CONTACT: Kenneth Bobroff, 573-2486 Media Contact: Laurie Mellas-Ramirez, 277-5915

Oct. 17, 2002 INDIAN LAW CONVOCATION AT UNM OCT. 24 University of New Mexico Professor of Law Christine Zuni Cruz of Isleta Pueblo is the keynote speaker for the UNM School of Law's 9th Annual Indian People/Indian Law Convocation Thursday, Oct. 24, from 4 to 6 p.m. in Bratton Hall, rm. 2401. Zuni Cruz recently became the first Pueblo woman to earn tenure at a law school. She is founding director of the school's Southwest Indian Law Clinic. "We're especially proud to have Christine give the keynote this year because she is a graduate of this law school and has done so much to help build our Indian Law program," said School of Law Dean Robert J. Desiderio. The convocation honors 35 members of the Native American Law Students Association representing 16 American Indian nations. It also recognizes students receiving UNM's certificate in Indian law and staff of the Tribal Law Journal, the country's only law journal specializing in the internal law of indigenous peoples. The UNM School of Law has worked since 1967 to increase the number of American Indians and Alaskan Natives in the legal profession. In recent years, the school incorporated Indian law throughout the curriculum and developed one of the most comprehensive Indian law programs in the country. For information, call 277-3219. ###

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