Faculty and Staff

Professor Silverman in an enrolled member of the Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut, a federally recognized, sovereign Indian Nation of the Mohegan people. In addition to being a tenured member of the law faculty, for the past 15 years, Professor Silverman has been an active tribal judge sitting as an appellate justice on tribal courts throughout the Pacific Northwest with the Northwest Intertribal Court System. Two judicial opinions authored by Judge Silverman have been included in the leading casebook on American Indian Tribal Law. One opinion concerned land use and zoning law, which he wrote while sitting as a justice on the Court of Appeals of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington. The second opinion, which he penned while sitting as a justice on the Court of Appeals of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, dealt with the Tribal constitutional right of privacy in the context of drug testing Tribal shellfish divers. Read more >

Brooke joins Seattle University School of Law after spending nine years as a Staff Attorney with the Northwest Justice Project where she provided direct representation and advocacy on behalf of tribal members throughout Washington State. Brooke is Nez Perce and grew up within the community of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. Brooke most recently served as a guest-lecturer for the Law School's Incarcerated Parents Advocacy Clinic on the topic of the Indian Child Welfare Act. Brooke has particular expertise in Indian estate planning and probate, enforcing application of the Indian Child Welfare Act, protecting the rights to secure housing, tribal and non-tribal public benefits, and the education rights of Native American students. Brooke is a University of Washington School of Law graduate; has served on the Boards for the National Native American Law Students Association, the Washington State Bar Association Indian Law Section, and the Northwest Indian Bar Association.