American Indian Law Summer Program

About the Instructors

Cecelia Burke - Indian Estate Planning & Probate

Cecelia E. Burke is Deputy Director of the Institute for Indian Estate Planning and Probate at Seattle University School of Law, administering free legal service estate planning projects in Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Idaho, and Montana. Ms. Burke also teaches an Indian Estate Planning Clinical Course at Seattle University's Ronald A. Peterson Law Clinic. She is author of Indian will and estate planning articles, documents, templates, and charts illustrating intestate and testate succession under the new Act, and provides training on the Act and related topics to tribal officials, Indian land owners, government officials, and attorneys nationwide. She received her B.A. summa cum laude from the University of Washington, and her J.D. cum laude from Seattle University School of Law.

John Carter - Indian Water Law

John B. Carter earned degrees in geology and law from The University of Montana. He has represented the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation for over twenty five years, primarily in the fields of water law, natural resources protection, and development and treaty issues. His practice involves extensive litigation in these and other matters on behalf of the Confederated Tribes. He practices in the trial and appellate courts of the Confederated Tribes and the State of Montana, as well as the Arizona Federal District Court, the Montana Federal District Court, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.

Gavin Clarkson - Taxation & Finance in Indian Country

Dr. Gavin Clarkson is an associate professor at the University of Houston Law Center, where he conducts research in two distinct areas: intellectual property management and tribal economic development, including tribal access to capital markets and the determinants of success for tribal entrepreneurship. An enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Dr. Clarkson has consulted, written, and published extensively on tribal sovereignty, tribal governance and court systems, tribal economic development, and tribal asset management. He was also a contributing author for the most recent edition of Felix Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law. In 2005, Dr. Clarkson received the first ever grant from the National Science Foundation to study the dynamics of tribal finance, and in May 2006 he testified before the Senate Finance Committee regarding his research.

Dr. Clarkson holds a bachelor's degree and MBA from Rice University, a doctorate from the Harvard Business School in Technology and Operations Management, and is a cum laude graduate of the Harvard Law School, where he was the managing editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology and president of the Native American Law Students Association.

Stacey Gordon - Indian Law Research

Professor Gordon teaches several courses: Legal Research, Advanced Legal Research, Animal Law, and special topics in Legal Research. She is also the Reference Librarian in the Jameson Law Library, and the advisor for the Academic Support Program. Professor Gordon is a frequent CLE presenter on the topic of electronic legal research. Professor Gordon writes an annual article on developments in electronic legal research. She also reviews books for Montana Lawyer and Legal Information Alert, and has published a review of Coyote Warrior in the Public Lands and Resources Law Review as well as an essay on the use of the ALWD citation format for law reviews in the Montana Law Review. Her own book, Online Legal Research: A Guide to Legal Research Services and Other Internet Tools, was published in 2003 by Wm. S. Hein.

Professor Gordon is a graduate of Eastern Washington University, the University of Washington School of Library and Information Science, and The University of Montana School of Law, where she was a member of the Jessup International Moot Court team and served as business editor of the Public Lands and Resources Law Review. Before coming to UM, she was the Library Director at Salish Kootenai College.

Danna Jackson - Indian Education & the Law

Danna Jackson serves as a senior consultant to the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, which is located in Washington, D.C. In this position, she advises tribal clients as part of the firm’s American Indian law and policy practice group on issues regarding Indian gaming, economic development issues on Indian lands, housing, education funding, taxation, and transportation. Ms. Jackson represents two national Indian education organizations concerned with education funding and construction of Indian facilities on tribal lands.

Ms. Jackson has worked for Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) advising him on Indian Appropriations and Judiciary Committee matters. She also served as staff attorney for the National Indian Gaming Commission and enjoyed private practice in Great Falls, Montana. Ms. Jackson received her Juris doctorate from The University of Montana School of Law. She has been listed in 2009's list of Best Lawyers in America in the area of Native American Law. Ms. Jackson proudly served as a visiting professor in The University of Montana's inaugural Indian Law Summer Program teaching two courses in Indian Gaming and Contemporary Issues in Federal Indian Policy.

Elizabeth Kronk - Tribal Criminal Law & Procedure

Professor Elizabeth Kronk is an Assistant Professor of Law at The University of Montana School of Law. She teaches in the areas of federal Indian law, environmental law, and civil procedure. Before joining the faculty at The University of Montana, Professor Kronk practiced environmental, Indian, and energy law as an associate in the Washington D.C. offices of Latham & Watkins LLP and Troutman Sanders LLP. While in Washington D.C., she also served as President of the Native American Bar Association of the District of Columbia. Professor Kronk also currently serves as Deputy Chair of the Federal Bar Association (FBA) Indian Law Section and on the executive board of Michigan Indian Legal Services. She is a citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Michigan, and she serves as Chief Judge on the tribe's Court of Appeals.

Professor Kronk graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science in Communication. She received her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, where she also served on the Michigan Law Review. She is a member of the District of Columbia, State of Michigan, and State of Montana bar associations. She is also admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana.

Maylinn Smith - Indian Child Welfare Act

Professor Smith is Clinical Supervisor and Director of the Indian Law Clinic. Working under her guidance, law student interns in the Indian Law Clinic assist tribal governments and organizations dealing with Indian law issues. Activities include: drafting model codes; working on civil rights cases; practicing in tribal court; mediations; training on Indian law issues; and natural resource issues.

Professor Smith's previous service as Chief Judge of the Southern Ute Indian Tribal Court, as Appellate Judge of the Southwest Intertribal Court of Appeals, as well as her experience as legal counsel for the Salish & Kootenai Tribal Court, benefit not only the tribes served by the Indian Law Clinic, but also the law students enrolled in the clinical program.