The American 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.
Carma Corcoran ~ (Chippewa-Cree)
Dr. Corcoran is the director of the American Indian Law offerings. Her PhD dissertation explored the issue of Incarceration and Native American Women, “The Juxtaposition of Gentle Action Theory and Traditional Ways of Knowing and Being: In the Provision of Services to Native American Women Experiencing Incarceration”. Her Bachelor and Master degrees focused on cross cultural communication, conflict resolution and public administration. She guest lectures and teaches at Portland State University. She is the former Board Chair of Red Lodge Transition Services and has also served on the board of the Native American Student and Community Center at Portland State University. She currently serves on the boards of The Women’s Justice Project, The Law Enforcement Contacts Policy & Data Review Committee (LECC), and Transforming Justice for Victims and Survivors through Victim Assistance and Restorative Justice Partnerships.
Michael Blumm
Professor Michael Blumm is one of the architects of the Law School’s acclaimed Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program. He has been teaching, writing, and practicing in the environmental and natural resources law field for forty years. Professor Blumm’s chief interests are in the restoration of the Pacific Northwest salmon runs, the preservation of the West’s public lands and waters, the management of natural resources by Indian tribes, the modern use of the public trust doctrine, and governmental authority to regulate private property for public purposes. He has co-authored casebooks on Natural Resources Law, Public Trust Law, and Native American Natural Resources Law. Professor Blumm teaches Native American Natural Resources Law, as well as Property, Public Lands and Resources Law, American Legal History, Natural Resources Law, and the Public Trust Law Seminar.
Adjunct Faculty
Mary Bodine ~ (Warm Springs)
Ms. Bodine is an Attorney-Adviser for Bonneville Power Administration’s power section (LP). She has worked with Bonneville since 2010 in various capacities. Ms. Bodine received her JD from Lewis & Clark Law School in 2013. She also received an Environmental Certificate with an emphasis in Federal Indian Law. Ms. Bodine was selected as the recipient of the Hatfield Fellowship where she worked in the United States House of Representatives for Congressman DeFazio. While in Law School, Ms. Bodine clerked for the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
In addition to her work with Bonneville, Ms. Bodine serves as adjunct faculty at the law school where she has taught the Native American Law Student Association Moot Court class and Federal Indian Law class. Ms. Bodine also is a co-director of a Native American dance company called Northstar, a performing arts group devoted to sharing Native American music, culture, and dance, with the general public. Ms. Bodine is an enrolled citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.
Caroline Lobdell ~ (Chickasaw/Cherokee/Chinese)
Ms. Lobdell earned her BS from the University of South Carolina, and earned a JD from Lewis & Clark Law School with an Environmental/Natural Resources Law certification. Ms. Lobdell has extensive experience with complex litigation cases and contested case hearings and for 16 years served as the Executive Director and Clinical Law Professor for the Western Resources Legal Center. She is currently General Counsel for Clean Water Services in Washington County, Oregon
Before studying law, Ms. Lobdell worked on various federal regulatory issues during an internship at the U.S. Senate Science and Transportation Committee and subsequent employment with former U.S. Senator, Fritz Hollings.
Ms. Lobdell is a frequent speaker on emerging laws affecting natural resource users and has been awarded the Oregon Cattlemen’s Top Industry Promoter Award, Oregon Cattlemen’s Exceptional Leadership, and Service Award and the Oregon Women for Agriculture’s service to agriculture award.
Ms. Lobdell has taught Federal Indian Law, coached the NALSA moot court team, and overseen the Indian Law externship program. She also sits on the Oregon State Bar’s Agricultural law executive committee and Oregon State Bar’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law executive committee.
Christina Parker ~ (Chippewa-Cree)
Ms. Parker is an attorney for the Department of Interior Office of the Solicitor Pacific Northwest Region providing legal counsel and representation for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Fish and Wildlife Service. A large part of Ms. Parker’s practice is focused on Federal Indian law matters and advising Bureau of Indian Affairs regarding matters of federal-tribal relationships. Prior to the Solicitor’s Office, Ms. Parker served as a staff attorney for the Tulalip Office of Civil Legal Aid (TOCLA), an in-house legal office designed to provide holistic representation to indigent Tribal members for civil legal matters before the Tulalip Tribal Court. Ms. Parker was instrumental in securing federal grants for TOCLA, one of two legal aid offices in Washington State providing direct services to tribal members on a tribal reservation. Ms. Parker is an active member and currently sits on the board for the Northwest Indian Bar Association, a nonprofit organization serving and supporting law practitioners in the Pacific Northwest. Since her residence in Oregon, Ms. Parker has also become an active member of the Oregon Indian Law Section. Ms. Parker is a member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Northern Montana and a graduate from the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law.
Visiting Professors
Patricia Davis Gibson ~ (Comanche Nation)
Ms. Gibson is an enrolled member of the Comanche Nation. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Indian Behavioral Studies from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado and her JD from Lewis & Clark Law School. While in law school, she studied Federal Indian Law and also obtained an environmental law certificate.
Her career has been focused on working in Indian Country, as a liaison, consultant, tribal attorney and judge for numerous tribes, the City of Portland and the State of Oregon.
In her spare time, she writes children’s books and paints.
Barbara Creel ~ (Pueblo of Jemez)
Barbara Creel, a member of the Pueblo of Jemez, joined the UNM law faculty in 2007, bringing expertise in Indian Country criminal defense. For seven years, she was an assistant federal public defender in the District of Oregon, where she developed a federal habeas corpus and post-conviction expertise. She assisted in the defense of Native American clients on cases from reservations prosecuted under the Major Crimes Act. Creel also worked at the trial level and argued before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Prior to joining the UNM law faculty, she worked as the tribal liaison for the Portland District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, fostering government-to-government relations between the federally recognized Indian tribes and the federal government.
