30th annual tribal courts conference in Fairbanks brings together federal, state, and local representatives

Dr. Cory Lepage and Dr. Ryan Fortson, Justice faculty, and Barbara Armstrong, editor of the Alaska Justice Forum, attended the 30th Annual Alaska Tribal Court Development Conference, August 6-8, in Fairbanks. The event was hosted by the Tanana Chiefs Conference.

Forty-seven tribal courts were represented at the conference. Participants included tribal court judges, court clerks, tribal administrators, Native village representatives, as well federal and state agency representatives.  The agenda included presentations on tribal court initiatives, tribal court assessments, funding opportunities for tribes, due process in tribal courts, child protection cases in tribal courts, diversion programs for youth, state-tribal relations, and state court outreach.

At the conference, Chief Judge Ingrid Cumberlidge of the Qagan Tayagungin Tribe, Sand Point, was presented a Faculty Award Milestone from the National Tribal Judicial Center at the National Judicial College for 5 years of teaching. Judge Cumberlidge has volunteered many hours of her time to teach for the National Judicial College.

 The conference is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Bureau of Indian Affairs through the National Tribal Judicial Center at the National Judicial College, Tanana Chiefs Conference, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks Tribal Management Program.

Opening day of the conference.

Chief Justice Robert Yazzie (Ret.),
Supreme Court of the Navajo Nation,
Window Rock, Arizona.

  

L to r (standing): Prof. Kevin Illingworth, UAF Tribal Management
Program; John Moller, Office of Governor Sean Parnell; Dr. Ryan Fortson &
Dr. Cory Lepage, UAA Justice Center; Prof. Jeff May, UAF Justice Dept.
Seated in foreground: Lisa Jaeger, Tanana Chiefs Conference

Chief Judge David Raasch (Ret.),
Mohican Nation Tribal Court

Justice Dan Winfree,
Alaska Supreme Court

L to r: Dr. Cory Lepage, UAA Justice Center; Judge David Voluck,
Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska;
Dr. Ryan Fortson, UAA Justice Center; attorneys Holly Handler
and Tina Reigh, Alaska Legal Services Corporation.

L to r: Christine Folsom-Smith, Director, National Tribal Judicial
Center, National Judicial College, presents a
Faculty Milestone Award to Chief Judge Ingrid Cumberlidge
of Sand Point.