in Anishinaabe law and has helped students and communities forge better relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous institutions and peoples, strengthening tribal sovereignty.

Education

Hamline University School of Law, Saint Paul, MN

Juris Doctor, May 2006

Social Justice Concentration with Indian Law Emphasis

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

Bachelor of Arts, December 2000

American Indian Studies with Ojibwe Language Emphasis             

University of Idaho, Moscow, ID

Secondary Education, Indian Education Emphasis

Current Position

DAVIS - JOHNSTON PROFESSOR OF LAW

DIRECTOR AND FACULTY, INDIAN LAW PROGRAM

DIRECTOR AND FACULTY, MARGERY HUNTER BROWN INDIAN LAW CLINIC

FACULTY, NATURAL RESOURCES & ENVT'L LAW PROGRAM

FACULTY, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND POLICY

FACULTY ADVISOR, AMERICAN INDIAN GOVERNANCE AND POLICY INSTITUTE

FACULTY ADVISOR, PUBLIC LANDS AND RESOURCES LAW REVIEW

Teaching Experience

Professor, (Spring 2026 - Present)

Alexander Blewitt III School of Law, University of Montana, Missoula, MT

Associate Professor, (Spring 2023 – Spring 2026)

Alexander Blewitt III School of Law, University of Montana, Missoula, MT

Assistant Professor, (Summer 2020 – Spring 2023)

Alexander Blewitt III School of Law, University of Montana, Missoula, MT

Assistant Professor, (Fall 2019 – Summer 2020)

University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN

Instructor, (Fall 2018)

University of Toronto Faculty of Law, Cape Crocker, ONT

Adjunct Professor, (Spring 2018)

Mitchell Hamline School of Law, St. Paul, MN

Adjunct Professor, (Spring 2011-2015)

University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN

Adjunct Professor, (Spring 2012)

University of Wisconsin Superior, Superior, WI

Adjunct Professor, (2009-2011)

Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College, Hayward, WI

Teacher, (1999 – 2005) Social Studies, Native History, Ojibwe Language

Nawayee Center School, Inc., Minneapolis, MN

Teaching Assistant

Ojibwe Etymology, Department of American Indian Studies, University of Minnesota (2000)

Indian Education, College of Education, University of Idaho (1997)

Teaching Specialist

Students Talk about Race.  University of Idaho (1994 – 1997)

Projects

RESEARCH REPORTS:

Kekek Jason Stark, Reply Expert Report on Anishinaabe Values, Customs and Legal Traditions Centered around Anishinaabe Law and Governance Principles. Final Report (January 2026).

Kekek Jason Stark and Heidi Kiiwetinipinesiik Stark, Expert Report on Anishinaabe Shared Territorial Governance. Final Report (September 2025).

Kekek Jason Stark. Expert Report on Anishinaabe Values, Customs and Legal Traditions Centered around Anishinaabe Law and Governance Principles. Final Report (December 2024).

Kekek Jason Stark and Dylan Jennings. Phase I Cultural Resource Survey of Archaeological Resources Identified within the Area of Potential Effect of Great Lakes Gas Transmission Company (TransCanada Pipelines Limited) Corridor. Final Report (September 2018).

Kekek Jason Stark and Dylan Jennings. Phase I Cultural Resource Survey of Archaeological Resources Identified within the Area of Potential Effect of Northern Natural Gas Company – Marquette Branch Line (WIM-15501) & Rib Lake Branch Line (WIB-22301). Final Report. (January 2018).

Kekek Jason Stark, Sean Niso-Asin Fahrlander, Jason Manidoonoodin Schlender, and Heidi Kiiwetinipinesiik Stark. Hemino – The Good Berry Sees Us; Manoomin (Wild Rice) Management Plan of the Lake Superior Ojibwe. GLIFWC Admin Report (December 2016).

Kekek Jason Stark. Waawaashkeshi Waaswaa Ayaangwaami – Doodamowin: Tribal Manual on the Safe Conditions of Tribal Deer Hunting at Night While Shining Within an Established Safe Zone of Fire from a Stationary Position. GLIFWC Admin Report (October 2015).

Kekek Jason Stark. Waters Regulated for Tribal Wild Rice Harvesting. GLIFWC Admin Report (October 2014).

Kekek Jason Stark. Tribal Disease Management Areas within the Wisconsin portion of the 1837 and 1842 Ceded Territories. GLIFWC Admin Report (November 2012).

Kekek Jason Stark. Tribal Gathering on State Lands within the Portion of the Ceded Territory Located in the State of Wisconsin – Tribal Species of Special Concern. GLIFWC Admin Report (May 2010). 

Kekek Jason Stark. Tribal Gathering on State Lands within the Portion of the Ceded Territory Located in the State of Wisconsin – Tribal Designated Use, Tribal Research and Management Areas, and Tribal Closed Areas. GLIFWC Admin Report (May 2010).

Kekek Jason Stark. Tribal Gathering on State Lands within the Portion of the Ceded Territory Located in the State of Wisconsin – Public Lands Open to Tribal Gathering. GLIFWC Admin Report (May 2010).

Kekek Jason Stark. Tribal State Park Hunting Opportunities in the Wisconsin portion of the 1837 and 1842 Ceded Territories. GLIFWC Admin Report (January 2010).

Kekek Jason Stark. Designated Tribal River and Stream Segments in the Wisconsin portion of the 1837 and 1842 Ceded Territories. GLIFWC Admin Report (January 2010). 

Kekek Jason Stark. Tribal Alternative Monitoring of Walleye Harvest on Certain Lakes in the Wisconsin portion of the 1837 and 1842 Ceded Territories. GLIFWC Admin Report (January 2010).

COMMUNITY RESEARCH GATHERINGS

GLIFWC Ceremonial Harvest Gathering on Customary Law pertaining to Omashkooz (Elk); Lac Courte Oreilles Indian Reservation, Hayward, WI (2018)

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Elders Gathering on Hunting Rights, Responsibilities & Food Sovereignty: The Customary Law of the Hunt; Sagkeeng First Nation, Fort Alexander, MB (2017)

Treaty III / Anishinabeg Kabapikotawangag Resources Council Delegation; Lac Courte Oreilles Indian Reservation, Odanah, WI (2016)

Sakimay First Nation, Pipeline Governance Gathering; Grenfell, Regina, and Yorkton, SK (2016)

GLIFWC Gathering of Manoomin (Wild Rice) Chiefs; Bad River Indian Reservation, Odanah, WI (2016)

GLIFWC Ceremonial Gathering on Customary Law pertaining to Night Hunting; Bad River Indian Reservation, Odanah, WI (2014)

GLIFWC Elders Gathering on Customary Law pertaining to Ma’iingan (Wolf); Bad River Bad River Indian Reservation, Odanah, WI (2012)

GLIFWC Gathering of Manoomin (Wild Rice) Chiefs; St. Croix Indian Reservation, Clam Lake, WI (2012)

Treaty IV / Western Region Tribal Council Delegation; Bad River Indian Reservation, Odanah, WI (2011)

Treaty III / Anishinabeg Kabapikotawangag Resources Council Delegation; Bad River Indian Reservation, Odanah, WI (2009)

Robinson (Huron-Superior) Treaties / Anishinabek Nation-Union of Ontario Indians Delegation, Garden River First Nation, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. (2007)

Treaty III / Anishinabeg Kabapikotawangag Resources Council Delegation; Bad River Indian Reservation, Odanah, WI (2007)

Publications

PUBLICATIONS:

Kekek Jason Stark and Michelle Bryan, Restoring the Full Waterway Bundle (Part I): A Reckoning for Indigenous Title to Submerged Lands (Forthcoming 2026).

Kekek Jason Stark, Tribal Law Interpretations of Justice and Justiciability, 26 Tribal Law Journal (Forthcoming 2026).

Kekek Jason Stark and Heidi Kiiwetinipinesiik Stark, Considering Our Sacred Obligations, in Opening and Clos​in​g Relations: Indigenous Spirituality in Canada (Forthcoming 2026).

Kekek Jason Stark, The Utmost Rights and Interest of the Indians: Tribal Law Interpretations of the Indian Civil Rights Act, 30 Tex. J. Civ. L. & Civ. Rts. 270 (2025).

Kekek Jason Stark, Tribal Sovereign Immunity: Absolute Authority or Accountability, 86 Mont. L. Rev. 173 (2025). 

Kekek Jason Stark, Self-Determination in the Implementation of Treaty Reserved Rights, 24 Tribal Law Journal 3 (2025).

Kekek Jason Stark, Exercising the Right of Self-Rule: Tribal Constitutional Law and Customary Law, 51 Mitchell Hamline L. Rev. 94 (2024).

Kekek Jason Stark, Responsible Governance and Tribal Customary Rights, 59 Harvard Civ. Rts. – Civ. Lib. L. Rev. 27 (2024).

Kekek Jason Stark, Gwayak Ateg Onaakonogewi Dibenjigewin: Decolonizing Jurisdiction in Anishinaabe Tribal Courts, 103 Neb. L. Rev. 199 (2024).

Kekek Jason Stark, Tribal Court Jurisdiction and the Exhausting Nature of Federal Court Interference 92 U. Cin. L. Rev. 701 (2024).

Kekek Jason Stark, Nakomidizo: An Anishinaabe Law Response to Two Hundred Years of Johnson v M’Intosh and the Doctrines of Discovery and Implicit Divesture, 23 Tribal Law Journal 12 (2024).

Kekek Jason Stark and Monte Mills, Beyond Current Boundaries: Disrupting Historical Legacies to Re-Indigenize the Crown of the Continent in A Watershed Moment: The American West in the Age of Limits (Robert Frodeman, Evelyn Brister, and Luther Propst eds., 2024).

Kekek Jason Stark, Indian Policing: Agents of Assimilation. 73 Case Western Reserve L. Rev. 683 (2023). 

Kekek Jason Stark and Monte Mills, Administrative Sovereignty: Tribal Governance and Public Administration in Street-Level Public Servants 53 (Sara R. Rinfret ed., 2023).

Kekek Jason Stark, Autumn L. Bernhardt, Monte Mills, & Jason Robison, Re-Indigenizing Yellowstone, 22 Wyo. L. Rev. 397 (2022).

Kekek Jason Stark, Bezhigwan Ji-Izhi-Ganawaabandiyang: The Rights of Nature and its Jurisdictional Application for Anishinaabe Territories, 83 Mont. L. Rev. 79 (2022).

Kekek Jason Stark, Tribal Natural Resources in Tribal Administration Handbook: A Guide for Native Nations in the United States 176 (Rebecca M. Webster and Joseph Baukemper eds, 2022).

Kekek Jason Stark, Anishinaabe Inaakonigewin: Principles for the Intergenerational Preservation of Mino-Bimaadiziwin, 82 Mont. L. Rev. 293 (2021).

Heidi Kiiwetinipinesiik Stark and Kekek Jason Stark, Flying the Coop: ICWA and the Welfare of Indian Children, in Outsiders Within: Writings on Transracial Adoptions (2d ed. 2021).

Heidi Kiiwetinipinesiik Stark and Kekek Jason Stark, Nenabozho Goes Fishing: A Sovereignty Story, 147.2 Daedalus 17 (Spring 2018).

Marla R Emery, Alexandra Wrobel, Mark H. Hansen, Michael Dockery, W. Keith Moser, Kekek Jason Stark, and Jonathan H. Gilbert, Using Traditional Ecological Knowledge as a Basis for Targeted Forest Inventories: Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera) in the US Great Lakes Region, 112.2 Journal of Forestry 207 (March 2014).

Sue Erickson and Kekek Jason Stark, Tribes Assert Sovereignty, Affirm Relationship with Ma’iingan in Mazina’igan: A Chronicle of the Lake Superior Ojibwe (Winter 2012-2013).

Kekek Stark Jason, GLIFWC Hosts Tribal Judicial Conference in Mazina’igan: A Chronicle of the Lake Superior Ojibwe (Winter 2011-2012).

Ann McCammon-Soltis and Kekek Jason Stark, Fulfilling Ojibwe Treaty Promises – An Overview and Compendium of Relevant Cases, Statutes and Agreements in Minwaajimo: Telling a Good Story – Preserving Ojibwe Treaty Rights for the Past 25 Years (2011).

Kekek Jason Stark, New Voigt Case Stipulation Filed with Federal Court in Mazina’igan: A Chronicle of the Lake Superior Ojibwe (Summer 2011).

Kekek Jason Stark. Book Review – The Art of Tradition: Sacred Music, Dance & Myth of Michigan’s Anishinaabe, 1946 – 1955 in Mazina’igan: A Chronicle of the Lake Superior Ojibwe (Spring-Summer 2010).

Kekek Jason Stark, New Tribal Mentored Hunting Regulations in Mazina’igan: A Chronicle of the Lake Superior Ojibwe (Winter 2009-2010).

Kekek Jason Stark, Wisconsin Senate and Assembly Pass GLIFWC Warden Bill in Mazina’igan: A Chronicle of the Lake Superior Ojibwe (Winter 2007-2008).

Kekek Jason Stark, USFWS Notice of Intent Regarding Religious or Ceremonial Use of Migratory Birds other than Eagles in Mazina’igan: A Chronicle of the Lake Superior Ojibwe (Fall 2007).

Kekek Jason Stark, National Fish Habitat Action Plan in Mazina’igan: A Chronicle of the Lake Superior Ojibwe (Fall 2007).

Kekek Jason Stark, Wisconsin State-Tribal Relations Committee Approves GLIFWC Warden Bill in Mazina’igan: A Chronicle of the Lake Superior Ojibwe (Spring 2007).

Heidi Kiiwetinipinesiik Stark and Kekek Jason Stark, Flying the Coop: ICWA and the Welfare of Indian Children in Outsiders Within: Writings on Transracial Adoptions (2006).

Kekek Jason Stark. Two World Walkers in Winds of Change (Winter 1997).

Kekek Jason Stark. Are You Indian or Something in Muckleshoot Indian News (Winter 1996).

SERVICE

• PLRLR Co-Faculty Advisor (AY 2024-2025)
• Summer Indian Law Program Director (AY 2024-2025)
• Perquisites Committee (Chair Fall 2024 Chair AY 2025-2026)
• Appointments Committee (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• Admissions Committee (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• 1L Advisor (AY 2023-2024)
• Indian Law Program Director (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• MHBILC Director (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• NALSA Advisor (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• NALSA Moot Court Advisor (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• AIGPI Co- Faculty Advisor (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• Student Success Team (AY 2023-2024)
• Native American Center Planning Team (AY 2023-2024)
• Indian Law Practice Work Group (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• ILS- Native Student Support Committee (AY 2023-2024)
• Supporting Native Students Advisory Group (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• Advising Council on Inclusive Access and Success (AY 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• University Athletic Committee (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• Diversity Advisory Committee (AY 2023-2024)
• Montana Supreme Court- Access to Justice Commission (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• National Native American Bar Association Native Student Support Committee (AY 2023-2024 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• MT. State Bar-Indian Law Section (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• Minnesota American Indian Bar Association (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• Tribal In-Hour Council Association (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• AALS-INIP Section 0 BOD (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• Federal Bar Association (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• American Bar Association (AY 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• PLRLR Co-Faculty Advisor (Ay 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• Presenter Michigan Law Scholarly Forum, Ann Arbor, MI Decolonizing Indigenous Citizenship (Ay 2025-2026)
• Presenter Fed Bar Association Indian Law Conference, Scottsdale, AZ Innovative Strategies for Practitioners to Promote and Protect Tribal Sovereignty through the Application of Tribal
• Customary Law (AY 2025-2026)
• Presenter Public Interest Environmental Law Conference, Eugene, OR Tribal Land Sovereignty: An Elegant Solution to a Retreating Federal Regime (AY 2025-2026)
• Presenter AALS Conference: Impact. Excellence.Resilience. The Enduring Contributions of
• Legal Education, New Orleans, LA Indian Nations and Indigenous Peoples:Indigenous Resilience through Tribal Self – Determination (AY 2025-2026)
• Presenter AALS Conference: Impact. Excellence. Resilience. The Enduring Contributions
• of Legal Education, New Orleans, LA Environment, Natural Resources & Energy Law Works in Progress (AY 2025-2026)
• Presenter Separation of Powers: From Comparative Lens – Missoula, MT Separation of Powers from a Tribal Law Perspective (Ay 2025-2026)
• Presenter- Martz Symposium on Public Lands –Boulder, CO The Land Back Movement and Federal Public Lands (AY 2025-2026)
• Presenter Anishinaabe Law Field School – Queens University The Utilization, Retention, and
• Dissemination of Anishinaabe Law (AY 2025-2026)
• Presenter 41st Public Land Conference, Missoula,MT Moderator – What Does “Shared
• Governance” Mean Today? Opportunities in Water Administration (AY 2025-2026)
• Presenter University of Washington School of Law –38th Annual Indian Law Symposium,
• Seattle, WA Keynote – The Implementation of Sovereignty through the Use of Customary
• Law in an Era of Constant Change (AY 2025-2026)
• Presenter The National Judicial College –Reno, NV Tribal Courts – Attorney Regulation (AY 2024-2025)
• Presenter Tribal Advocacy Incubator Project: Montana Legal Services Association
• TAIP Montana Mock Trial Training (AY 2024-2025)
• Presenter Tribal Advocacy Incubator Project: Montana Legal Services Association
• Rules of Evidence (AY 2024-2025)
• Presenter Montana Federal Bar Association CLE –Missoula, MT
• Tribal Jurisdiction and Co‐Management of Treaty Territories: An Indigenous
• Perspective (AY 2024-2025)
• Presenter Tribal Advocacy Incubator Project: Montana Legal Services Association
• Sources of Tribal Law (AY 2024-2025)
• Presenter Montana Natural Resources Environment and Energy Law Section
• (NREELS)CLE – Missoula, MT Tribal Co‐Management (AY 2024-2025)
•  Presenter Anishinaabe Law Camp, Rama, ON Anishinaabe Law, Land and the Flood (AY 2024-2025)
• Presenter MNCLE Indian Law Conference- Indian Law Case Update (AY 2024-2025)
• Presenter AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education Baltimore, MD Working with the Original Sovereigns: The Role of (Student) Lawyers and Clinical Teachers in Indian, Tribal, and Native Hawaiian Law Clinics (AY 2024-2025)
• Presenter Indigenous Rights in 2025: A Symposium on Current Legal Issue Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights-University of Texas at Austin School of Law The Utmost Rights and Interest of the Indians: Tribal Law Interpretations of the Indian Civil Rights Act (AY 2024-2025)
• Presenter at Facing Limits in the American West: A Community Discussion on Past, Present, and Future Directions-Utah State University Beyond Current Boundaries: Disrupting Historical Legacies to Re-Indigenize The Crown of the Continent (AY 2024-2025)
• Presenter at Law School for Legislators- Helena, MT Indian Law and Tribal Sovereignty (AY 2024-2025)
• Presenter at Robinson Huron Treaty Litigation Fund- Little Current, ON Resource Revenue Sharing in Action
• Presenter at Montana Historical Society, Helena, MT Tribal Sovereignty and Citizenship: One Hundred Years of the Indian Citizenship Act. (AY 2023-2024)
•  Presenter at State Courts on the Power Map Montana Training: Tribal Sovereignty and Tribal Courts (AY 2023-2024)
• Presenter Salish Kootenai College – Pablo, Montana; Tribal Sovereignty and the
• Marshall Trilogy (Ay 2023-2024)
• Presenter AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education Baltimore, MD Working with the Original Sovereigns: The Role of (Student) Lawyers and Clinical Teachers in Indian, Tribal, and Native Hawaiian Law Clinics (AY 2024-2025)
• Presenter 2024 Indian Law Week - University of Montana ABIII School of Law; Indian Law Preview Day – Mock Indian Law Course (AY 2023-2024)
• Presenter 2024 Indian Law Week - University of Montana ABIII School of Law; The Future of Co-Management: Charting a Course for Continued Success (AY 2023-2024)
• Presenter Harvard Civil Rights – Civil Liberties Law Review 56th Annual Conference– Harvard Law School; Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in Indian Country (AY 2023-2024)
• Presenter Chippewas of Rama First Nation Tribunal Training – Rama, ON;
• Anishinaabe Laws and Community: Applying Indigenous Laws Anishinaabe Inaakonigewin: Traditional Indigenous Law Principles (AY 2023-2024)
• Presenter Chippewas of Rama First Nation
• Tribunal Training – Rama, ON; Anishinaabe Laws and Community: Applying Indigenous Laws
• Tribal Justice Systems: Legitimacy and Alternative Dispute Models (AY 2023-2024)
• CLE Presenter- 2024 IP Day in Montana CLE –University of Montana ABIII School of Law; Indigenous IP Considerations –Tribal Sovereignty, Intellectual Property
• and Research Collaborations (AY 2023-2024)
• CLE Presenter- SIIA-CIRCLE Gathering – University of Victoria Faculty of Law; Engagement
• on Tribal Child Welfare Law and Self Governance (AY 2023-2024)
• CLE Presenter-NNALSA Moot Court Competition CLE – University of Montana (AY 2023-2024)
• Presenter Alexander Blewett III School of Law; The Law and Arguments Associated
• with Tribal Water Law, Sovereign Immunity and Co-management (AY 2023-2024)
• Presenter Blackfeet Child & Family Services /Child Protection Services Staff
• Training; The Nuts and Bolts of Indian Child Welfare Law, Practice, and
• Procedures (AY 2023-2024)
• Presenter 200 Years of Discovery – AALS Indian Nations and Indigenous Peoples Section; Moderator: The Doctrine of Discovery in the Law School Curriculum (AY 2023-2024)
• Presenter Tribal Law Journal Symposium –University of New Mexico School of Law; An Anishinaabe Law Response to Two Hundred Years of Johnson v MIntosh and the Doctrines of Discovery and Implicit Divesture (AY 2023-2024)
• Presenter 40th Public Land Conference –University of Montana Alexander Blewett III School of Law; Moderator –The Access Conundrum: Defining “Public,” Defining “Rights (AY 2023-2024)
• Presenter- Indigenous Peoples and the Environment – University of Wisconsin;
• Presenter- Gathering of Indigenous Legal Scholars– Arizona State University Sandra Day
• O’Conner School of Law; Gwayak Ateg Onaakonigewi Dibenjigewin –Anishinaabe Jurisdictional Principles (AY 2023-2024)
• Presenter Anishinaabe Law Conference – White Earth Nation; Foundations of Anishinaabe Law and the Rights of Nature (AY 2023-2024)
• Presenter Tribal Advocacy Incubator Project: Montana Legal Services Association;
• Sources of Tribal Law (AY 2023-2024)
• Presenter Tribal Advocacy Incubator Project: Montana Legal Services Association;
• Rules of Evidence (AY 2023-2024)
• Pro Bono Legal Midwest Indigenous Immersion Network (AY 2023-2024)
• Pro Bono Waadookodaading Ojibwe Language Institute (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• Board of Directors Western Native Voice (AY 2023-2024, 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• Board of Directors Western Organization of Resource Councils (AY 2024-2025, 2025-2026)
• Midwest Indigenous Immersion Network (AY 2024-2025, 2025-2026)

Affiliations

BAR MEMBERSHIP:

Admitted, Supreme Court of the United States of America                                       2015 – Present

Admitted, Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal Court                                                              2015 – Present

Admitted, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit                                          2014 – Present

Admitted, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin                        2012 – Present

Admitted, Supreme Court of the State of Minnesota                                                 2006 – Present

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP:

Tribal In-house Counsel Association                                                                         2021 – Present

Native American and Indigenous Studies Association                                               2019 – Present

Waadookodaading Ojibwe Language Institute, Board of Directors                           2014 – Present

Chequamegon Bay Area Community Fund                                                               2011 – 2014

Minnesota American Indian Bar Association Vice-President                                    2011 – 2012

Shingwauk Kinoomage Gamig, Oversight Accreditation Committee                       2011

Minnesota American Indian Bar Association President                                             2008 – 2010

Mashkiziibiing (Bad River) Head Start Policy Council, Vice-Chairman                   2008 – 2010

Minnesota American Indian Bar Association Board of Directors                              2007 – 2014

National Native American Bar Association                                                               2006 – Present

American Bar Association                                                                                          2006 – Present

Minnesota State Bar Association                                                                                2006 – Present

MAIBA Board of Directors, Student Representative                                                 2005 – 2006

Anoka-Hennepin Indian Education Parent Committee                                              2005 – 2006

Nawayee Center School, Board of Directors                                                              2003 – 2006

Ojibwe – Dakota Language Revitalization Alliance                                                  2003 – 2006

National Native American Law Student Association                                                2002 – 2006

Minnesota American Indian Bar Association                                                             2002 – Present

Ojibwe Language Society Inc.                                                                                   2001 – 2002

American Indian Science and Engineering Society                                                   1994 – 1998

American Educational Studies Association                                                               1996 – 1997

Specialized Skills

Proficient in ability to speak, read, and write in the Ojibwe language.  Passed the University of Minnesota Graduation Proficiency Test in Ojibwe, which tests speaking, writing, reading, and the ability to transcribe the language.

Professional Experience

Associate Justice, (2026 – Present)

Standing Rock Sioux Supreme Court, Fort Yates, ND

Special Associate Judge, (2026 – Present)

Chippewa Cree Tribal Court, Rocky Boy’s Agency, MT

Pro Tem Judge - Hearing Panel Officer, (2023)

Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Sault Ste. Marie, MI

Attorney General, (2014 – 2020)

Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Hayward, WI

Policy Analyst, (2017)

Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Odanah, WI

Attorney / Policy Analyst, (2006 – 2014)

Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, Odanah, WI

Student Intern Law Clerk, (2005)

Faegre & Benson, Minneapolis, MN

Clinical Practitioner, (2005)

Hamline University School of Law Child Advocacy Clinic, St. Paul, MN

ICWA Court Monitor, (2005)

Minneapolis American Indian Center, Indian Child Welfare Act Program, Minneapolis, MN

Legal Researcher, (2004)

Snohomish Tribe of Indians, Chimacum, WA 

Youth Worker, (1998 – 2000)

Ain Dah Yung (Our Home) Native Youth Center, St. Paul, MN