Corin La Pointe-Aitchison Teaches Lewis & Clark Law Student Oral Advocates

This fall Corin La Pointe-Aitchison is co-teaching the Native American Law Student Association (NALSA) Moot Court course at his alma mater, Lewis and Clark Law School, along with co-professor Jessie Young.

Corin will be preparing students to compete in the 30th annual National NALSA Moot Court Competition, which will be held in Boulder, Colorado in spring of 2022. This year’s competition is being hosted by the University of Colorado Law School and its NALSA chapter.

The details of this year’s case will be released to students and coaches in early November.

Corin will contribute his specialty in Indigenous rights litigation to Lewis and Clark’s advocates. His practice focuses on litigation involving Indigenous governments and enterprises, and civil rights.

Pueblo Sovereignty Offers Tesla Loophole Around New Mexico Law

By Joe Sexton

Nanbé Owingeh, also known the Pueblo of Nambé, exercised its inherent sovereignty as a Native Nation to facilitate the opening of a Tesla sales, service, and delivery center near Santa Fe on the Pueblo’s lands, despite—or perhaps because of a—New Mexico law[1] banning the direct sales of motor vehicles by manufacturers. 

As of 2009, direct-to-consumer auto manufacturer sales were banned in nearly every state according to a U.S. Department of Justice analysis of those laws.  At the time, private challenges to those bans were largely unsuccessful. 

But the Department of Justice analysis concluded twelve years ago that state bans on manufacturers directly selling motor vehicles were archaic given the trajectory of auto commerce in the 21st century.  The author of that analysis forecasted that the industry itself would compel change, and states would change their laws along with the industry.  Today, Tesla has direct manufacturer-to-consumer auto sales locations in 24 states.  Yet several states beyond New Mexico maintain laws restricting auto manufacturer sales bans.

In 2019, two New Mexico state legislators introduced legislation, informally dubbed “the Tesla bill,” to do just that—allow “motor vehicle manufacturers to be licensed as motor vehicle dealers under certain conditions.”  The proposed legislation ultimately failed.  Tesla and the Pueblo of Nambé found a way around New Mexico’s laws by effectively moving direct Tesla commerce beyond the state’s reach and onto Pueblo lands. 

While the applicability of state laws and regulations on Indian country lands is complex and often times tied to court interpretations of federal laws pertaining to the status of specific parcels of lands within a tribe’s reservation, Native Nations can often leverage their sovereignty to facilitate economic growth despite state impediments.

Nambé Pueblo’s exciting move is a prime example.

[1] NMSA 57-16-5(V).

Indigenous Health Care Lawyer Corinne Sebren Joins Galanda Broadman

Corinne Sebren has joined Galanda Broadman PLLC as an Associate. Corinne joins the firm full-time after serving the past two years as a part-time Law Clerk. Her practice focuses on Indigenous health law and regulatory analysis, as well as litigation involving tribal governments and civil rights.

“Corinne brings a deep commitment to Indigenous health law and equity to our firm, and at a critical time,” said Gabriel S. Galanda, Managing Lawyer of Galanda Broadman. “We are excited to make her health care expertise and passion for justice available to our tribal clients.” 

Corinne is a 2021 graduate of the University of Washington School of Law where she served as Editor-in-Chief of Washington Law Review and received the Judge Eugene A. Wright Scholar Award. She is a former Legal Fellow of the Yakama Nation Office of Legal Counsel.

Prior to law school, Corinne utilized her Western Washington University degree in Behavioral Neuroscience in her role as the Advocacy Director and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Whatcom County Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. She brings extensive non-profit management and healthcare administration experience to the firm in addition to her legal skills.

In her free time, Corinne enjoys bonfires, BBQs, yoga, mountain sports, and spending time in the Cascades with her family and her dog Lunchbox.

Corinne joins a growing bench of Galanda Broadman team members.  Harvard Law School alumnus Matt Slovin also joined the firm as an Associate this past July, and recent Oregon State University-Cascades graduate Emmerson Donnell will start work as a Litigation Assistant next month.

Galanda Broadman is an Indigenous rights law firm with nine lawyers and offices in Seattle and Yakima, Washington and Bend, Oregon. The firm is dedicated to advancing Indigenous Treaty, sovereignty, and human rights.