Seattle U Law offers programs specializing in Indigenous Law and Tribal Law for both current and aspiring lawyers.
JD Program
Indigenous Law Certificate
Beginning in Academic Year 2025-26 Seattle University School of Law will be offering a new Certificate in Indigenous Law.
The Certificate will require a mixture of courses, journal, and experiential learning resulting in completion of a minimum of 15 credits (an asterisk denotes availability to Flex JD students):
1. Required Courses (6 credits)
- Indigenous Peoples, Law, and the U.S. (3 credits or perhaps 4 credits in future)
- American Indian Tribal Law* (3 credits)
Complete Any Combination of at Least 9 Credits from the Approved Experiential Learning or Elective Courses Listed Below
2. Experiential Learning
- American Indian Law Journal (3-8 credits)*
- Tribal Law Clinic, International Human Rights Clinic, Regulatory Environmental Law Clinic, and the Civil Rights Clinic
- National Native American Law Student Association Moot Court Competition
- Center Research Fellowship or Independent Study/Substantial Paper (serving as a research assistant to the Center or an affiliated faculty member)*
- Indigenous Law focused Internship/Externship taken for credit and approved by Directors (e.g., Tribal Judicial Externship, Tribal In-House Counsel Externship, Civil Legal Aid Externship, and Tribal Criminal Justice Externship)*
3. Elective Courses
- INDL Courses
- Tribal Court Practice
- Social Impact Advocacy
- International Law of Human Rights
- Transitional Justice
- Natural Resources Law
- Climate Law & Policy
- Water Law
- International Environmental Law
- Lawyering for Social Change
- Environmental Law Fundamentals
- Environmental Justice
- Energy Law & Policy
- Family Law
- Immigration Law*
- Employment Law*
- Business Entities*
- Conflict of Laws
- Federal Courts
- Administrative Law*
- Intellectual Property
- International Intellectual Property
- Criminal Procedure*
- Trust & Estates*
- Negotiations*
- Complex Litigation
- Federal Litigation
- Sports Law
- Health Law
- Any Summer Flex JD Course not listed*
- JURS courses, including Courses from the non-clinic/externship, Law & Systemic Inequity Requirement course requirement such as Race & Law; Gender, Sexuality, & the Law; Law & Colonialism; Police & Prison Abolition; Abolition Vision and Praxis: Lawyering for a Freer World; Law & Social Science; Housing, Homelessness and Social Justice, etc.
The Certificate will begin accepting students in Fall 2025.
