Galanda Broadman Named Washington Gaming Law Firm Of The Year

Galanda Broadman has been named "Boutique - Gaming Law Firm of the Year in Washington" by Global Law Experts. The award follows several recent honors for Galanda Broadman and its lawyers. Galanda Broadman recently 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.

Gabe Galanda was also just named to The Best Lawyers in America in the practice areas of both Gaming Law and Native American Law, for the eighth straight year. He was named a “Difference Maker” by the American Bar Association in November as well. Also, Gabe and Anthony Broadman, as well as firm associate, Ryan Dreveskracht were each honored by Super Lawyers magazine for 2013; Gabe as a Washington "Super Lawyer" and Anthony and Ryan as "Rising Stars."

In December 2012, Lawyers of Color listed the firm in its Big Book of the Best Boutiques, an exclusive, national listing of the top minority law firms in each state. In January 2013, Seattle Business Magazine honored Gabe as one of “the Puget Sound Region’s Best Lawyers for 2013,” in both the arenas of Native American Law and Gaming Law. Last year Corporate INTL magazine named Galanda Broadman as the Boutique winner of the 2013 Corporate Intl Magazine Legal Award for "Gaming Law Firm of the Year in Washington."

Galanda Broadman, “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.

Anthony is the immediate past Chair of the WSBA Administrative Law Section, and author of “Administrative Law in Washington Indian Country.”  In September 2012, Anthony was specially honored for his outstanding service as Chair of the Administrative Law Section.  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.

Prior to joining Galanda Broadman, Ryan 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 Galanda Named Arizona IPLP Alumni Association Chair

Gabe Galanda has been named the inaugural Chair of the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program (IPLP)'s Alumni Association. The Association will be launched at the University of Arizona College of Law's Homecoming Celebration on November 9, 2013.

Arizona Law has long been renowned for its expertise in Indigenous Peoples law. Over the last decade, the IPLP Program has built upon that foundation, and Arizona Law is now the only school offering all three law degrees (JD, LLM, and SJD) with a concentration in Indigenous Peoples law. Together, these programs provide the world's most advanced training in the field. The program's reputation and the work of IPLP faculty, staff, alumni and students reach around the globe and make a difference in the lives of Indigenous Peoples in the United States and across the world.

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 can be reached at 206.691.3631 or gabe@galandabroadman.com.

Nez Perce v. Megaloads: Another Treaty-Based Consultation Victory

On September 12, an Idaho federal district court stopped massive industrial equipment headed for the Alberta Tar Sands -- now commonly known as the Megaloads -- from traversing Nez Perce Treaty-protected ceded lands. The federal court's decision affirms the power of Indian Treaties and the intrinsic consultation requirements of those sacred pacts. Article III of the Treaty with the Nez Perces of 1855 reserved for Nez Perce Indians the “right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed places” and “the privilege of hunting . . . upon open and unclaimed land.” As the court explained: "Although the Nez Perce ceded the lands now encompassing the Nez Perce Clearwater National Forests to the United States, 'they did not relinquish rights to hunt, fish, and gather, or to practice traditional religious and cultural ceremonies on these ancestral homelands.'”

Critically, even though Article III of the Nez Perce Treaty does not mention the word "consultation," the federal court ruled that: The duty of the Forest Service to conduct a consultation after finding that the mega-loads might affect cultural and intrinsic values is commanded by Treaty rights" – "there is no discretion to refuse consultation." And "[w]hen the duty to consult runs to a Tribe, the federal agency generally must consult with the Tribe before taking the action at issue." Indeed, "meaningful consultation takes place “typically before undertaking a course of action” (emphasis in original).

The Nez Perce Megaloads decision is at least the second recent decision from the federal courts, affirming Treaty-based consultation requirements over ceded or off-reservation lands, even though the Treaty Articles at issue do not mention the word "consultation." In 2010, a Washington State federal court enjoined the United States from allowing a private garbage contractor from importing municipal waste from the Hawaiian Islands into the Yakama Nation's ceded lands and fishing, hunting and gathering areas. That court ruled that there were "serious questions about whether Defendants adequately consulted with the Yakama Nation as required by [Article III] of the Yakama Treaty of 1855," even though that Treaty Article, too, does not expressly require consultation.

Under international legal norms, "the treaty obligation to consult that is intrinsic in any bilateral agreement between nations." G. Galanda, "The Federal Indian Consultation Right: No Paper Tiger," Indian Country Today; see Restatement (Third) Foreign Relations Law of the United States §§ 325, 337 (1986).  When will the United States begin to truly honor this norm?  Indeed, Nez Perce v. Megaloads, like the Yakama Hawaiian garbage case and the Quechan solar power case, illustrate how even the "pro-tribal" Obama Administration will flout federal Indian consultation rights in order to cut red tape for, and otherwise fast-track, pet projects like Tar Sands.

In fact, when the political and economic stakes are high, and the choice must be made between siding with either mega-corporations, or Indians, the United States and its President will always -- ALWAYS -- side with almighty corporate interests, and ignore guaranteed Indian rights. That paradigm is nothing new to Indian Country; it has been happening for centuries. What is new is the United States talking out of both sides of its mouth about tribal consultation.

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.  He can be reached at 206.691.3631 or gabe@galandabroadman.com.

Indian Lawyer Gabe Galanda Again Named Among America's Best Lawyers

Gabriel “Gabe” Galanda has been selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2014 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® in the practice areas of Gaming Law and Native American Law, for the eighth consecutive year. Gabe, an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, owns Galanda Broadman, PLLC, a boutique Seattle law firm that he co-founded in 2010. He has now been selected to The Best Lawyers in America® from 2007 to 2014.

Gabe’s practice focuses on complex, multi-party litigation and crisis management, representing tribal governments and businesses. He is skilled at defending tribes and Indian-owned enterprises from legal attacks by local, state and federal governments, and representing plaintiffs and defendants in catastrophic personal injury lawsuits. Gabe also mediates and arbitrates disputes between tribal and non-tribal parties, including personal injury matters and conflicts between tribal and local, state or federal governments, as well as tribal intramural disputes.

Best Lawyers is regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence in the United States. 

Gabe’s selection to Best Lawyers was based on a peer-review survey, which all told comprises more than 4.9 million confidential evaluations by top attorneys throughout the country.

Galanda Broadman is a majority Indian-owned law firm that represents tribal governments, businesses and members in critical litigation, business and regulatory matters. For additional information about Gabe or Galanda Broadman, visit galandabroadman.com.