Northwest's Largest Minority Bar Association Increases Membership

The Northwest Indian Bar Association (NIBA) recently announced that it has increased the number of Native American attorneys in its membership by nearly 700 percent. During the past 15 months, the 12-year-old organization has seen unprecedented growth and credits its leadership in legal education, advocacy, mentorship and pro-bono legal work with the increase.

The rise in the number of Native American attorneys in the Northwest signals a nationally recognized trend toward greater involvement in the legal profession and more informed decision-making by Indian people. NIBA is the only Northwest minority bar association that seeks to empower Indian people through legal education and expose the political and economic realities facing tribes across the region.

es facing tribes across the region.
"We provide our people with a voice on the legal issues and decisions that affect the very essence of life in Indian Country," said two-term NIBA President Gabriel Galanda. "I believe it is that voice which has begun to attract so many Indian people to the legal profession in Washington State and beyond."

"When NIBA was created there were only a handful of Native attorneys practicing in the Northwest and virtually no Indian attorneys working in corporate law firms," said past-NIBA President Rion Ramirez. However, during the past 15 months, NIBA has grown its membership to more than 150 attorneys, expanded its membership to Oregon, Idaho and Alaska and incorporated as a 501(c)(3) and (6) nonprofit organization. NIBA members now practice for high-powered national and regional law firms, state and federal governments and on all 42 Northwest Indian reservations.

Additionally, NIBA raised nearly $20,000 to fund scholarships for Native law students throughout the Pacific Northwest. NIBA has now turned its attention toward adding a requirement to the Washington bar exam regarding testing on Indian law.

NIBA's recent achievements are of particular importance when considered against statewide and national research findings. According to Galanda, Indians are the most under-represented ethnic demographic in the legal profession. For example, Indian attorneys comprise just 0.7 percent of the Washington Bar and only three of the nearly 600 law students at the University of Washington Law School are of Indian decent. Nationally, 4.1 million people identify themselves as Native American but there are only 3,000 Native practitioners.

"We recognize that the rise in Native American attorneys in the Northwest is only just beginning," said Galanda. "But we are proud to be leading the charge."

Founded in 1991, NIBA is a nonprofit organization of Native and Indian law attorneys, judges, spokespersons and students in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. NIBA works to increase the number of Native and Indian attorneys in the Pacific Northwest through legal education and advocacy.

More information about NIBA can be found on their web site at: www.nwiba.org.