2011 – 2013 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thomas Weathers

Thomas Weathers is Aleut and an enrolled member of the Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska in Alaska. His practice is devoted primarily to Indian law and business law. He advises tribal and non-tribal clients on a range of matters including corporate governance, economic development, finance and restructuring, taxation, land use and development, employment and personnel, gaming, tribal governance, Indian health care, Indian child welfare, Indian probate, and crisis management.  Mr. Weathers has negotiated multi-million dollar loan, management, financing, consulting, purchasing, and leasing agreements, counseled clients in complicated tax, insurance, and business formation matters, and litigated in tribal, state, and federal courts. He has also helped clients restructure substantial debt and renegotiate loans in default. He continues to work with clients on government procurement contracts and green energy development projects.

Mr. Weathers graduated from McGeorge School of Law in 1993 in the top 2% of his class and served on the Law Review. After graduation, he clerked for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. After his clerkship, Mr. Weathers joined the San Francisco law firm of Long & Levit where he specialized in complex civil litigation in both state and federal courts. He then joined the law firm of Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May (now Reed Smith) to continue his practice in complex civil litigation, with an emphasis on business, eminent domain and property tax matters. In 2003, he helped form the law firm of Alexander, Berkey, Williams & Weathers LLP and focused his practice in Indian law.

Mr. Weathers has repeatedly been named by Super Lawyers magazine as one of the top attorneys in Northern California. He is a past-president of the National Native American Bar Association.  He has served as both an appellate judge and trial judge in tribal courts and a judge pro tem in state court.  He has participated on several conference panels in relation to Indian law and published on many topics, including tribal tax, tribal exhaustion, tribal immunity, and tribal economic development.