Indian Law Program Faculty

Indian Law Faculty and Staff

The Indian Law Program draws on a panel of distinguished full-time faculty, adjunct faculty, visiting faculty, and staff. Beyond their excellent teaching credentials, the faculty and staff have substantial experience in a variety of Indian law practice areas, which adds depth and creative energy to our program. And, strong student-faculty relationships are a hallmark of the cooperative learning environment at Lewis & Clark Law School.

Steve Beckham Stephen Dow Beckham, Ph.D. (History/Anthropology) University of California, Los Angeles, leads a field study through Indian country during the Indian Law Summer Program. In recognition of his work with the law school, particularly with the Indian Law Program, he has been made an honorary alumnus of the law school. Contact Stephen.

Mike Blumm, J.D., LL.M. George Washington University Law School, is a leading scholar on the restoration of salmon runs. His 25 years of experience following restoration efforts on the Columbia River are reflected in his 2002 book, Sacrificing the Salmon. Mike joined the law school in 1978 after working for the President's Council on Environmental Quality, the Center for Natural Areas, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A prolific scholar an a wide range of topics, including public land and water use, environmental impact assessment, and Indian treaty rights, he is the author of the leading water law treatise. Mike teaches property, public lands and resources law, the Pacific salmon seminar, and native natural resources law, for which he coauthored the nation's first casebook. He has been a visiting professor in Canada, Australia, and Greece, where he was a Fulbright professor. Mike is a board member of WaterWatch of Oregon and American Rivers Northwest and the codirector of the law school's Northwest Water Law and Policy Project. View Mike's biography and bibliography.

J.B. Kim, J.D. Lewis & Clark Law School, directs the Academic Enhancement program. She earned an environmental law certificate and spent several years as a prosecutor in two Oregon counties before returning to direct the program that she participated in as a student. Minority students of all backgrounds are encouraged to contact J.B. to find out more about the program.

Frank Pommersheim, J.D. Columbia University, M.P.A. Harvard University, visits from the University of South Dakota Law School to teach in the Indian Law Summer Program. He is the author of Braid of Feathers: American Indian Law and Contemporary Tribal Life. Frank is the chief appellate judge for the Rosebud Sioux. For thirty years, he has worked for and lived with Indians in South Dakota. He teaches Indian law and criminal procedure at South Dakota. Frank received his law degree from the Columbia University School of Law and M.P.A. from Harvard University. He has served as chair of the Native American Rights Section of the American Association of Law Schools. View Frank's profile on the University of South Dakota website.

Alexander Tallchief Skibine, J.D. Northwestern University, visits from the University of Utah Law School to teach in the Indian Law Summer Program. Alexander served as an attorney for the Institute for the Development of the Interior, and deputy counsel for the congressional committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. He has taught at Utah since 1989. View Alexander's profile on the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law website.

Gerald Torres, Standing Gerald Torres, J.D. Yale, LL.M. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, visits from the University of Texas Law School to teach in the Indian Law Summer Program. A nationally recognized expert in Indian law who has taught and published on Indian law issues for many years, he developed his Indian jurisprudence course specifically for the summer program. Gerald spent several years working as an attorney for the U.S. Justice Department. He is the coauthor, with Lani Guinier, of The Miner's Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy, a book recently nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. View Gerald's profile on The University of Texas at Austin School of Law website.

Robert Miller

Robert Miller
A member of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, Associate Professor Robert Miller has been active for many years as a practitioner and teacher of Indian law. He is the Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and sits as a judge for other tribes. He helped found and was on the executive committee of the Oregon State Bar Indian Law Section, and he was on the board of the National Indian Child Welfare Association from 1995 to 2004. In 1999 he joined the law school faculty where he teaches first-year civil procedure and upper-division courses in Indian law and cultural resources protection. He speaks regularly on topics such as cultural protection and sovereignty for Indian tribes, employment issues related to American Indians, issues regarding tribal governments, and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Appointed by his tribe to the Circle of Tribal Advisors, he works with the National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. Associate Professor Miller graduated magna cum laude from Lewis & Clark Law School in 1991. View Bob's biography, bibliography, website, and his book blog.