Washington State Indian Lawyer Gabe Galanda Quoted Re: AUTO v. State Decision

Gabe Galanda was quoted in a WSBA Bar News article, "In Good Conscience: Analyzing the Automotive United Trades Org. v. State of Washington."

The Court’s decision, according to Gabriel Galanda, an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of Mendocino County, California and Seattle Indian law attorney, spells fallout for burgeoning state-tribal relations. “Currently, there are over 200 statetribal tax agreements in effect nationwide, resolving ex ante a variety of potential tax disputes. And Washington state and its tribes are just starting to smooth out the edges of their tax disputes using compacts,” said Galanda. “But now,” he explains, “the Court’s decision permits suits against tribes, essentially, in absentia.

Gabriel "Gabe" Galanda is a partner at Galanda Broadman PLLC, of Seattle, an American Indian owned law firm.  He is an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of Covelo, California.  Gabe assists tribal governments and businesses in all matters of tribal economic development and diversification, including entity formation and related tax strategy. Gabe can be reached at 206.691.3631 or gabe@galandabroadman.com.

Tribal Tax Litigation Update

Anthony Broadman's materials from the 2nd Annual Tribal Tax & Business Development Conference held yesterday in Portland are available. It has been an up and down year for tax controversy, including some bad losses (Ute Mountain Ute Tribe v. Rodridguez) and good wins (Mashantucket Pequot Tribe v. Town of Ledyard). As always, New York has provided a wealth of tobacco tax cases in which the state generally prevails and property tax cases in which tribal interests triumph.

Northwest Tribal Law Firm Galanda Broadman Named "Best Firm" By U.S. News & World Report

Galanda Broadman, PLLC, has received a prestigious Tier 1 ranking in the 2013 Edition of U.S. News - Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms,” in the arena of Native American Law. According to U.S. News - Best Lawyers, the Tier 1 ranking was determined through the firm's overall evaluation, which was derived from a combination of Galanda Broadman’s “clients' impressive feedback” and “the high regard that lawyers in other firms in the same practice area have for [the] firm.”

In addition, named partner Gabriel S. Galanda was named to The Best Lawyers in America in the practice areas of both Gaming Law and Native American Law. “Selection for Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive and rigorous peer-review survey comprised of more than 4 million confidential evaluations by the top attorneys in the country. “ Gabe has now been selected to The Best Lawyers in America from 2007 to 2013.

Galanda Broadman, PLLC, “An Indian Country Law Firm,” is dedicated to advancing tribal legal rights and Indian business interests. The firm, with offices in Seattle, Washington and Bend, Oregon, represents tribal governments, businesses and members in critical litigation, business and regulatory matters, especially in matters of Indian Treaty rights, tribal sovereignty and taxation.

Gabe is an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of California. He currently sits on the National Native American Bar Association (NNABA) Board of Directors, chairing the group’s “Include Indian Law on State Bar Exams” Initiative, and co-chairing its “Increase Natives and Tribal Court Judges in the Judiciary” Initiative. Gabe is a past President of the Northwest Indian Bar Association and past Chair of the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) Indian Law Section.

Named partner Anthony Broadman is the immediate past Chair of the WSBA Administrative Law Section, and author of “Administrative Law in Washington Indian Country.” He is a former Trustee of the WSBA Indian Law Section, and also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Section’s Indian Law Newsletter.

Ryan Dreveskracht is a firm associate. Prior to joining Galanda Broadman he was a law clerk to the Honorable Kathleen Kay, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. Ryan has published ten journal and law review articles in 2011-12 alone, on issues like tribal renewable energy, and has served as the Managing Editor for the National Lawyer’s Guild Review since 2010.

Gabe, Anthony and Ryan each received their law degrees from the University of Arizona College of Law. Gabe received his B.A. from Western Washington University, and Anthony his A.B. from Princeton University, cum laude; both majoring in English. Ryan received his B.A. as well as an LL.M. in Sustainable International Development from the University of Washington.

Bend, Oregon Tribal Lawyer Anthony Broadman to Deliver Tribal Tax Update

Anthony Broadman will deliver the Tribal Tax Litigation Update at the the 2nd AnnualTribal Tax & Business Development Seminar in Portland, Oregon on November 7, 2012. The theme of the seminar is: "Building Sovereignty and Adding Revenue in Indian Country."

Anthony Broadman is a partner at Galanda Broadman PLLC.  His practice emphasizes tribal tax strategy and litigation defense.  He can be reached at 206.321.2672, anthony@galandabroadman.com, or via www.galandabroadman.com.

Seattle Indian Lawyer Gabe Galanda Named a "Difference Maker" by the American Bar Association

Gabriel “Gabe” Galanda was honored with the “Difference Maker Award” by the American Bar Association at the Fall Leadership Meeting and National Solo & Small Firm Conference in Seattle on October 12, 2012. Gabe, an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of California, was honored for his twelve years of bar leadership and pro bono service, primarily in helping recruit more Native American lawyers to the profession in the Pacific Northwest through scholarship fundraising; promoting mainstream legal understanding of Indian legal issues through state bar examination in Washington and elsewhere; and leading the effort to restore the religious freedoms of Native American prisoners in Washington State (See “Native Son,” Bar Bulletin, August 2012).

Washington Supreme Court Justice Steven Gonzalez, King County Superior Court Judge Mary Yu, and U.S. District Court Bankruptcy Judge Karen Overstreet were also named Difference Makers by the American Bar Association (ABA) – the country’s largest voluntary association of lawyers, with over 400,000 members, with a stated mission of “defending liberty and delivering justice as the national representative of the legal profession."

Gabe recently authored a widely discussed article, “Off-Color State Judicial Elections: Voting and Race” in Washington State (Bar Bulletin; Crosscut).  He currently sits on the National Native American Bar Association (NNABA) Board of Directors, chairing the group’s “Include Indian Law on State Bar Exams” Initiative, and co-chairing its “Increase Natives and Tribal Court Judges in the Judiciary” Initiative.

He is a founding Partner of Galanda Broadman, PLLC, an American Indian-owned law firm with office in Seattle and Bend, Oregon, dedicated to advancing tribal legal rights and Indian business interests.  Gabe’s practice focuses on complex, multi-party litigation and crisis management, and economic diversification and tax strategy, representing tribal governments and businesses and Indian citizens.  He also serves as a tribal appeals court and administrative law judge, and mediates and arbitrates Indian Country-related disputes.

Selected to The Best Lawyers in America® from 2007 to 2013, Gabe was also named as one of the best lawyers in Washington State by Puget Sound Business Journal in 2011.  He was named to the Puget Sound Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” list, as well as to the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s “Native American 40 Under 40” list in recognition of his status as an emerging leader in the legal industry, in 2009. Washington Law & Politics/Super Lawyers magazine named Gabe a “Rising Star” for ten of the last twelve years, most recently this year, and Washington Law & Politics named him one of Washington’s four Leading Edge Litigators in 2003.  In 2004, he was awarded both the Washington State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division’s Outstanding Young Lawyer Award, and the Northwest Indian Bar Association’s Native Justice Award.

Gabe was born and raised in Port Angeles, Washington.  In 1995, he received his A.A. from Peninsula College, where he served as Associate Student Body President.  He received his B.A. in English Literature from Western Washington University in 1997, and his J.D. from the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona in Tucson, in 2000.  At Arizona, he served as President of the Native American Law Students Association.

Gabe Galanda Addresses NAFSA Regarding Tribal Online Lending Precautionary Defense Measures

Today, Gabe Galanda addressed the Native American Financial Services Association (NAFSA), in a presentation titled, "A Quick History Lesson: Foundational Elements of Tribal Sovereignty, Tribal Self-Governance and the Government to Government Mandate." He delivered his remarks (slides here) at the Tribal Government Online Lending Symposium Presented by the Online Lending Association and NAFSA. Gabe specifically discussed notions of inherent sovereignty and preemptive consultation as means of countervailing federal and state attacks against tribal online lending activities.

Gabriel "Gabe" Galanda is a partner at Galanda Broadman PLLC, of Seattle, an American Indian owned law firm.  He is an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of Covelo, California.  Gabe assists tribal governments and businesses in all matters of tribal economic development and diversification, including entity formation and related tax strategy. He also helps tribes and tribal businesses and joint ventures withstand attack from federal, state and local government. Gabe can be reached at 206.691.3631 or gabe@galandabroadman.com.

Anthony Broadman Co-Chairs Annual Ad Law Conference

Anthony Broadman, the current Chair of the WSBA Administrative Law Section, will co-chair, the "Advocacy in Administrative Law" conference in Seattle on October 24, 2012. Earlier this year, he published a chapter, "Administrative Law in Washington State Indian Country" in the Section’s Washington Administrative Practice Manual -- an authoritative text on administrative law in Washington Indian Country.

Anthony Broadman is a partner at Galanda Broadman PLLC. He can be reached at 206.321.2672, anthony@galandabroadman.com, or via www.galandabroadman.com.

State-Tribal Consultation Right Crystallizing

Last week, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya, urged “local and state authorities in South Dakota” to address concerns expressed by the Sioux Nations regarding the impending private land sale of Pe’Sla, a sacred site of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Peoples, in the Black Hills. While the federal Indian consultation right is now entrenched in federal law, the Special Rapporteur’s pronouncement of a state-tribal consultation right is profound. 

The Special Rapporteur’s proclamation follows a Resolution passed by the National Congress of American Indians in March 2011, whereby NCAI resolved that much like the United States’ consultation obligations to tribes, “states and local governments [must] meaningfully consult with tribal governments, on a government-to-government basis, regarding any matter of tribal implication, in order to allow any affected tribal government to express its views and assert its rights in advance of any non-tribal governmental action or decision-making.”

Indeed, much like the international norm of indigenous consultation and the federal Indian consultation right have each crystallized through non-tribal governmental actions and proclamations, a state-tribal consultation right is forming.

Gabriel "Gabe" Galanda is a partner at Galanda Broadman PLLC, of Seattle, an American Indian owned law firm.  He is an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of Covelo, California.  Gabe is currently writing a piece for Indian Country Today, tentatively titled, "Developing and Enforcing the State-Tribal Consultation Right." He can be reached at 206.691.3631 or gabe@galandabroadman.com.

Ryan Dreveskracht's "Revictimizing Native Women for Political Purposes" Goes Viral

Ryan Dreveskracht's commentary, "Revictimizing Native Women for Political Purposes," regarding the increasingly partisan and misogynist VAWA reauthorization debate, was originally published on Crosscut. His op-ed has since been reposted by Turtle Talk, Indian Country Today Media Network, and pechanga.net, and has in turn gone viral via tribal social media.

As originally passed by the U.S. Senate, the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization legislation would allow tribes to exercise limited criminal jurisdiction over certain non-Indians who violate Native American women on Indian reservations. Tribes would be required to provide all rights accorded to defendants in state and federal court, and federal courts would have authority to review tribal court decisions that result in incarceration. The legislation would not raise the one-year maximum sentence that tribal courts can impose. The GOP-controlled House, however, omitted the protections for Indian women in its version of the bill.

Among those voting to omit the tribal protections were vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, U.S. Senate candidate Akin, and House Republican King. In an interview originally broadcast on Sunday, Akin suggested that an abortion would be unnecessary in the instance of a “legitimate rape” because apparently only non-legitimate rape leads to pregnancy — whatever that means. Chiming in agreement, fellow House Rep. King said that he’s never heard of a girl getting pregnant from statutory rape or incest. While Akin and King quickly recanted, they cannot as simply withdraw their votes against the Senate’s proposed protections for abused Native women.

Also Monday, the News Tribune (editorial, “Protect Indian women without diluting Bill of Rights”) accused tribal governments of having “an agenda of their own: They see the domestic violence issue as a way to assert and reclaim broader sovereign powers.” The editorial is wrong. Indian country sees the the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization as a way to protect Indian women from being violently assaulted.

Ryan Dreveskracht is an Associate at Galanda Broadman PLLC, of Seattle, an American Indian majority-owned law firm. His practice focuses on representing businesses and tribal governments in public affairs, energy, gaming, taxation, and general economic development. He can be reached at 206.909.3842 or ryan@galandabroadman.com.

Indian Country Today Publishes Anthony Broadman's "Roundup" of Recent 9th Circuit Tribal Cases

Anthony Broadman has published a roundup of court cases relevant to Indian country that wer recently decided in the Ninth Circuit.

Tribal Exhaustion Compelled, but Montana Exception Further Questioned: "[I}n Rincon Mushroom Corp. v. Mazzetti, No. 10-56521, 2012 WL 2928605 (9th Cir. July 19, 2012), a non-Indian owner of a fee simple parcel of land located on the Rincon Band of Luiseno Mission Indians’ reservation is challenging the tribe’s regulatory and adjudicatory authority to protect the reservation natural environment...."

Not All Unstamped Cigarettes are Contraband: "In United States v. Wilbur, 674 F.3d 1160 (9th Cir. 2012), the Ninth Circuit held that cigarettes sold by a tribally licensed retailer and pursuant to a state-tribe cigarette agreement are not contraband for purposes of the federal Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act (CCTA) – even if they are contraband under state law...."

Save the Peaks Attorney Personally Sanctioned: "Last February, the Ninth Circuit held, in Save the Peaks Coalition v. U.S. Forest Service, 669 F.3d 1025 (9th Cir. 2012), that the U.S. Forest Service had complied with the requisite environmental regulations in issuing a special use permit...."

Alaskan Native Fishing Dispute Hinges On Historic “Exclusive Use”: "In a tense en banc decision, the Ninth Circuit held last month that although Chugach people continuously used and occupied part of the Gulf of Alaska, they do not now have aboriginal rights to hunt and fish the area because their historic use was not 'exclusive'..."

Anthony Broadman is a partner with Galanda Broadman in Seattle. His practice focuses on matters critical to Indian Country. He can be reached at anthony@galandabroadman.com.