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2021 NNBA ANNUAL CONFERENCE 'WEBINAR':
BEYOND COVID-19

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The Navajo Nation Bar Association (NNBA) has applied for CLE credit from the Navajo Nation CLE Committee. Pending Navajo CLE credit for each session is listed along with session information. Navajo Nation Bar Association members must earn at least 6 general credits and 2 ethics credits in Navajo law each year to maintain active bar membership status.

 

NNBA has additionally applied for CLE credit from the state bars of Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Please check back for more information on how to apply for state CLE credit for this webinar.


The State Bar of Arizona does not approve or accredit CLE activities for the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education requirement. This activity may qualify for up to 8.5 hours toward your annual CLE requirement for the State Bar of Arizona, including 2 hour(s) of professional responsibility. 

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EXTENSION: AVAILABLE UNTIL JANUARY 14, 2022

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Agenda

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NNBA CLE Form *FINAL*

Passcode to Access Content: NNBA2021! 

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Title: President Troy Eid’s Annual Report & Special Tribute to 12 NNBA Members Who Passed On
Speaker: Troy Eid, President, Navajo Nation Bar Association, Inc.
Time: 31 minutes
No CLE Credit available.


Title: Keynote Address: Fireside Chat with Representative Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren
Speaker: Representative Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren
Moderator: Rhonda L. Tuni, Treasurer, Navajo Nation Bar Association, Inc.
Description: Navajo Nation Bar Association Treasurer Rhonda Tuni interviews Arizona State Representative Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren about representing her community in the state legislature. Representative Blackwater-Nygren also discusses some recent Arizona legislation that may affect Navajo Nation residents and practitioners.
Time: 55 minutes
Navajo CLE Credit: 1.0 NNCLE credit 


Title: My Life in the Law: A Fireside Chat with former Navajo Nation President Albert Hale
Moderator: Troy Eid, President, Navajo Nation Bar Association
Speaker: Former Navajo Nation President, the late Albert Hale
Description: Former Navajo Nation President Albert Hale discusses his life in the law, and issues for the Navajo Nation government raised by the ongoing pandemic, with NNBA President Troy Eid.
Time: 1 hour, 22 minutes

Note: In light of President Hale’s death earlier this year of Covid-19, this interview is being provided again at members’ request. Members are eligible for CLE credit only if you have not previously claimed it for this interview.
Navajo CLE Credit: 1.0 NNCLE credit


Title: Keynote Fireside Chat with the Honorable Robert Yazzie, Chief Justice Emeritus, Navajo Supreme Court: How Diné Fundamental Law Has Shaped My Life and Service to the Navajo People (interviewed by NNBA President Troy Eid).
Speaker: Honorable Robert Yazzie, Chief Justice Emeritus, Navajo Nation Supreme Court
Description: Mr. Eid interviews Honorable Robert Yazzie about his life and work strengthening the practice and application of Diné Fundamental Law on the Navajo Nation.
Time: 1 hour, 44 minutes
Navajo CLE Credit: 1.5 NNCLE credit


Title: Keynote Fireside Chat with Dr. Manley Begay, Prof. of Applied Indigenous Studies, Northern Arizona Uni., & Co-Director, Harvard Project on the American Indian (Feat. NNBA V.P. LaVerne H Garnenez)
Moderator: LaVerne Garnenez, Vice President, Navajo Nation Bar Association
Speaker: Dr. Manley Begay, Prof. of Applied Indigenous Studies, Northern Arizona Uni., & Co-Director, Harvard Project on the American Indian
Description: The life and work of Dr. Manley Begay, leading to a discussion emphasizing Diné Fundamental Law and how it applies to how tribal nation building, sovereignty and the Navajo Four Direction decision-making and the future of the Navajo Nation.
Time: 58 minutes
Navajo CLE Credit: 1.0 NNCLE credit


Title: Federal Law Update
Speaker: Paul Spruhan, Assistant Attorney General – Litigation Unit, Navajo Nation Department of Justice
Description: Navajo Nation Assistant Attorney General Paul Spruhan provides an update on the federal litigation in which the Navajo Nation is currently a party.
Materials:

Time: 1 hour, 3 minutes
Navajo CLE Credit: 1.0 NNCLE credit


Title: Rural Community Organizing and Legal Advocacy During COVID-19
Speakers: Michelle Garcia, Supervising Attorney at the Santa Fe office of New Mexico Legal Aid; Marquita Nez, student at the University of New Mexico, former Community Justice Worker for New Mexico Legal Aid; Maslyn Locke, environmental justice staff attorney at the New Mexico Environmental Law Center
Description: This panel discusses some of the strategies and effective techniques for rural community organizing and legal advocacy during COVID-19. The presenters discuss the community justice worker model used in rural and Indigenous communities in Western New Mexico.
Materials:

• Christine Zuni Cruz, [On the] Road Back in: Community Lawyering in Indigenous Communities, 5 Clinical Law Review 557 (1999).
• Paulo Friere, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (excerpt). New York: Continuum. 30th Anniversary Ed. (2000).

Additional Suggested Reading:

  • Brayboy, B. J. Toward a Tribal Critical Race Theory in Education. The Urban Review. (2006).

  • Cajete, G. A. (2006). Indigenous Community: Rekindling the Teachings of the Seventh Fire. St. Paul: Living Justice Press. (2006).

  • Canadian Scholars Press Inc. Research as Resistance: Revisiting Critical, indigenous, and Anti-Oppressive Approaches Second Edition. Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press. (2006).

  • Natcher, D. C., & Hickey, C. G. Putting the Community Back into Community-Based Resource Management: A Criteria and Indicators Approach to Sustainability. Human Organization. (2002).

  • President and Fellows of Harvard College. Indigenous Knowledge and Education. Cambridge: Harvard Educational Review. (2008).

  • Smith, T. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. New York: Zed Books. (1950).

  • Young, A. E. Elders' Teachings on Indigenous Leadership: Leadership is a Gift. University of British Columbia. (2006).

Time: 1 hour
Navajo CLE Credit: 1.0 NNCLE credit 


Title: Access to Clean Water
Speakers: Bidtah Becker, Associate Attorney, Navajo Tribal Utility Authority; and Crystal Tulley-Cordova, PhD, MWR, Principal Hydrologist in the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources - Water Management Branch
Description: Ms. Becker and Ms. Tulley-Cordova discuss the challenges of bringing clean drinking water to all households on the Navajo Nation and the current Tribal-federal efforts to improve clean water infrastructure on the Navajo Nation.
Materials:

Time: 1 hour, 1 minute
Navajo CLE Credit: 1.0 NNCLE credit


Title: A Fundamental Law Discussion on Making the Navajo Bar Association ‘More Navajo’: Refining The Four Directions Approach for Dine Legal Analysis
Moderator: Rhonda L. Tuni, Treasurer, Navajo Nation Bar Association, Inc.
Speaker: Shawn Attakai, Staff Attorney, Navajo Nation Judicial Branch; and Honorable Robert Yazzie, Chief Justice Emeritus
Description: Mr. Attakai and Honorable Robert Yazzie discuss the Four Directions of Navajo traditional teachings and how they shape the practice of Navajo Fundamental Law.
Materials:

Time: 1 hour
Navajo CLE Credit: 1.0 NNCLE credit


Title: Practicing Law Via Zoom and Other Online Platforms (Ethics)
Speaker: Jim Ledbetter, founding member of the Ledbetter Law Firm, PLC
Description: Mr. Ledbetter discusses the ethics of practicing law using virtual platforms on the Navajo Nation. This presentation includes practical advice about law practice management and maintaining attorney-client privilege.
Time: 50 minutes
Navajo CLE Credit: 1.0 NNCLE credit


Title: Unauthorized Practice of Law Panel Discussion (Ethics)
Speakers: Kimberly Dutcher, Deputy Attorney General, Navajo Nation Department of Justice; April Olson, Partner, Rothstein Donatelli, LLP; Michelle Brown-Yazzie, Assistant Attorney General, Navajo Nation Department of Justice – Water Rights Unit; Daniel Moquin, Principal Attorney, Navajo Nation Department of Justice – Water Rights Unit
Description: Ms. Dutcher facilitates a panel discussion about the unauthorized practice of law on the Navajo Nation.
Materials:

Time: 1 hour, 25 minutes
Navajo CLE Credit: 1.0 NNCLE credit


Title: Update form the NNBA Disciplinary Committee
Speaker: Jay Mason, Chair, Navajo Nation Bar Association Disciplinary Committee
Description: Jay Mason, Chair of the NNBA Disciplinary Committee, discusses hypothetical ethical questions based on issues that have come before the Disciplinary Committee recently.
Time: 9 minutes
No CLE Credit available.


Title: Update from the NNBA Training Committee
Speaker: Paul Spruhan, Chair, Navajo Nation Bar Association Training Committee
Time: 5 minutes
No CLE Credit available.


Title: Update from the NNBA Admissions Committee
Speaker: Ray Etcitty, Chair, Navajo Nation Bar Association Admissions Committee
Time: 10 minutes
No CLE Credit available.


Title: Update from the NNBA Rules Committee
Speaker: Alvina Earnhart, Chair, Navajo Nation Bar Association Rules Committee
Time: 19 minutes
No CLE Credit available.


TOTAL NAVAJO CLE CREDIT: 8.5 hours general Navajo law credits, 2 hours Navajo ethics credit or 5 Navajo law credits and 5 Navajo Ethics.

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