7:30 am – 8:30 am
Breakfast
Room: Eagle
8:00 am – 12:00 pm
Preparing for 2024 Native Voting Rights Summit
Room: Eagle
Zoom: Access Here
Meeting ID: 858 0601 8118
Passcode: 452589
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Description: This summit, sponsored by the ABA Cornerstones of Democracy Project, is to equip our NNABA and regional NABA affiliates to protect the Native Vote in 2024. Speakers will provide attendees with information and resources. All participants are invited to share strategies and initiatives that they have planned. An objective of this event is to empower the bars to work together and support each other’s efforts to ensure local needs are met with the power of a national network of native advocates.
Session Leaders:
*additional speakers to be added
Native American
Rights Fund
University of Wisconsin
All Voting is Local
Native American
Rights Fund
Navajo Nation Department of Justice
Session 1 – Presentation: Native Obstacles to the Vote
8:00 am to 8:50 am
Session 2 – Presentation: Election Protection and the Arizona Model 9:00 to 9:50 am
Session 3 – Panel: Advocacy and Litigation to Protect Democracy
10 to 10:50
Session 4 – Working Group: Current Threats in 2024
1:00 to 11:50
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
“The Osage Reign of Terror: The Untold Legal History“
Film Screening & Luncheon
Room: Eagle
Zoom: Not Available.
Description: Oklahoma Indian Bar Association President Arvo Mikkanen was proud to work with the Historical Society of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma to create an public exhibit and he produced a short documentary film for the Federal Judicial Learning Center and Museum in Oklahoma City focusing on the legal history of the infamous and tragic Osage Murders. He will introduce the film and, after the screening, facilitate a Q&A. Box lunches will be provided.
Speaker:
President
Oklahoma Indian Bar Association
1:15 pm – 3:00 pm
NNABA Annual Members Meeting & Board Election
Room: Eagle
Agenda: View Here
President’s Report: View Here
Treasurerʻs Report: View Here
Zoom: Access Here
Meeting ID: 898 6332 6748
Passcode: 322202
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Presiding: President Makalika Naholowa’a
The meeting will include reports from NNABA officers and committees; updates from affiliates, partners and sponsors; and elections for new board officers. The membership will also here special updates on the historic first ever study of the experiences of Native American attorneys that NNABA published with the ABA Commission on Women this bar year, as well as an update on NNABA’s submission to the US Patent and Trademark Office last month in response to its first ever tribal consultation regarding intellectual property, traditional knowledge, genetic resources, and traditional cultural expressions. The complete meeting agenda and reports will be updated and posted to the NNABA website in advance of the meeting.
Orders of Business for the Membership:
The membership will have 2 orders of business to vote on at the meeting: approval of the 2023 annual meeting minutes and elections for the NNABA board of directors and officers.
Regarding Board of Director Elections:
NNABA will have 3 roles to elect at the meeting: President Elect, Secretary, and at least 1 Member-At-Large seat. If existing directors seek one of these open roles, then we could have other roles open accordingly. Candidate nominations can be submitted to the board in advance or in-person in the room. People are welcome to self-nominate. Candidates must be regular NNABA Board members.
To Request Time on the Agenda: Regional native bar associations, NNABA partners, sponsors, and members are welcome to request time on the meeting agenda, noting however that the time is limited. If you would like time to present during the meeting, please contact Makalika Naholowaa at [email protected].
3:15 pm to 4:30 pm
Pathways to the Federal Bench
Room: Eagle
Zoom: Access Here
Meeting ID: 876 1772 4651
Passcode: 421116
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Description: In this session panelists will discuss the status of native inclusion on the federal bench, share information about how attorneys can best prepare to seek nomination for judicial vacancies starting early in career, and provide insights on the nomination process.
Speakers:
Native American Rights Fund
5:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Careers in Tech Reception & Project 562 Book Signing with Matika Wilbur
Room: Ballroom A
Zoom: Not Available
Description: Representatives from sponsors in the technology industry are happy to host a reception for all NNABA and NNALSA members before the NNABA awards dinner. Interested members can seek them out for information about life in their organizations and career opportunities for law students and experienced professionals.
Also attending the reception will be our Justice is Medicine dinner keynote speaker, Matika Wilbur. Matika will be providing a book signing for her recent, history-making publication Project 562. Books are being provided at no-cost to the first 50 people in line for the signing.
6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Justice is Medicine Celebration & Awards Dinner
Room: Ballroom A
Zoom: Not Available.
TICKETS REQUIRED – To register and secure your ticket, visit the EventBrite event at http://tinyurl.com/NNABA2024
Description: At this year’s annual Justice is Medicine Celebration and Awards dinner, NNABA invites our community to an evening of fellowship and celebration honoring our inaugural Justice is Medicine award honorees and the NNABA Foundation’s 2024 class of Native American law student bar-prep scholarship recipients.
NNABA is also excited to share that photographer and storyteller Matika Wilbur will provide the dinner keynote address. Matika is one of the nation’s leading photographers, based in the Pacific Northwest.
Justice is Medicine Honorees
Keynote Speaker Matika Wilbur
In April 2023, Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip) concluded a 10-year epic journey to over 300 tribal nations dispersed throughout 40 U.S. states and published Project 562, a book capturing the images and stories from this historic project. While creating this work, Matika had hundreds of conversations across Indian Country about tribal sovereignty, self-determination, wellness, recovery from historical trauma, decolonization of the mind, and revitalization of culture. This work is intended to change the way we see Native America and dismantle the stereotypes Native American face.
2024 Native Law Bar Prep Scholarship Recipients
Since 2013, the NNABA Foundation has been proud to grant scholarships that assist graduating Native American law students with funding to support bar exam preparation. This year’s scholars will be announced prior to the meeting.