The Tribal Law and Government Center is largely successful because of the diverse range of people who contribute to the Center's work. The following Professors are associated with the Center.

Professor Stacy Leeds (Cherokee): Director, Tribal Law and Government Center

Stacy Leeds joined the KU faculty in 2003 after serving as Assistant Professor and Director of the Northern Plains Indian Law Center at the University of North Dakota School of Law. Her law teaching career began at the University of Wisconsin School of Law where she received her LL.M. as a William H. Hastie Fellow. She received her bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis and her law degree from the University of Tulsa.

Professor Leeds has served as a judge for several tribal courts. In August 2002, she became the first woman confirmed to the highest court of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, where she is currently serving a six year appointment. She is a highly regarded speaker and routinely presents at national conferences on a variety of legal issues affecting American Indian people and tribal governments.

Professor Michael Yellow Bird (Sahnish [Arikara] and Hidatsa): Director, Center for Indigenous Nations Studies

Dr. Michael J. Yellow Bird is an Associate Professor Center for Indigenous Nations Studies. Ph.D. Wisconsin. He is a citizen of the Sahnish and Hidatsa First Nations. Interests include First Nations Peoples; structural social work; social development; human rights; political prisoners/prisoner rights; effects of colonization and methods of decolonization; politics of identity; spirituality; and the use of narrative in helping process. He has authored Cowboys and Indians: Toys of Genocide, Icons of Colonialism and numerous articles concerning political and cultural issues related to Indigenous Peoples in North America.


Devon Mihesuah
(Photo by John Running)





Devon Mihesuah is member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and is a historian by training. She received her Ph.D. in American History from TCU in 1989, and was professor of American Indian History in NAU's history department for ten years prior to moving to NAU’s interdisciplinary Applied Indigenous Studies program. She is now the Cora Lee Beers Price Professor in International Cultural Understanding in the Center for Indigenous Nations Studies. She serves as award winning Editor of the American Indian Quarterly and edits University of Nebraska Press's book series, "Contemporary Indigenous Issues." Mihesuah's research, writing and speaking focuses on decolonization and empowerment strategies. Her most recent project deals with Choctaw Law Enforcement in Indian Territory until Oklahoma Statehood, including a focus on Silon Lewis and the Lighthorsemen.

Professor Sharon O'Brien, Associate Director, Tribal Law and Government Center

Dr. Sharon O'Brien, Associate Professor, Political Science and Indigenous Nations Studies, Ph.D., Oregon. Federal Indian Law, Tribal Governments, International Law, Publications: American Indian Tribal Governments and several articles on status and rights of indigenous peoples.

Associate Dean Webb Hecker, Associate Director, Tribal Law and Government Center

Professor Hecker is one of the law school's most well respected teachers. He was the Robert A. Schroeder Teaching Fellow from 1990 to 1993 and received the Immel Award for Teaching Excellence in 1996, and a W. T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence in 2000. A recognized authority on corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies, Hecker is an active member of the banking and business law sections of the American Bar Association and the Kansas Bar Association. He holds law degrees from Wayne State University and Harvard University and, prior to joining the KU law faculty, practiced business law with the Detroit firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock & Stone.

Professor Hecker was named Associate Director of the Tribal Law Center in 1995, when the Center was founded.

The Center owes much of its success to the dynamic students, both Indian and non-Indian, that participate in all facets of the Center's work. On two occasions, the KU NALSA won first place in the National NALSA Moot Court competition. Members of the KU NALSA routinely attend the annual Federal Bar Association's Indian Law Conference in Albuquerque as well as the annual Tribal Law Conference hosted every fall at KU Law School.