Total Credits: 1 CLE, 1 Ethics
The legal profession is highly stressful due to the volatile nature of the cases, clients, and the significant consequences of missing deadlines or mismanaging accounts. Attorneys are prone to stress-related illnesses, both physical and behavioral. As a result, attorney wellness seminars often promote personal practices such as yoga and meditation to counter these stresses.
Seminar discusses the important foundational work on attorney wellness, but then goes beyond this framework to examine the unique challenges that confront Native attorneys and judges. There are very few Native attorneys, compared to other groups, and there can be unique challenges due to the close connections between Native legal professionals and the communities that they serve. For example, President Biden's recent apology for the harms of the Indian Boarding School system promoted a vibrant dialogue among Native legal professionals who must address the contemporary harms caused by this historical practice and others.
Presentation seeks to foster a critical understanding of Indigenous wellness and apply the principles to the life and work of Indigenous legal professionals, as well as other legal professionals who work with Indigenous communities. Can justice systems incorporate principles of healing and what are the options for redesigning our lives and our institutions to promote the values that we aspire to?
Faculty
Rebecca Tsosie, Regents Professor and Morris K. Udall Professor of Law, James E. Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona
Chairpersons
Doreen N. McPaul, President, Tribal In-House Counsel Association
Harrison Rice, Assistant Attorney General, Tohono O'odham Nation
| Attorney Wellness from an Indigenous Perspective Manual (1.9 MB) | 11 Pages | Available after Purchase |
Rebecca Tsosie is a Regents Professor and Morris K. Udall Professor of Law at the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona. Professor Tsosie teaches in the areas of Federal Indian law, Property, Constitutional Law, Cultural Resources Law, and Critical Race Theory. Prior to joining the University of Arizona in 2016, Professor Tsosie was a Regents Professor at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where she also served as Vice Provost for Inclusion and Community Engagement. Professor Tsosie was the first faculty Executive Director of ASU’s Indian Legal Program and served in that position for fifteen years. While at ASU, Professor Tsosie also held an academic appointment with the faculty of Philosophy within the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, and she served as an affiliate faculty member for the American Indian Studies Program and a Distinguished Sustainability Scientist for the Global Institute of Sustainability.
Professor Tsosie, who is of Yaqui descent, is recognized nationally and internationally for her work in the fields of Federal Indian law and Indigenous peoples’ human rights. Professor Tsosie is a member of the Arizona Bar Association and the California Bar Association. She serves as an appellate judge for the Supreme Court of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. Professor Tsosie received her Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctorate degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and she was also a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California.
is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. 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. She currently serves as the Deputy Attorney General for the White Mountain Apache Tribe. Ms. McPaul has over 20 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 active in the State Bar and Indian legal community. She serves on the State Bar of Arizona Board of Governors and is currently the Vice President of the State Bar. Ms. McPaul is a founding board member of the Tribal In-House Counsel Association and served as TICA’s President for a decade. She also serves on the Board of the American Indian Law Center and was elected to membership in The American Law Institute in 2021. Most importantly, Ms. McPaul is a proud military spouse and mom. She is married to SFC Mark McPaul (retired) and they have three sons.
| 5 |
|
| 4 |
|
| 3 |
|
| 2 |
|
| 1 |
|