Contact:	Kip Bobroff, 277-4140 Laurie Mellas-Ramirez, 277-5915
April 1, 2002 LAW FACULTY, STUDENT BEHIND NEW FEDERAL INDIAN LAW BAR EXAM REQUIREMENT New Mexico has become the first state to require federal Indian law as a subject on its state bar exam as a result of efforts by University of New Mexico School of Law student Calvin Lee, Navajo, Professor of Law Kip Bobroff and alumnus William Johnson, an Isleta Pueblo attorney and tribal judge. In December, the men appeared before an advisory committee of the New Mexico Supreme Court to ask that the subject be added. The court ordered the change in February. "Indian law in New Mexico is becoming as important as state law to practitioners, courts and citizens," says UNM School of Law Dean Robert J. Desiderio. "We try to insert Indian law issues into most subjects we teach and not just the courses marked Indian law." UNM was the first law school in the country to initiate efforts to increase the number of American Indians and Alaskan Natives in the legal profession. The School of Law is home to the Southwest Indian Law Clinic, an arm of the UNM Clinical Law Program. Students, with faculty supervision, frequently advise American Indians and Indian institutions, says Bobroff, one of several faculty who teaches Indian law courses, which have been offered at UNM since the 1960s. UNM offers an Indian Law Certificate, publishes the Tribal Law Journal and hosts the Native American Law Students Association. Indian law permeates all legal areas in New Mexico, says Associate Professor Christine Zuni Cruz, director of the Southwest Indian Law Clinic. "It is really important for practitioners in New Mexico to have a minimum level of familiarity with Indian law. It was quite a responsible action on the part of the Supreme Court to include it on the bar exam." "The direct impact is that more practitioners and students who are going to practice in New Mexico will be prepared for Indian law issues," Zuni Cruz says. "This is really critical with 19 pueblos, part of the Navajo nation and the two Apache reservations in the state." Not all subjects are tested each time the bar exam is given, but students are required to prepare for each required subject. Prior to the inclusion of federal Indian law and federal tax law, also recommended in December, there were 21 subjects listed. The two and one-half day test is given twice a year to approximately 300 recent law school graduates and out of state attorneys transferring to or requesting licensure in New Mexico. ###

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