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Media Contact: Benson Hendrix, (505) 277-1816
bhendrix@unm.edu

June 21, 2007

UNM Law’s Southwest Indian Law Clinic Presents Indian Law Symposium

The UNM School of Law’s Southwest Indian Law Clinic, in conjunction with the Washburn University School of Law’s Tribal Law Practice Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, will offer the “Indian Law Clinics and Externship Programs: Pedagogy, Methodology, and Curriculum Design” symposium on June 22 and 23 in Albuquerque, N.M.

UNM law professor Christine Zuni Cruz and Aliza Organick, a visiting legal professor from Washburn University who is teaching at the Southwest Indian Law Clinic this summer and a UNM School of Law graduate, have developed the symposium. Their objective is to provide a forum for Indian Law clinic programs to share information with the directors of legal clinics and externships. These directors can then develop new, or strengthen existing, programs that focus on representing Native American clients or tribes in a variety of legal settings.

The symposium will begin on Friday at 1 p.m. with a roundtable discussion on “Lawyering for Indigenous Peoples” sponsored by the Tribal Law Journal, the UNM School of Law’s unique electronic legal journal focusing on the laws of Indigenous People. This roundtable will be held at the MCM Elegante Hotel, 2020 Menaul NE. Saturday morning the seminar will move to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, 2401 12th Street NW, for a full day of legal discussion and debate.

The topics of the symposium will range from emerging Native American legal issues to working with tribal courts and how to develop a lesson plan emphasizing Native American issues. The symposium will attract representatives from fledgling, as well as long established, Indian law programs. Legal scholars interested in drawing upon the Southwest Indian Law Clinic and Tribal Law Practice Clinic’s leadership in this field in order to create their own programs will also attend. Colleges represented include Arizona State, UCLA, and the University of Montana among others.

“We would like to see new Indian law clinics successfully establish themselves, and help existing clinics thrive,” Dr. Zuni Cruz said. “We want to establish a network of Indian law clinicians and are planning on hosting this conference annually.”

In addition to legal professors and students, members of the public who are interested in Native American legal issues are invited to attend the seminar and workshop.

“The program is open to the public,” said Mitzi Vigil, UNM Indian Law Program Coordinator. “If someone has an interest in this, they would be welcome to contact us to register.”

The symposium fee is $25 for students and $125 for faculty, staff and members of the public. People interested in attending can contact Mitzi Vigil with the UNM Indian Law Program at (505) 277-0405 and registration forms are available on the UNM School of Law Web site at http://lawschool.unm.edu/announcements/clinic-symposium/index.php.

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