Announcements/Speaking Gigs

MSU Law Classes start in one week, which means everything starts picking up again. Here are a few things I want to get out there:

The Indian Law Clinic, in addition to providing representation in state court ICWA matters, also provides clerking services to tribal appellate courts. My co-professor, Saza Osawa, handles most of the logistical details, but if you are in need of writing or research services for tribal appellate court cases, please reach out to us! saza.osawa@law.msu.edu or fort@msu.edu. Please also reach out for ICWA appeals too.

If you or someone you know is interested in working in the public defense field, take a look at this posting. It's a great opportunity to work with an expert in the field for nine months, and then in the Muskegon PD office. This fellowship should be offered either annually or every other year, so keep an eye on it if you're interested in the future.

Once classes start at MSU, it's increasingly difficult for me to travel for events and not miss class. But also, this year my youngest is a senior, and I'm working very hard at staying at home. He's a two sport athlete and the year is replete with "last times," especially in the spring. So here's my fall schedule, with the anticipation that spring will be even less and no travel at all April-June.

National American Indian Tribal Court Judges Association Annual Meeting, October 13-15 (in person)

I have two presentations there--the annual ICWA/tribal court jurisdiction update as a plenary session, and the AI panel. The update will include cases I think are interesting, discussion of how the Uniform State ICWA addresses tribal jurisdiction, and some discussion of family law jurisdiction (building on last year)

For the panel, I am on the anti-empire building, no regulation, extractive AI model we currently are in the midst of (surprise!) for all sorts of reasons that I will chat about. And lest you think I'm just an uninformed reactionary Luddite, it turns out I have tech oligarchs and AI development as a special interest. Personally, I've been reading the books recommended here.

Tribal In-House Counsel Association, October 28-30 (in person. I know, I know)

I have two presentations here as well. I am working with California Tribal Families Coalition to put together a full day on the 28th to work through the Uniform State ICWA. The goal is to review the ways it updates ICWA's protections and determine if there are provisions helpful to states that already have ICWA's, and also discuss how to implement it in states without an ICWA at all.

I am also on a conference panel with in-house practitioners talking about their recent major cases in Minnesota and Arizona.

19th Annual Oklahoma Indian Child Welfare Association Annual Conference, November 2-4 (remote)

This one just got on the calendar, so I'm not sure what I'll talk about yet, but probably something along the lines of the NAICJA conference with an Oklahoma case focus.

PLSI Clerkship Training, November 7 (in person)

You give your cell phone to one person and suddenly, despite having never actually been a clerk yourself, you find yourself training future Native clerks every November. Tbh I'm not even sure where "in person" is, but I know I will be there!