A Renewed Focus on Tribal Water Advocacy

Doreen Nanibaa McPaul Related Seminars and Products

Doreen Nanibaa McPaul is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. She is Kinyaa'áanii, born for Bilagáana, her maternal grandfathers are Honaghaahnii, and her paternal grandfathers are Irish. She was born and raised in Chinle, Arizona on the Navajo Reservation. She is a 1995 graduate of Princeton University and earned her Juris Doctorate in 2001 from the Arizona State University College of Law, where she also received a Certificate in Federal Indian Law and served as a staff writer for the ASU Law Journal. After law school, Ms. McPaul clerked at the Arizona Court of Appeals for the Honorable Jefferson L. Lankford (retired). She has diverse experience serving as a tribal court staff attorney, as an associate attorney at the Nordhaus Law Firm in Albuquerque, and as a visiting clinical law professor and Interim Director of the Indian Legal Clinic at ASU. Since 2008, Ms. McPaul has worked as an in-house tribal attorney for several Arizona tribes, including a 4-year appointment as the Navajo Nation Attorney General. Ms. McPaul has nearly 25 years of experience practicing Indian law, and is admitted to practice law in Arizona and New Mexico, as well as before several tribal and federal courts.

Ms. McPaul is a 2013 graduate of the State Bar’s Bar Leadership Institute and remains active in the State Bar and Indian legal community. She currently serves as the President-Elect of the State Bar of Arizona after becoming one of the first American Indians appointed to serve on the State Bar’s Board of Governors in 2018. The Supreme Court of Arizona re-appointed her to the Board in 2019 and again in 2020 and 2023. Ms. McPaul is also a founding board member and current Executive Director of the Tribal In-House Counsel Association, a national organization that provides informational networking and support measures and programming to in-house tribal attorneys and federal Indian law practitioners. She also serves on the Board to the American Indian Law Center and serves on the PLSI Judicial Clerkship Committee. Finally, Ms. McPaul serves as a Trustee for the Irish Cultural Center in Arizona.

Ms. McPaul has received several honors for her work. In 2021, she received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad from Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins at a ceremony at the Áras an Uachtaráin in Dublin. She was also elected to membership in The American Law Institute in 2021. Ms. McPaul received the 2020 Alumnus of the Year Award from the National Native American Law Student Association in recognition of her work, passion, dedication to serving Indian Country, and empowering native law students to dedicate their careers to serve their tribal communities. She is also the recipient of the State Bar of Arizona Indian Law Section’s 2020 Rodney B. Lewis Award of Excellence for exemplifying the honesty, integrity, courage, grace, dignity and respect of the award’s namesake. And finally, Ms. McPaul received the 2020 Cushing Academy Leadership Award for outstanding leadership, commitment to public service, and invaluable contributions to the Navajo Nation and the legal profession.

Most importantly, Ms. McPaul is a proud military spouse and mom. She is married to SFC Mark McPaul (retired) and they have three sons, two Rez dogs, and a cat.

Virjinya Ruth Adair Torrez Related Seminars and Products

Pascua Yaqui Tribe

is an Assistant Attorney General for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, a federally recognized Indian tribe located in Arizona. Virjinya earned both her J.D. and her M.A. in American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona, and she earned her B.A. in Political Science (specializing in International Relations) and East Asian Studies at the University of Iowa, with certificates in International Business and American Indian and Native Studies. She is admitted to practice in both the federal and state courts of Arizona, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Tohono O’odham Judicial Court, and the Pascua Yaqui Tribal Court. She is also an accredited Veteran Affairs attorney. Virjinya started her legal career as an associate at Vingelli & Errico, a small general practice firm in Tucson, Arizona; was a solo practitioner for a brief period of time; and served five years as an Assistant Attorney General for the Tohono O’odham Nation. Virjinya is a 2016 graduate of the State Bar of Arizona's Bar Leadership Institute; is the Immediate Past Chair of the Executive Council for the State Bar of Arizona’s Indian Law Section; serves as the appointed State Bar of Arizona’s representative on the Arizona State, Tribal & Federal Court Forum; and is a member of NABA-AZ, the Arizona Minority Bar Association, and the Tribal In-House Counsel Association. She is also active in the community and serves on TUSD’s Native American Education Advisory Committee, the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona’s Community Investment Team, the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona’s Governance Committee, and the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona’s Board of Directors. Virjinya's work for the Tribe is varied, but she primarily represents the Tribe’s Public Safety, Human Resources, Education, and Facilities Management Departments and programs. Virjinya is Cherokee/Seminole/Muscogee Creek, and is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. 10/18

Daniel Cordalis Related Seminars and Products

Daniel Cordalis joined the Native American Rights Fund in 2024 with almost two decades of experience working with Tribes to protect their water, natural, and cultural resources, primarily in the Colorado and Klamath River Basins. Currently, he is harnessing those years of experience to lead NARF’s Tribal Water Institute and support tribal water interests through his legal and policy expertise.

Before joining NARF, Daniel worked in many capacities to support Tribes, including as tribal in-house counsel, in private practice, as an associate attorney with Earthjustice, as a legislative associate with the National Congress of American Indians, and in an appointed role within the Department of Interior Office of the Solicitor. Daniel is especially grateful for his time as a clerk for the late Justice Greg Hobbs in the Colorado Supreme Court and as a research assistant for the late Charles Wilkinson.

With his spouse, Daniel is raising three boys who will embrace the world from the mountain and desert ridges to the river riffles their families have lived with since the beginning of time.

Daniel received his J.D. from the University of Colorado Law School; his M.S. from the University of Colorado in Geography (alpine hydrology focus); and his B.A. in Geology, Environmental Engineering from Rice University. Daniel is admitted to practice in Colorado and California.

Aminta Menjivar Maldonado Related Seminars and Products