Total Credits: 1 CLE, 1 Ethics
A tribe or tribal entity typically enters into hundreds of contracts per year. Negotiating and drafting appropriate dispute resolution provisions in these contracts is an important way that tribes can protect their sovereignty and other interests.
CLE focuses on:
• Identifying and addressing waivers (or potential waivers) of sovereign immunity,
• Crafting appropriate dispute resolution processes, and
• Considering other contractual provisions for preventing and handling disputes.
The discussion will also cover things to keep in mind in drafting indemnification provisions, limitations of liability, governing law provisions, choice-of-forum provisions, and arbitration provisions.
Faculty:
Chloe Thompson Villagomez, Principal, Foster Garvey PC
Chairpersons
Doreen N. McPaul, President, Tribal In-House Counsel Association
Harrison Rice, Assistant Attorney General, Tohono O'odham Nation
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.
Chloe Thompson Villagomez is a Principal at Foster Garvey PC in Seattle. She has represented tribes and tribal entities since 2005. Before joining Foster Garvey, she served as head of the Legal Department for the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe; as Associate General Counsel of Port Madison Enterprises, the business arm of the Suquamish Tribe; and as an attorney at Olson, Allen & Rasmussen, LLC, a Minnesota law firm dedicated to representing tribes and tribal entities. Ms. Villagomez has also taught Federal Indian Law, Tribal Law, and Indian Gaming Law courses at Seattle University School of Law. Ms. Villagomez holds a law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School.