2008 Officers: Matthew L. Morgan, chairperson; O. Joseph Williams, chairperson-elect; Debra E. Gee, secretary; David Ponder, treasurer.

Bar Review Scholarships. Each year, the section solicits applications from 3rd or 4th year students from the three in-state law schools and awards up to three bar review scholarships of $500 each. Recipients are awarded based upon merit, need, participation in Indian law related activities while in law school, and demonstrated intent to practice in the area of Indian law in Oklahoma upon passage of the bar. The scholarships are normally awarded in early June during the Sovereignty Symposium.

This year, the Indian Law Section was honored to award scholarships to Jeffrey Taylor, from Oklahoma City University School of Law, Ash Mayfield from the University of Oklahoma College of Law, and Brandy Inman from the University of Tulsa College of Law.

Highlights. The section was honored to help sponsor a wide variety and very worthy causes this year. The section was a sponsor of the Oklahoma Native American Youth Language Fair presented by the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History and held March 31 and April 1, 2008, at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History on the campus of the University of Oklahoma. The statewide competition hosted over 800 students of Native American languages from grades ranging from preschool to high school who performed skits, stories, poetry, drama, song, and even dance that incorporates use of Native language. Students also presented beautiful artwork related to the year’s language fair theme in the poster contest, creative stories and literature in the Native Language Book category, and inventive and educational works in the film/video/multimedia category.

The section was again a sponsor of the Sovereignty Symposium hosted by the Supreme Court of Oklahoma and was held in Oklahoma City at the Skirvin Hilton on June 4-5, 2008. The Sovereignty Symposium was established to provide a forum in which ideas concerning common legal issues can be exchanged in a scholarly, non-adversarial environment by tribal and state leaders and practitioners of Indian Law.

In addition to sponsoring the symposium, the section also was one of the sponsors of Mr. Walter Echo Hawk, an attorney with the Native American Rights Fund located in Boulder, Colorado, to attend this year’s Sovereignty Symposium where he served as a presenter on the “Building Tribal Court Systems: Infrastructure And Professionalism” panel .

Finally, the section was a sponsor of the Tribal Water Summit held at Fire Lake Grand Casino on July 29, 2008. The Oklahoma Tribal Water Summit was a joint project organized by the Sac & Fox Nation and Native American Rights Fund that brought Oklahoma Tribal Leaders together to learn about and discuss Indian water rights and water issues facing their respective Nations.

Areas of Special Interest. Indian law is ever-evolving and expanding. As such, the section is always interested in advancing the growth of the field of Indian law and nurturing interest in the topic among practitioners and future practitioners. In support of this effort the section was very excited to host brown bag lunch discussions with law students from both the University of Tulsa College of Law and the University of Oklahoma College of Law.

In addition, the section supports and is actively working to give publicity to the issue of the inclusion of Indian law on the Oklahoma bar exam. The section is pleased to announce that it has received resolutions of support from the Oklahoma Indian Bar Association and the Oklahoma Indian Child Welfare Association this past year. A number of states which have Indian tribes located within their boundaries have already included Indian law as an area of law to be tested on their respective bar exams and with the large tribal presence within the state, the section hopes to see Oklahoma be the next state to follow suit.

Message from Chair. It has been my privilege to serve as chairperson of the Indian Law Section. I have enjoyed my term as chairperson and am appreciative of my fellow officers and their willingness to serve. I look forward to seeing the section grow as it strives to become more visible and active within the legal community and the community at large.

Matthew L. Morgan
Chairperson