Helen B. Padilla, Esq., is a tribal member of the Pueblo of Isleta. Helen serves on the Board of Directors for the Laguna Development Corporation. She also serves as Secretary-Treasurer for the 19 Pueblos District Oversight Commission, assisting the tribal government that oversees Pueblo trust lands located in Albuquerque, NM. Helen is the Chair for the Committee on Diversity in the Legal Profession of the State Bar of NM (CDLP), currently serving as Chair of the CDLP’s Subcommittee on Advancing Diverse Bar Applicants. Helen is committed to increasing the number of Native Americans and other diverse groups being admitted to the practice of law. For 15 years, she was the Executive Director of the American Indian Law Center, Inc. She has also served as General Counsel and Tax Administrator for the Pueblo of Tesuque. Helen served as General Counsel for the cabinet-level Indian Affairs Department for the State of New Mexico, appointed by Gov. Bill Richardson. She was also a senior staff attorney for the Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut for over seven years, assistant regional counsel for the Social Security Administration in Denver and a legal intern with the National Indian Gaming Commission in Washington, D.C. She received her Juris Doctorate, with a Certificate in Indian Law, her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of New Mexico. She is a member of the New Mexico Bar and is also admitted to practice law in Colorado and Connecticut. She served five years on the Board of Directors for the Indian Law Section of the State Bar of New Mexico, serving as Chair of the Board in 2009. She has served as an adjunct faculty member at UNM School of Law, teaching State-Tribal Relations.