Indian Law Clinic

The Indian Law Clinic introduces students to the academic practice of law. Its curriculum is designed to help you think like a lawyer and to nurture the development of legal skills.

Through classroom discussion and by representing Clinic clients, you will learn the skills necessary to become a highly-talented litigator, a trial/appellate advocate, or a transactional counselor at law.

Specifically, you will acquire:

• Working knowledge of:
  • Case development and management
  • Legal strategy and tactics
  • Substantive laws applicable in Indian Country (Indian and United States laws)
  • Procedural rules (Kalispel tribal court and Washington state court procedural rules)
• Basic fact-development skills including, but not limited to:
  • Effective communication with indigenous people
  • Conducting initial and follow-up client (and witness) interviews
  • Counseling clients
• Working knowledge of the range of legal issues presented in representing clients, particularly enrolled members of federally recognized Indian tribes who reside in Indian Country

You may choose to pursue one of two practice tracks:

• Litigation Skills
  Students desiring to learn litigation skills will participate in specialized litigation training and, as law clerks or Rule 9 Legal Interns, may represent clinic clients. These efforts will focus on:
  
  • Initial fact development and interview techniques
  • Analysis of law and fact in connection with a representation decision
  • Litigation strategy and tactics
  • Subsequent case plan for possible litigation including (pleadings, discovery, motion practice (non-dispositive an dispositive), trial, and post-trial motions, and case management techniques)
• Transactional Skills
  Those desiring to learn transactional skills may participate in specialized training that will focus on:
  
  • Client interview techniques
  • Drafting transactional documents, agreements, and statutes
  • Research and brief legal issues
  • Counseling clients in commercial and non-commercial transactions including, but not limited to:
    • Banking
    • Landlord/tenant
    • Consumer protection
    • Creditor/debtor
    • Wills and estates
    • Other areas of civil law

The clinic will be primarily supervised by Professor Jay Kanassatega.

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