Tribal Court Public Defense Clinic

As part of the Native American Law Center at the University of Washington School of Law, the Tribal Court Public Defense Clinic partners with the Tulalip,  Squaxin Island, Port Gamble S’Klallam and Puyallup Tribes to serve as their public defender on these reservations. Generally, tribal members do not have a right to counsel in tribal criminal proceedings, and the Tulalip Tribes sought an innovative way to address this need, resulting in the clinic formation in July 2002. The bulk of the student work is at the Tulalip Tribes where the Clinic has handled over 800 cases. 

Tribal Court Clinic News

• UW Law Professor Ron Whitener Receives Clinical Legal Education Award
  The UW law school's Director of the Tribal Court Public Defense Clinic and Assistant Professor Ron Whitener '94 has been awarded the M. Shanara Gilbert "Emerging Clinician" Award from the Executive Committee of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Clinical Legal Education. (4/1/2009)
• TCPD partners with UW Medical School
  In an interdisciplinary partnership with the UW Medical School, Prof. Whitener is developing a University-wide policy to guide researchers when Native American individuals and communities are the subject of research studies. This will cover tribal research approval processes, partnership building, appropriate use of data, sharing of research results and issues related to the publication of studies.
• Tribal Court Public Defense Clinic nominated for Harvard's Honoring Nations Award
  The TCPD Clinic was nominated by the Tulalip Tribes and selected as a semi-finalist for a 2008 Honoring Nations Award, a project on American Indian Economic Development at Harvard University.
• Professor Whitener appointed Chief Judge for the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Indian Reservation
  In January of 2008, Clinic Director Ron Whitener was appointed as the trial court judge for the Chehalis Tribe in Rochester, Washington. The tribal court meets at least twice a month and handles all civil and criminal matters for the tribe. Students are encouraged to assist Professor Whitener as legal clerks.