Professor Whitener graduated from the UW School of Law in 1994 and went to work as a tribal attorney for the Squaxin Island Tribe (of which he is a member) where he represented the tribal government in treaty rights defense, gaming and enterprises, and infrastructure development.  In January 2000, he left Squaxin Island to take a position with the Northwest Justice Project's (NJP) Native American Unit in Seattle.  At the NJP he headed the Indian Law Clinic, a joint project between the NJP and the UW School of Law.  In 2002, Professor Whitener left the NJP to take over the Tribal Court Criminal Defense Clinic, a project of the UW School of Law Native American Law Center.