NALSA is for everyone
The Native American Law Students Association is a dynamic group of both Native and non-Native individuals. What do we have in common? We are all interested in issues currently affecting the Native American community.
NALSA’s purposes are threefold:
- to increase awareness of federal Indian and tribal law,
- to provide support for Native and non-Native students interested in Native American issues, and
- to foster community service towards natives and non-natives which promotes greater understanding between the two groups.
Community Service
In the summer of 1999, a devastating series of storms hit the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. Located in one of the poorest counties in the United States, many Pine Ridge residents were left without food, clothing, or housing. NALSA pitched in by co-sponsoring a clothing drive, collecting 400 pounds of clothing from the law school community. Since then, NALSA and the Women Law Students Association have organized annual clothing drives to benefit reservation communities. A plan is currently in the works to set up an Indian Law Project in which interested Michigan law students can work on cases for a Michigan tribe in need of legal assistance.
Scholarship: Federal Indian Law and Tribal Law
NALSA fosters its members’ interests in federal Indian and tribal law. Each year, NALSA sponsors a symposium on current issues in Indian law. Often held in conjunction with the Ann Arbor Pow-wow, American Indian Law Day hosts some of the country’s most prominent Indian law scholars, practitioners, and Tribal Court judges. Speakers at American Indian Law Day have included Prof. Robert Clinton, Civil Rights attorney Lawrence Baca, former tribal chairman Frank Ettawageshik, Winona LaDuke, and Judge Michael Petosky. NALSA organizes Brown Bags and hosts speakers throughout the year, including a speaker for Native American Heritage Month every November. Every April, NALSA sends a group of its members to the Federal Bar Association’s Annual Indian Law Conference in Albuquerque , New Mexico. This two-day conference is a must for anyone interested in practicing in the area of Indian law, and numerous employers in the field are on hand to interview/take resumes of interested law students. Through aggressive fundraising efforts, NALSA is often able to pay airfare/hotel expenses for all of its members that are interested in attending. NALSA members frequently participate in the National NALSA Moot Court Competition.
Student Support & Community
In addition to encouraging scholarship, NALSA provides student support and fellowship. NALSA supports its members’ career development by compiling vast resources of recruitment material from firms and public interest organizations and by organizing yearly attendance at the Federal Bar Association’s Annual Indian Law Conference. NALSA is currently building a library of law school texts and study aids to be used by NALSA members. One of NALSA’s greatest resources is its enthusiastic organization of alumni who practice Indian Law and have established a scholarship for NALSA members. NALSA promotes community. NALSA members regularly participate in the Native American community in Ann Arbor and closely associate with the Native American Students Association. NALSA members help plan and staff the annual Ann Arbor Pow-wow, “Dance for Mother Earth,” which is the largest student-run pow-wow in the United States. NALSA also sponsors events in conjunction with NASA, AISES, and NAPHA for Native American Heritage Month. NALSA’s activities vary from year to year based on the composition and interests of the group.
