2023 Annual Native Law Conference

Speaker biographies

• Angelique W. EagleWoman, (Wambdi A. Was’teWinyan)

  Angelique W. EagleWoman, (Wambdi A. Was’teWinyan), is a law professor, legal scholar, Chief Justice on the Sisseton-Wahpeton Supreme Court, and has served as a pro tempore Tribal Judge in several other Tribal Court systems. As a practicing lawyer, one of the highlights of her career was to serve as General Counsel for her own Tribe, the Sisseton-Wahpeton (Dakota) Oyate.  She has taught in the areas of Aboriginal Legal Issues, Indigenous Legal Traditions, Tribal Nation Economics & Law, Native American Law, Native American Natural Resources Law, Contracts, The Business of Law, and Civil Procedure. She presents and publishes on topics involving tribal-based economics, Indigenous sovereignty, international Indigenous principles, and the quality of life for Indigenous peoples. She has received numerous awards in legal academia and has been a frequent speaker on issues of diversity, inclusion, and professionalism. She enjoys serving as a board member for the Minnesota American Indian Bar Association (MAIBA). She is director of the Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. She graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Political Science in 1993, received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of North Dakota School of Law with distinction in 1998, and her L.L.M. in American Indian and Indigenous Law with honors from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 2004.

• Philip Brodeen

  Philip Brodeen is a member of the Bois Forte Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and grew up on the Lake Vermilion Reservation in remote northeastern Minnesota. Phil is the immediate Past President of the National Native American Bar Association, Co-Chair of the Minnesota Tribal Court/State Court Judges Forum, and past President of the Minnesota American Indian Bar Association. Phil is the founding partner of Brodeen & Paulson PLLP, which is based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Phil practices Federal Indian Law and exclusively represents Indian tribes and their agencies and instrumentalities. Phil is also an Associate Judge for the Lower Sioux Indian Community and an Associate Justice on the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe’s Court of Appeals. When not working, Phil enjoys spending time outdoors engaged in traditional hunting, fishing, and gathering practices with his wife and two small children.
  

• Leonard “Lenny” Fineday

  Leonard “Lenny” Fineday, a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe from Cass Lake, Minnesota, currently serves as Secretary/Treasurer for the Leech Lake Reservation Business Committee. He earned his BA in Political Science from Bethel University and his JD from Marquette University Law School.

  Lenny has worked with and for tribal governments for the past 20 years, serving in executive, administrative and legal capacities. He is a former 2 term President of the Minnesota American Indian Bar Association. He also previously served as a member of the Minnesota Judicial Selection Commission and as Secretary for the Leech Lake Tribal College Board of Trustees. Prior to his election as Leech Lake Secretary/Treasurer, he served as General Counsel to the White Earth Nation, where he assisted the Nation in developing its tribal cannabis program.

• Jessie Stomski ’08

  Jessie Stomski is an enrolled citizen of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma. Since 2015, Jessie has served as General Counsel for the Prairie Island Indian Community. In that role, she oversees legal and government relations matters for the Tribe and its entities.

  Prior to that, Jessie represented various Tribes and business clients throughout the nation in private practice. Jessie is the 2022 Mitchell Hamline College of Law Distinguished Alumni award recipient. In 2019, Jessie was recognized by Minnesota Lawyer Magazine as In-House Attorney of the Year. In 2015, the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development named Jessie to its 40 under 40 award-recipient list. Minnesota Super Lawyers magazine named Jessie a Minnesota “Rising Star” for several consecutive years. Jessie currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Mitchell Hamline School of Law, and the Board of Directors for the Minnesota American Indian Bar Association. She graduated from William Mitchell College of Law in 2008.

  Jessie was a member of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s women’s basketball team from 1998-2002, and she was a professional basketball player before she went to law school. The Charlotte Sting drafted Jessie into the WNBA, and she also completed seasons in France and Greece. She was inducted into the UW Badger Athletics Hall of Fame in 2020. In 2022, Jessie was a NCAA Legacy Award recipient. Jessie is a member of the Indigenous Athletics Advancement Council, which focuses on increasing athletic opportunities for Native youth and communities.

• Alex Cleghorn

  Alex Cleghorn is the Chief Operating Office at the Alaska Native Justice Center. He directs ANJC’s legal and policy agenda to further the mission of Justice for Alaska Native people and has led ANJC’s growth in providing legal services and access to justice to Alaska Native people and Alaska Tribes. He provides training and technical assistance to support tribal justice initiatives.

  A lawyer for nearly 20 years, he has primarily represented Tribes and Tribal Organizations. He also served as an Assistant Attorney General and a Special Assistant to the Alaska Attorney General, where he led and coordinated efforts to build collaborative relationships between the State and Alaska Tribes. Before returning home to Alaska, Alex represented Tribes and served as a Tribal Court judge in California for many years. Alex is of Sugpiaq descent and reflecting Alaska’s unique legal landscape he is both a tribal citizen of Tangirnaq Native Village, and a shareholder of Natives of Kodiak, Koniag Incorporated and Cook Inlet Region Inc. He is elected to serve as the President of the Tangirnaq Native Village and a Director of Koniag Inc. Alex is a husband and a father and lives in Anchorage with his family.

• Dr. Trevor Reed

  Dr. Trevor Reed is a Professor of Law in the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where he teaches courses in Property, Intellectual Property, and Federal Indian Law. Dr. Reed’s research broadly explores the social impacts of intellectual property law on individuals and their communities.  His current scholarship focuses on the linkages between creative production and Native American sovereignty.  His recent publications include Fair Use as Cultural Appropriation (California Law Review), Indigenous Dignity and the Right to be Forgotten (BYU Law review), and Creative Sovereignties (Journal of the Copyright Society). Forthcoming writings include Restorative Justice for Indigenous Culture in the UCLA Law Review; Fabricating Indigeneity in the journal Anthropological Quarterly; and Sovereign Aesthetics, a new edited volume (with Jessica Bissett-Perea). He received his JD degree from Columbia Law School in 2018 and Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from the Columbia University with his dissertation on Dissertation: “Itaataatawi: Hopi Song, Intellectual Property, and Sonic Sovereignty in an Era of Settler-Colonialism.”

• Forrest Tahdooahnippah

  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. He graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Law, Order of the Coif, magna cum laude, with his JD degree in 2010 and received his BA in Public Policy, with Honors, from Stanford University in 2007