Law in Contemporary Society

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MariHulbuttaSecondEssay 3 - 31 May 2018 - Main.MariHulbutta
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A Theory of Action for Becoming the First Woman Governor of the Chickasaw Nation

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-- By MariHulbutta - 20 Apr 2018 (First draft; 999 words)
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-- By MariHulbutta - 31 May 2018 (Second paper, final draft; 987 words)
 
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I. Introduction

This essay examines the premise of the idea proposed in my first essay from my personal perspective as someone who intends to devote her career toward advocating on behalf of tribes. In order to articulate the role I plan to fulfill in addressing the outsourcing problem, I need to consider the type of advocate I strive to be. My answer to ‘what kind of advocate do I plan to be?’ will likely change as I explore different settings in which to advocate. The objective of this essay is to describe my current and tentative answer to the question, and rule out the types of advocate I never want to be.
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When asked in Kindergarten what I want to be when I grow up, my response was “a Supreme Court Justice.” While my professional aspirations have essentially ruled out that wish completely, I have maintained an interest in devoting my career to law and its intersections with Native American policy. Upon leaving my home state of Oklahoma to attend college at Columbia, I affirmed my understanding that there was an entire world outside of where I grew up. Indeed, a world filled with diverse communities, peoples, and ideas that exceed the level of diversity in small Oklahoma towns.
 
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In college, I prioritized striking a balance between further expanding the new perspective I was developing and maintaining ties to my home and tribal communities. I soon realized through my political science coursework that I had an unwavering interest in politics. Specifically, the relationship between tribes and the federal government. I pursued nearly all available courses that would allow me to explore ideas related to the tribal politic and led me to realize I had a personal aspiration of becoming a politician acting on behalf of a tribe or tribes. Initially I considered a role in the U.S. Congress, but abandoned that idea after years of repeated frustrations with the federal government’s partisan operatives and oft-antithetical decisions against tribal interests. Once my optimism of surmising potential avenues for tribes and the Trump administration faded into pure discontent and skepticism, I found myself questioning whether I could ever envision myself as an agent of the federal government – whether in Congress, the administration, or the federal court system. This is something I will wrestle with for the foreseeable future. However, I am fairly certain that I am in no rush to represent the federal government.
 
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II. The Outsourcing Problem Viewed From My Experiences

The three years I spent working in Washington, DC prior to entering law school largely influences my current perspective. I spent my first post-undergraduate year at the National Congress of American Indians where I, alongside numerous tribal leaders, developed strategies for advocating their interests in Congress and the administration. I then spent two years working as a policy specialist at a litigation and lobbying firm in the Indian law practice group. Despite the public sector to private sector differences, both experiences equally informed my perception of the roles lawyers and lobbyists play in impacting developments in Indian affairs.

In my first month at the firm, the partner to whom I reported recognized the importance of a young Native woman aspiring to become a lawyer devoting time to critically think about the type of advocate she might want to be, and thus requested that I read a story detailing tactics that one particular tribal lobbying firm employs. Having worked closely with many of the individuals characterized as Native Jack Abramoff-types in the story – including the partner who assigned it to me – I was forced to consider why the tactics described in the story did not fully appeal to me.

Although I view the Abramoff scandal and its living successors, such as that involving the Miami Nation and payday lending mogul Scott Tucker, as cautionary tales of predatory tactics used against tribes, I believe tribes are nevertheless well-positioned to decide to employ advocates using any such tactics they choose. It is true that some tribes prefer to work with the Abramoffs of Indian Country just as there exists a dichotomy of tribal leaders being for or against gaming and tribes choosing to participate in the federal system or not. The element of choice is key to my premise that when tribes outsource, they risk hiring selfish advocates who underestimate their sophistication – precisely the advocate I try to avoid becoming. As more aspiring tribal advocates go to law school and pursue broad practice areas, tribes will have more options when hiring new lawyers for their innovative business ventures.

III. My Plan of Action

The angles from which I hope to serve tribes will vary as I work through the circuit that many tribal attorneys do in Washington, DC in order to gain a broad range of legal experiences early in my career. I plan to begin my journey at a firm where I know the lawyers there sincerely put tribal interests first. One of the benefits of having worked in DC with tribal leaders throughout Indian Country is knowing that the realm of Native legal practitioners is small, which makes it easy to compare firms and the attorneys they hire. After working at a firm for a few years, I will probably gain experience in Congress – whether as counsel to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs or being a staffer to a member of Congress who is Native or who has demonstrated support for tribal interests. Alternatively, I would consider working in the Administration as an attorney for Department of Interior’s Office of Solicitor or Department of Justice’s Office of Tribal Justice in order to improve the trust relationship between tribes and the federal government. I could also work at any of the several non-profit organizations in DC that advocate specifically for tribal interests. Long-term, however, my goal is to represent my tribe, the Chickasaw Nation, either in-house or at one of the firms we hire in DC or Oklahoma. Other avenues to serve my Nation include being a liaison at my tribe’s DC embassy, serving in any of our three legal departments, or serving in our tribal court system. Ultimately, I strive to be elected as the first (or second) woman Governor or Lt. Governor of my tribe.

In reflecting on what law school has taught me thus far, I find that I have a better understanding of the nexus between tribal sovereignty and the doctrinal courses I’ve been forced to take. Prior to law school, I knew that tribes, as sovereign nations, encounter legal issues spanning virtually every discipline of law. I now understand core doctrines embedded in some of those disciplines and their overlap with principles of tribal governance. When I pursue a broad course load to learn more of the language of the law, I will prioritize keeping sight of the kind of advocate I want to be.

Being an executive leader of my tribe after having grasped the language of the law will help me to convey my tribal community’s interests to people with power in American institutions. My decision to continue law school beyond the first year is influenced by the steps I took after college to affirm that this is the path I want to take – hence why I took time off to work for Native lawyers with my ideal ‘someday jobs’ and why I committed to the best school that discounted at least 75 percent of my tuition. My investment will continue to grow in value as long as I continue developing into the advocate I envision myself being. Overall, I am confident that my career will attribute meaning to my life and lasting recognition of the sacrifices my ancestors made in order for me to develop and follow the path I so choose.

Yes, it's a plan. My complete ignorance of Chickasaw politics leaves me with no way to make a judgment about its feasibility, but any aspiring politician's reach should certainly exceed her or anyone else's grasp.

Improving the draft, then, has little to do with the substance of its political calculations, at least so far as I can contribute to the improvement. As writing, the best route to improvement is removing flat-footed self-description or promotion ("The three years I spent working in Washington, DC prior to entering law school largely influences my current perspective. I spent my first post-undergraduate year at the National Congress of American Indians where I, alongside numerous tribal leaders, developed strategies for advocating their interests in Congress and the administration. I then spent two years working as a policy specialist at a litigation and lobbying firm in the Indian law practice group.") and replacing it with non-resume material, words that are about a person and her life, not the fruit-salad on a uniform jacket.

Down this road, language that could be written in the third person, by a flack providing your bio to a news service, is replaced by first-person ideas, not titles or addresses. For example: What is good for you about being a lobbyist? What is not? What are the real satisfactions of political life, and what the drawbacks, from your point of view? When you read this ten years from now, these existing sentences would have little effect on you: they're just packing material that will always look the same. But the ones that should be here instead, about your feelings and understandings, your wishes and aversions at this stage in your life, will be both moving and important to that future version of yourself.

While it always makes sense to believe completely in the life objectives we hold while learning how to make strategy, it also makes equal sense not to believe them at all, to assume that they will change. We thereby learn not just how to make one strategy but all strategies, to respond to the transformative and sometimes harshly discontinuous changes life imposes on us. Lives do not always unroll as we suppose they will; the only thing one can be sure about ancestors is that they're dead. For this purpose, too, a deeper concentration on the internal, at the expense of external declarations, is more productive.

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What I am certain of, however, is how grateful I am for having knowledgeable mentors and fair-minded role models in positions that straddle the political and legal spheres. They are executive tribal leaders, in-house tribal counsel, tribal judges, lobbyists, lawyers in the private and public sectors, and career politicians. They are, in other words, in roles I can tentatively see myself in.
 
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State politics is an arena I am generally agnostic about, but I recognize the importance of being involved for the sake of advancing certain tribal interests – especially in Oklahoma where collaboration between tribes and the state is critical. Given the history of tribes being removed to Oklahoma prior to statehood and the lack of present-day contiguous reservations in the state, tribes must maintain relationships with local governments. In light of this dynamic, I am currently less repulsed by the idea of serving in state government than in a federal office.

This summer, I have the fortune of working in-house at one of my tribes and am working on matters that will expose me to the inner-workings of state politics. At the very least, this introduction to state affairs will prepare me to be a better advocate when I do return to Oklahoma to serve tribes. It might even help me decide whether I could ever see myself pursuing a role as a statewide elected officer. Though this question is also one I will need to mull over for some time (and am in no rush to find an answer to), it nevertheless comes to surface when I consider the larger (and more immediate) question of what type of advocate I wish to be – not solely in terms of placement, but also in terms of ethics.

My theory is that once I understand the boundaries that I am unwilling to cross as a lawyer and advocate, the employers and clients I choose to engage with will conform to the boundaries I’ve set for myself. I understand that no matter where or for whom I work, there will likely be instances in which I will have little choice but to come close to crossing my boundaries if not actually doing so. However, I think maintaining perspective and viewing the role as a means to an end will help me rationalize it for the time being. For instance, I have no interest in becoming a partner at a firm or ever doing corporate law. The role I want at a firm is to work on matters that either directly or closely relate to tribal interests. If within this niche practice I confront boundaries I am not comfortable with, I can always choose to leave. But, if I bear in mind that being at a law/lobbying firm is only temporary and the training I’m getting from a firm will ultimately help me reach the next step in my career, it seems reasonable to keep my head down and carry on. For such an experience will only deepen my conceptualization of the type of lawyer I wish not to be.

Particular qualities and habits I hope to not possess as a lawyer or lobbyist include: being demeaning or disrespectful toward clients as if I know better than they, especially if they are tribal leaders; being comfortable compromising my client’s or my own principles in exchange for money or false integrity; becoming reliant on short-sighted and close-minded solutions; becoming beholden to the golden handcuffs; and fulfilling a dispensable role.

The satisfactions I anticipate that will come with being a lawyer or lobbyist are: upward mobility for myself and my family members given that I will be the first lawyer in both my mother’s and father’s families; possession of a skill set that can be used to help others; financial security; being a role model to my nieces and nephews; perpetually working to solve complex problems that go beyond myself.

For now, I have my goals set on eventually running to serve as the first female governor of the Chickasaw Nation. I would also settle for Lieutenant Governor and a Justice on our tribal Supreme Court. These more than likely will be positions I pursue toward the very end of my career.

 

MariHulbuttaSecondEssay 2 - 28 May 2018 - Main.EbenMoglen
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  Being an executive leader of my tribe after having grasped the language of the law will help me to convey my tribal community’s interests to people with power in American institutions. My decision to continue law school beyond the first year is influenced by the steps I took after college to affirm that this is the path I want to take – hence why I took time off to work for Native lawyers with my ideal ‘someday jobs’ and why I committed to the best school that discounted at least 75 percent of my tuition. My investment will continue to grow in value as long as I continue developing into the advocate I envision myself being. Overall, I am confident that my career will attribute meaning to my life and lasting recognition of the sacrifices my ancestors made in order for me to develop and follow the path I so choose.
Added:
>
>

Yes, it's a plan. My complete ignorance of Chickasaw politics leaves me with no way to make a judgment about its feasibility, but any aspiring politician's reach should certainly exceed her or anyone else's grasp.

Improving the draft, then, has little to do with the substance of its political calculations, at least so far as I can contribute to the improvement. As writing, the best route to improvement is removing flat-footed self-description or promotion ("The three years I spent working in Washington, DC prior to entering law school largely influences my current perspective. I spent my first post-undergraduate year at the National Congress of American Indians where I, alongside numerous tribal leaders, developed strategies for advocating their interests in Congress and the administration. I then spent two years working as a policy specialist at a litigation and lobbying firm in the Indian law practice group.") and replacing it with non-resume material, words that are about a person and her life, not the fruit-salad on a uniform jacket.

Down this road, language that could be written in the third person, by a flack providing your bio to a news service, is replaced by first-person ideas, not titles or addresses. For example: What is good for you about being a lobbyist? What is not? What are the real satisfactions of political life, and what the drawbacks, from your point of view? When you read this ten years from now, these existing sentences would have little effect on you: they're just packing material that will always look the same. But the ones that should be here instead, about your feelings and understandings, your wishes and aversions at this stage in your life, will be both moving and important to that future version of yourself.

While it always makes sense to believe completely in the life objectives we hold while learning how to make strategy, it also makes equal sense not to believe them at all, to assume that they will change. We thereby learn not just how to make one strategy but all strategies, to respond to the transformative and sometimes harshly discontinuous changes life imposes on us. Lives do not always unroll as we suppose they will; the only thing one can be sure about ancestors is that they're dead. For this purpose, too, a deeper concentration on the internal, at the expense of external declarations, is more productive.

 
You are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable. To restrict access to your paper simply delete the "#" character on the next two lines:

MariHulbuttaSecondEssay 1 - 20 Apr 2018 - Main.MariHulbutta
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META TOPICPARENT name="SecondEssay"

A Theory of Action for Becoming the First Woman Governor of the Chickasaw Nation

-- By MariHulbutta - 20 Apr 2018 (First draft; 999 words)

I. Introduction

This essay examines the premise of the idea proposed in my first essay from my personal perspective as someone who intends to devote her career toward advocating on behalf of tribes. In order to articulate the role I plan to fulfill in addressing the outsourcing problem, I need to consider the type of advocate I strive to be. My answer to ‘what kind of advocate do I plan to be?’ will likely change as I explore different settings in which to advocate. The objective of this essay is to describe my current and tentative answer to the question, and rule out the types of advocate I never want to be.

II. The Outsourcing Problem Viewed From My Experiences

The three years I spent working in Washington, DC prior to entering law school largely influences my current perspective. I spent my first post-undergraduate year at the National Congress of American Indians where I, alongside numerous tribal leaders, developed strategies for advocating their interests in Congress and the administration. I then spent two years working as a policy specialist at a litigation and lobbying firm in the Indian law practice group. Despite the public sector to private sector differences, both experiences equally informed my perception of the roles lawyers and lobbyists play in impacting developments in Indian affairs.

In my first month at the firm, the partner to whom I reported recognized the importance of a young Native woman aspiring to become a lawyer devoting time to critically think about the type of advocate she might want to be, and thus requested that I read a story detailing tactics that one particular tribal lobbying firm employs. Having worked closely with many of the individuals characterized as Native Jack Abramoff-types in the story – including the partner who assigned it to me – I was forced to consider why the tactics described in the story did not fully appeal to me.

Although I view the Abramoff scandal and its living successors, such as that involving the Miami Nation and payday lending mogul Scott Tucker, as cautionary tales of predatory tactics used against tribes, I believe tribes are nevertheless well-positioned to decide to employ advocates using any such tactics they choose. It is true that some tribes prefer to work with the Abramoffs of Indian Country just as there exists a dichotomy of tribal leaders being for or against gaming and tribes choosing to participate in the federal system or not. The element of choice is key to my premise that when tribes outsource, they risk hiring selfish advocates who underestimate their sophistication – precisely the advocate I try to avoid becoming. As more aspiring tribal advocates go to law school and pursue broad practice areas, tribes will have more options when hiring new lawyers for their innovative business ventures.

III. My Plan of Action

The angles from which I hope to serve tribes will vary as I work through the circuit that many tribal attorneys do in Washington, DC in order to gain a broad range of legal experiences early in my career. I plan to begin my journey at a firm where I know the lawyers there sincerely put tribal interests first. One of the benefits of having worked in DC with tribal leaders throughout Indian Country is knowing that the realm of Native legal practitioners is small, which makes it easy to compare firms and the attorneys they hire. After working at a firm for a few years, I will probably gain experience in Congress – whether as counsel to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs or being a staffer to a member of Congress who is Native or who has demonstrated support for tribal interests. Alternatively, I would consider working in the Administration as an attorney for Department of Interior’s Office of Solicitor or Department of Justice’s Office of Tribal Justice in order to improve the trust relationship between tribes and the federal government. I could also work at any of the several non-profit organizations in DC that advocate specifically for tribal interests. Long-term, however, my goal is to represent my tribe, the Chickasaw Nation, either in-house or at one of the firms we hire in DC or Oklahoma. Other avenues to serve my Nation include being a liaison at my tribe’s DC embassy, serving in any of our three legal departments, or serving in our tribal court system. Ultimately, I strive to be elected as the first (or second) woman Governor or Lt. Governor of my tribe.

In reflecting on what law school has taught me thus far, I find that I have a better understanding of the nexus between tribal sovereignty and the doctrinal courses I’ve been forced to take. Prior to law school, I knew that tribes, as sovereign nations, encounter legal issues spanning virtually every discipline of law. I now understand core doctrines embedded in some of those disciplines and their overlap with principles of tribal governance. When I pursue a broad course load to learn more of the language of the law, I will prioritize keeping sight of the kind of advocate I want to be.

Being an executive leader of my tribe after having grasped the language of the law will help me to convey my tribal community’s interests to people with power in American institutions. My decision to continue law school beyond the first year is influenced by the steps I took after college to affirm that this is the path I want to take – hence why I took time off to work for Native lawyers with my ideal ‘someday jobs’ and why I committed to the best school that discounted at least 75 percent of my tuition. My investment will continue to grow in value as long as I continue developing into the advocate I envision myself being. Overall, I am confident that my career will attribute meaning to my life and lasting recognition of the sacrifices my ancestors made in order for me to develop and follow the path I so choose.


You are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable. To restrict access to your paper simply delete the "#" character on the next two lines:

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Revision 3r3 - 31 May 2018 - 22:12:28 - MariHulbutta
Revision 2r2 - 28 May 2018 - 18:53:20 - EbenMoglen
Revision 1r1 - 20 Apr 2018 - 01:31:08 - MariHulbutta
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