Duration: Full year clinic
Credits: 8 credits (4 per semester/letter grade)

This is a full-year clinic offered for 8 credits (4 credits/semester) and students will receive a letter grade. Students will serve the legal needs of tribal governments, courts and individuals located in New England. The types of projects and cases on which students may work will be driven in part by the legal needs of the region's federally and state-recognized tribes. However, students can expect to work on projects such as drafting court rules and tribal codes, developing materials to assist pro se claimants in tribal court and engaging in Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) advocacy efforts. Students may also have an opportunity to assist tribal members navigating tribal court, work on international or regional human rights advocacy efforts on behalf of indigenous communities or support an ongoing land claim. Some of these projects will be small group projects and therefore will require regular meetings as a group. In addition to working on their projects and/or cases, students will be required to attend a two-hour weekly seminar. The seminar will explore the unique aspects of lawyering in Indian country and working for tribal governments, cover advance topics of federal Indian law such as tribal court jurisdiction and practice and the New England Indian settlement acts, as well as international human rights as it applies to indigenous peoples, and study lawyering skills such as interviewing, legal strategizing, drafting and counseling. Students will also be required to submit at least three short Reflection Papers during the course of each semester reflecting on their projects and/or cases. Students who have completed Indigenous Peoples Rights and U.S. Law will be given preference.

Please contact Nicole Friederichs, Practitioner-in-Residence at nfriederichs@suffolk.edu with any questions.