Indian Studies and picking a law school Forum

[Nolachicken]

Hi again everyone! I have been doing a lot a thinking about what type of law I'm interested in, and Native law is really calling me. Even if I don't practice in that area my whole career, I really want to learn all about it and even try to clerk or get a federal position. My question is this: should I make a choice based on something like this?

[rinkrat19]

What do you want to do if you don't get a job in any of these extremely specialized areas?

Ignore specialties and look at the schools' employment prospects in ANY legal job. Specialities are a minimal factor in hiring. Also look at school locations and how they place in markets you have personal ties to, compared to where you'd like to work.

[Nolachicken]

Tulane and LSU have similar placement locally where I have ties. I currently work in the legal field and can get a job there once a I graduate. BUT, of course I want to do something different and big with my life Should I just quit looking out of state, and go to LSU? Another thing is that I qualify for a certain scholarship that I need to do a year in a native position for each year I used the scholarship. I don't have to take this scholarship, but I know that going to a school with a Native program would increase my chances of getting a job to fufill the requirements of the scholarship.

[bowser]

Definitely pick school based on overall prospects. But within tiers (e.g., T-14 or full ride at another school, etc.), you can investigate further.

There was Native American Law Student Association and Moot Court at my school (Columbia), an adjunct professor who supervised the moot court, and several specialists in Constitutional law who had some expertise on Native law matters (incidentally, within the academic legal world "Indian law" has become the accepted term, it appears). But there were no native law-specific courses. I think schools that have a geographical connection to a tribe or reservation (Lewis & Clark, for example) might actually have faculty whose specialty is Indian law.

There are also smaller firms which specialize in Indian law--some $$ at play here, considering some of the rights tribes have (casinos, etc.). Again, they tend to be located closer to where these things are an issue (Southwest, Pacific Northwest come to mind). But it's a crap shoot if that's what you're shooting for.

[Nolachicken]

Thank you for the information! I did know that Columbia had a Native Law group. I applied there but don't have high hopes. UCLA and ASU definitely have Indian Law classes and programs, but should I even be considering these things? Arizona is a full ride, but I'll have to take loans or the scholarship for service to pay for COL. I can just go all out at LSU. It's like the minute I think I'm making a choice, I start off on another tangent.

[pancakes3]

only law jobs I know of that specialize in Indian law are bigfed DOJ/DOI which you're not likely to get out of LSU/Tulane/non-T14. Not to mention that none of the practitioners of Indian law specialized in Indian law when in law school.

[A. Nony Mouse]

There's a reasonably wide range of Indian law related stuff besides DOJ and DOI: working directly for tribes (especially those with natural resources and gaming - there's a ton of legal stuff involved in both those fields), working for a firm that represents tribes (often small but some big firms do this too), legal aid-type programs aimed at Native people, being a tribal prosecutor or defense attorney, policy work, economic/business development, land claims and civil rights at a place like NARF (though there's much less of this than there used to be), even family law if you're somewhere with a decent native population (ICWA).

Going to the school with the best employment stats is always a good deal. But Indian law hiring is more like small/mid law - connections to tribes/native communities and getting experience in the field are really the important things. So I would say being in your chosen market and working with people who are connected is really key.

[Nolachicken]

Thank you everyone! I feel so torn. I want to work in this field but the schools not the jobs are near my home base. I don't feel like the jobs prospect difference between Tulane and LSU are worth 90k. UCLA seems to have the best of both, Indian law and better job placement. But, is UCLA too regional when it comes to that bump in employment and even ranking? UCLA would be around 110k. This is so hard!

[thrillhouse]

How did this all come out? Did you make a decision or are you still in limbo?

[Nolachicken]

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