Comanche Nation
Assistant Professor of Law
Forrest Tahdooahnippah’s legal scholarship is focused on the intersection between religious freedom and intellectual property. He teaches Civil Dispute Resolution, Property, Pretrial Litigation, Advanced Topics in Native American Law, and Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual property. Prior to joining Mitchell Hamline, he was a partner at Dorsey & Whitney, where he focused his practice on intellectual property litigation and Native American law. He litigated numerous patent and trade secret cases in venues across the United States. Forrest also led Dorsey’s team that served as tribal attorney for the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma. He served on the legal team for the Native American Church of North America and is an enrolled member of the Comanche Nation.
Education
J.D., Order of the Coif, magna cum laude, University of Minnesota Law School
B.A., public policy, with honors, Stanford University
Experience
Mitchell Hamline School of Law
Assistant professor, July 2022–; adjunct professor, 2021
Dorsey & Whitney
Of counsel, July 2022–; partner, Intellectual Property Litigation, 2018–22; associate, Intellectual Property Litigation, 2012–17
Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office
Special assistant prosecutor, 2015
U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota
Judicial Law Clerk for Judge Ann D. Montgomery, 2010–12
Professional activies
Member, board of directors, Legal Rights Center, 2018–
The Honorable Jimmie V. Reyna Intellectual Property American Inn of Court, 2017–
Member, Judicial Selection Committee, U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, December 2019–21
Member, Board of Directors, Minnesota American Indian Bar Association, 2016–21
President, Minnesota American Indian Bar Association, 2018–20
Bar memberships
Minnesota
Oklahoma
United States District Court for the District of Minnesota
United States District Court for the District of Colorado
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
