Webinar: Serving our Tribal Nations: Employment Law Issues

Originally scheduled for the in-person Indian Law Conference, this webinar will bring facets of the coveted conference to your personal device. Federal laws affecting employment are well-established yet can be often silent when it comes to its application for Indian tribes. Tribes have also been enacting employment related laws to help their economy and protect their workforce. Examined from both the private sector and tribal perspective, presenters will cover strategies, methods, and best practices for practitioners to better represent clients and tribal nations. Tribal leaders, attorneys, and advocates are encouraged to attend for professional development and CLE credit. 

Registration is now closed

About the Presenters

Daniel Press has provided legal and Washington representation assistance to Indian tribes, Indian organizations, and companies doing business with tribes for over 40 years. Dan assists tribes with strengthening their tribal governments by helping them develop and implement ordinances that exercise the tribe’s sovereign authority in such areas as employment rights and labor relations. He has helped to establish a range of entities designed to promote economic development in Indian country, including creative use of the special 8(a) rights Congress has provided to tribes and the first multi-tribally owned financial institution. He has also counseled tribes to obtain legislation awarding them hundreds of millions of dollars in land claims settlements, new health facilities, and new authority to promote employment on their reservations. He has special knowledge of Indian land issues, including rights of ways and leases on Indian land and the unique legal issues that arise when doing business on reservations and assisted companies to negotiate various agreements with tribes regarding land use.

Dennis Puzz currently leads the legal department as General Counsel for the Stockbridge-Munsee Community and practices in the areas of employment law, gaming law, taxation, economic development and litigation (when necessary).  Dennis has held various in-house positions from staff attorney to general counsel with multiple tribes, outside counsel with a mid-sized law firm in Minneapolis and has been the Executive Director for his own tribe (Yurok). 

Kaighn Smith, Jr. leads Drummond Woodsum’s nationwide Tribal Nations Practice Group.  A litigator, Kaighn fights for tribal nations in the federal, state, and tribal courts across the country.  He has won cases in a wide range of areas, including jurisdiction and sovereignty disputes, gaming matters, labor and employment relations, land-in-trust and environmental matters, and fishing and water rights.  Kaighn serves as Associate Reporter (with Professors Matthew L.M. Fletcher and Wenona T. Singel) for drafting the American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law of American Indians (forthcoming 2021). He is the author of Labor and Employment Law in Indian Country, published in 2011 with the Native American Rights Fund and is currently working on the next edition.  Kaighn is ranked by his peers in Chambers USA for the category of Native American Law, and he teaches Federal Indian Law at the University of Maine School of Law. 

Registration

Registration is now closed

Cancellation Policy

No refunds will be made for cancellations received after the close of business on May 27, 2020. No-shows will be billed. Substitutions may be made at any time upon notification. Please contact Ariel White at awhite@fedbar.org with cancellation and/or substitution requests.

CLE

1 Credit (60min) / 1.2 Credit (50min)

Credit for these complimentary webinars will be processed/reported within 4-6 weeks of the webinar event date and available for credit in states that allow credit for live webinar presentations. Your bar number must be accurate in our database to receive credit.

If you have any questions regarding this program, please contact Caitlin Rider, Conference Manager.