In his memoir, Alvin Ziontz reflects on his more than thirty years representing Indian tribes, from a time when Indian law was little known through landmark battles that upheld tribal sovereignty. He discusses the growth and maturation of tribal government and the underlying tensions between Indian society and the non-Indian world.A Lawyer in Indian Country presents vignettes of reservation life and recounts some of the memorable legal cases that illustrate the challenges faced by individual Indians and tribes.

As the senior attorney arguing U.S. v. Washington, Ziontz was a party to the historic 1974 Boldt decision that affirmed the Pacific Northwest tribes' treaty fishing rights, with ramifications for tribal rights nationwide. His work took him to reservations in Montana, Wyoming, and Minnesota, as well as Washington and Alaska, and he describes not only the work of a tribal attorney but also his personal entry into the life of Indian country.

Ziontz continued to fight for tribal rights into the late 1990s, as the Makah tribe of Washington sought to resume its traditional whale hunts. Throughout his book, Ziontz traces his own path through this public history - one man's pursuit of a life built around the principles of integrity and justice.

Foreword by Charles Wilkinson

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. The Road to Neah Bay

2. The Road to Neah Bay Begins in Chicago

3. The University of Chicago, the Army, and Seattle

4. Becoming a Lawyer

5. Seven Years of Lawyering in West Seattle

6. Creating a Law Firm

7. Indian Fishing Rights: Joining the Struggle

8. The Makahs

9. Recovering Lost Property: Ozette, Tatoosh, and Waadah

10. The Lummi Tribe

11. Indian Fishing Rights: Eighty Years of Suppression, Twenty Years of Confrontation

12. The Big Bang: U.S. v. Washington Begins

13. U.S. v. Washington: The Trial

14. U.S. v. Washington: Closing Arguments and Judge Boldt's Decision

15. The U.S. Supreme Court Has the Last Word: Consequences of the Boldt Decision

16. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation

17. The Northern Cheyennes Fight Strip-Mining

18. The Northern Cheyennes and the Hollowbreast Case

19. The Oliphant Case: A Setback for Tribal Government

20. Writing about the Indian Civil Rights Act

21. Leaving Law for Academia

22. A Firm of Tribal Attorneys

23. Representing Fishermen of the Alaska Peninsula

24. The Mille Lacs Band of Chippewas

25. The Wanda Boswell Case

26. The Northern Arapaho Tribe

27. Photographing the Northern Cheyennes

28. The Makah Whale Hunt

29. A Life in Being

Notes

Selected Bibliography