To be awarded the specialization in Native Nations Law, students must maintain a B- (2.7) grade average in courses taken for the specialization.
Detailed course descriptions are linked in the listings below. Prospective students should bear in mind that, due to curriculum scheduling and faculty availability, not every class listed is taught each year. This is most often true in the case of seminar courses. A sufficient number of courses will be available to enable those students who choose to specialize to satisfy the specialization requirements.
Curriculum
- Required Course
-
Group A: Indian Law Elective
(At least one course is required)
LAW 287Federal Indian Law II
LAW 301Art and Cultural Property Law
LAW 444Indigenous Peoples in International Law
LAW 505A/BMajor Problems in Environment & Sustainability
LAW 728Tribal Legal Development Clinic
The prerequisite for Law - 287 Federal Indian Law II is Law 267 - Federal Indian Law I, though this prerequisite may be waived at the instructor's discretion.
-
Group B: Elective in Law
(Sum of courses from Groups A and B must equal at least three)
(Students must take at least one Group B course, or take three courses from Group A)
(One-unit courses will count as only half a course for this requirement)
LAW 212Federal Courts
LAW 214Civil Rights
LAW 216Administrative Law
LAW 266Critical Race Theory
LAW 270Public International Law
LAW 273International Human Rights Law
LAW 286Land Use
LAW 290Environmental Law and Policy
LAW 293Public Natural Resources Law and Policy
LAW 317Family Law
LAW 350Energy Law and Regulation
LAW 430Partnership and Passthrough Taxation
LAW 435Corporate Taxation
LAW 463Regional Human Rights Protection: The Inter-American System
LAW 521The Law and Geopolitics of Green Development
LAW 597Place, Race, and Power
LAW 692Water Law
LAW 927Human Rights in Action Clinic - International Field Experience
LAW 939Cannabis Law & Policy: Federalism, Regulation, & Litigation
LAW 951Human Rights Challenge
A seminar or other course not listed above may be applied toward the specialization with the approval of a Native Nations Law & Policy Center faculty member.
The list of courses (including seminars and clinics) that satisfy the Indian Law Elective and the Elective in Law will be reviewed annually and revised as appropriate by the Native Nations Law Specialization Committee, in coordination with the Records Office. Students are encouraged to look into the specifics of the syllabi of each course and to meet with the faculty advisors to ensure they select courses that best achieve their personal educational goals.
Students may petition the Native Nations Law Specialization Committee to have other relevant courses or independent studies counted toward the specialization.
UCLA School of Law professor Angela R. Riley has earned a leading award for her scholarship at the intersection of Indigenous rights and intellectual property. Riley’s cutting-edge article “The Ascension of Indigenous Cultural Property Law” has been named Best Article in Intellectual Property for 2023 by Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law’s McCarthy Institute and Center for Law, Science and Innovation.
Mining is mission-critical to addressing the climate crisis. And so is confronting the legal and environmental issues surrounding mineral extraction.
Jurisdictions across the globe are racing to transform their energy sources to meet decarbonization goals and transition away from fossil fuels. This energy transition depends on a robust and reliable supply of critical minerals, which must be mined, processed, and distributed in ways that often create environmental and health risks, and in the process can reshape global political dynamics.
The Emmett Institute’s 2024 symposium will explore the wide range of pressing issues raised by this ever-expanding need for critical minerals. Our moderators and panelists from around the world will confront the policy drivers of this energy transition; governance questions related to supply chains; the rise of resource nationalism with its implications for the U.S. and the global order; and the risks to communities created by critical minerals mining and ways to reduce those risks.
Join us on Friday, March 8 at the UCLA School of Law for an all-day exploration of these topics through a keynote address and three panel discussions. Please RSVP here at this link and stay tuned for more details about the symposium.
Date: Friday, March 8, 2024
Location: UCLA School of Law
This is an in-person event.
This symposium will be in collaboration with the UCLA Law Review, Native Nations Law and Policy Center at UCLA and the Indigenous Peoples' Journal of Law, Culture, and Resistance.
The legal landscape around tribal sovereignty and Indigenous rights to self-determination is shifting. Recent cases like Castro-Huerta v. Oklahoma and Navajo Nation v. Arizona show that the Supreme Court may be willing to overturn hundreds of years of settled precedent in favor of states’ rights and corporate interests. Even when tribes do prevail, cases like Haaland v. Brackeen hint at potential future challenges to Indian rights. This year’s Symposium will bring together the country’s leading legal scholars, Indigenous communities, and students to discuss the most salient questions facing Indian law and Indigenous rights today.
We are proud to center tribal sovereignty at such a pivotal moment.
The UCLA Law Review holds steadfast to its core values of inclusion, justice, and excellence in scholarship, and this year’s topic underscores that mission.
Register HERE
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This year, the Supreme Court of the United States delivered major decisions on affirmative action, voting rights, free speech and Indigenous sovereignty, among other issues.
UCLA School of Law experts stepped in to break down the impact of the term in a variety of places: “Whither the Court: The Allan C. Lebow Annual Supreme Court Review” program, a webinar titled “From the Frontlines: The Supreme Court Rulings on Affirmative Action, LGBTQ Rights, and Student Debt,” public writings and even social media videos.
As the Supreme Court’s most recent term has now ended, observers are left to consider the many historic decisions that will have a lasting impact for years to come.
In a June 30 webinar titled “From the Frontlines: The Supreme Court Rulings on Affirmative Action, LGBTQ Rights, and Student Debt,” public writings and even social media videos, UCLA School of Law experts have stepped in to break down some of the most pivotal decisions.
Here is what they had to say.
Affirmative action
UCLA School of Law professor Carole Goldberg has been honored with the prestigious 2022–23 Edward A. Dickson Emeritus Professorship Award for her outstanding contributions since she retired. Goldberg, a leading authority on Indian law and longtime member of the UCLA Law faculty, is Distinguished Research Professor, the Jonathan D.
This article was originally published on the UCLA Newsroom website on October 10, 2022. We share it here with UCLA Newsroom's permission.
Alumnus returns to UCLA to deliver Regents Lecture on the future of Indian country
by Jessica Wolf