Native Americans are typically invisible in the legal profession. Statistical data does not always include Native Americans. If Native Americans appear in the data, they are usually found in the other column next to the more statistically significant underrepresented groups on the bar graph.
The failure to see Native Americans in the data only exacerbates the lack of visibility in the legal profession. A 2015 study published by the National Native American Bar Association (NNABA) found that “Native Americans often feel invisible and share an overarching perspective that their experiences are not valid or real.” (Mary Smith, Introduction to Nat’l Native Am. Bar Ass’n, The Pursuit of Inclusion: An In-Depth Exploration of the Experiences and Perspectives of Native American Attorneys in the Legal Profession (n.p., 2015).) It is easy to say “more needs to be done,” but one organization is doing something about it—the Pre-Law Summer Institute for American Indians and Alaska Natives (PLSI) in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Need for More Native American Attorneys
A survey in the 1960s showed that there were fewer than 25 Native American attorneys in the United States and approximately 15 Native Americans in law school. To address these low numbers, in 1967, Professor Fred Hart at the University of New Mexico School of Law established the Special Scholarship program, which later became known as PLSI. The program brought together 20–30 Native law students from across the United States to learn the necessary skills for law school success.
PLSI’s original goal of producing successful Indian law students largely remains the same, so, too, is the need for more Native American representation in the legal profession beginning with law school itself. Sam Deloria, former director of the American Indian Law Center (AILC), identified inadequate administrative support as one significant barrier for Native American law students in both the admissions process and during law school. Unfortunately, even if Native American law students succeed with little to no administrative support, they may still drop out due to financial difficulties.
PLSI strives to overcome these barriers by supporting Native American law students before and throughout law school. By the end of the eight-week summer program, students will have completed midterms and finals, a legal memo, an appellate brief, and a moot court argument before a panel of three judges. In the process, they learn analytical skills, study skills, examination-taking skills, in-class skills, and time management. Students develop these skills through practice, feedback, and reinforcement. American Bar Association-approved law school faculty teach the courses and provide evaluations of each student’s performance.
More than 20 law schools recruit from PLSI with the understanding that PLSI students are more prepared for the rigors of law school. Most students come to PLSI with a law school admission letter in hand, but some have not been admitted. All can benefit from having access to the law schools that recruit from PLSI. Some law schools will condition admission on a student’s performance in PLSI because they trust the intensive program and rely on PLSI professors’ evaluations of students.
Upward Bound funded the first year of PLSI in 1967, then the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) took over PLSI’s funding. The financial relationship between PLSI and the federal government acknowledges the shift in federal policy from Indian children’s assimilation through boarding school to Tribal autonomy over education through the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975. Although PLSI has since maintained some funding from the BIA and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) despite some funding gaps in 1986 and 1987, the funding is on a year-to-year basis. PLSI is rarely fully funded and relies heavily on private donations to supplement any shortfalls in the budget each year.
Fifty-six years later, the legacy of PLSI is visually portrayed through class photos framed and hung along the AILC’s main corridor. Over 1,550 students have attended and graduated from the program since PLSI’s inception in 1967. Of those who finished PLSI and went to law school, approximately 90 percent successfully completed their first year and were eligible to return in their second year. This is an important measure of success because completing the first year and being eligible to return for the second year means that the student has the academic capability to make it through law school. If they drop out after this, it is usually for personal or financial reasons.
PLSI is the most successful Native American pre-law program in the nation. Many Native American lawyers and leaders have graduated from the program, including Deb Haaland (PLSI 2003, TA 2004), the first Native American U.S. secretary of the interior; Kevin Washburn (PLSI 1990), dean and professor of law at the University of Iowa College of Law; Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis (PLSI 1992), the first Native American woman to be appointed to the Washington Supreme Court; John Echohawk (PLSI 1967), executive director of the Native American Rights Fund and 2023 Thurgood Marshall Award recipient; the list goes on.
The personal impact of PLSI on the graduates themselves has been incredibly important for their success in the legal profession. Justice Montoya-Lewis emphasized that “PLSI changed my life—I had never been in a classroom of only Native students before. Not only did I learn the basics of how to survive law school, I made friends for life and gained confidence in my voice as a Native woman.” Former Congresswoman Debra Haaland recognized “law school was unlike any other educational institution I had experienced, and PLSI grounded me. Our close-knit family of Indian law students has turned into professionals across the country working every day to create opportunities for our people and lift up our Tribal Nations.”
Recent graduates share the same stories on personal impact. They also share the same reasons as Debra Haaland for choosing law as a career. They want to uplift their tribes and people by addressing the issues that affect Tribal sovereignty, resources, rights, and land. These are the same reasons that their predecessors gave for pursuing law in the 1960s. They seek justice for tribes.