Mitchell Hamline School of Law

Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute

Native American Law Clinic

Students work directly with tribal communities

Students can participate in a clinic that offers real-world contributions to society and the law. For example, many Legal Aid offices work with tribes to apply for grants to fund tribal code revision.

Mitchell Hamline offers one Native American law clinic:

Previously, Mitchell Hamline has also offered the Indian Law: Impact Litigation Clinic, which allowed students to work on large federal court litigation for Indian tribes. Skills involved in this clinic included archival research, working with expert witnesses, drafting court documents, and preparing for trial.

Clinic highlights

2021

Indian Law Impact Litigation Clinic

  • In a recent Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Cooley, 593 US _ (2021),  an amicus brief submitted by the clinic was referenced in oral arguments, where the Court  held that tribes could temporarily detain and search non-Indians believed to have committed crimes within Indian Country.
  • The clinic also submitted an amicus brief to the Ninth Circuit for Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation v. Klickitat County, __ F. 4th __, No. 19-35807 (9th Cir. 2021), where the Court reaffirmed the boundaries of the Yakama Reservation.