1. Tribal Unified Legal Department
Little River Band of Ottawa Indians

2. Nice to Meet You Shayne Machen Rebecca Liebing Caitlin Rollins
Has been with LRBOI since September of 2015
Rebecca Liebing
Has been with LRBOI since January of 2016
Caitlin Rollins
Has been with LRBOI since July of 2016

3. Who are we to Little River?
We’re in-house staff attorneys, contract employees.
Our client is the Tribe.
We handle or oversee 100% of the legal services for the government, it’s commissions, boards, committees, and enterprises.
Exceptions:
Prosecutor
Members Assistance
Economic Development
Election Board

4. Unified Legal Department’s Mission
The primary goal of the Legal Department created by this Ordinance is to provide high quality legal services to the Tribe. A secondary goal is to assist in resolving disputes over legal issues within and between individual branches of Tribal government and individual commissions, departments, officers, and employees of the Tribe in an efficient manner and with a minimum of conflict wherever possible.

5. Little River’s Three Branch Government Modeled on the US Federal system with direct election from the membership
Executive
4 year term
General Election
Legislative
4 nine county; 4 outlying; 1 at large=9 Councilors
“To employ legal counsel”-Tribal Constitution
Judicial
6 year term
Chief Judge; Associate Judge; 3 Appellate Judges

6. It wasn’t always this way
Previously, the Executive and Legislative branches each had their own attorney. Their attorneys represented individual branches rather than the Tribe as a whole.
The branches weren’t the only ones with their own attorneys:
The Gaming Commission
The Resort
The Election Board
The Department of Natural Resources
Not to mention all of the outside counsel we contracted for specific projects

7. It wasn’t always this way
Previously, the Tribe had a Legal Reform Act that governed two legal departments. One overseen by the Ogema and the other by Tribal Council.
The client for these attorneys was the Ogema and Tribal Council, respectively.
Each body had exclusive hiring authority over their own attorneys.
Except that Tribal Council’s approval is required for all contracts.
There was no limitation on when or how one branch could sue another.

8. Issues with the old structure
In 15 years, the Tribe went through 16 in-house attorneys.
Unintended consequence of giving individual attorneys to certain branches, departments, or enterprises:
Other departments were legally neglected because they weren’t assigned an attorney.
There were no procedures or best practices for in- house attorneys.
Teamwork was sparse.

9. Creation of a Unified Legal Department
In February of 2015, the Tribal Council made a change and created the Unified Legal Department Ordinance. The Ordinance immediately combined the legislative and executive branch attorneys into one department and gave ULD oversight of all outside counsel.

10. How has business changed?
Who do we report to?
The Tribal Council Speaker and the Ogema.
The Speaker and the Ogema have exclusive hiring authority.
We can only be assigned work by the Speaker, Ogema, or Tribal Council Recorder.
We’ve cut down significantly on the use of outside legal counsel.
All outside legal counsel is assigned by ULD.
We handle all legal bills.
Increased accountability with outside counsel.

11. How has business changed?
We’re handling more of the litigation.
Improved communication with all attorneys and Judges who are employed by the Tribe.
More consistency in contract reviews and handling legal issues.
We have a bird’s eye view of how various issues are interrelated and are able to issue spot more effectively.
We work in a team-oriented environment.

12. How has business changed?
2015 was the first year in the Tribe’s history that there was no inter-branch litigations.
2016 is on track to be the same way.
Cost savings.
Why?
The ordinance provides that prior to one branch instituting a lawsuit against the other, they need two legal opinions from ULD and an advisory opinion from the Court.

13. How does the department function
How is work assigned?
Speaker, Recorder, or Ogema send an with an assignment
We divide first by topics, then by time
How is work reviewed?
There is no “legal boss”
We decide what work gets reviewed by another attorney
We maintain assigned topics and areas
Shayne – Natural Resources
Rebecca – Health Care related legal matters
Caitlin – Taxation

14. #TheStruggleIsReal Issues we’ve run into
Misunderstanding of attorney-client privilege
Defining attorney-client privilege, who does it apply to?
The Opposite: some individuals would like to know what other individuals are doing and are upset when we don’t provide them with the information.
People who don’t like change
Conflicts with non-ULD counsel
Misunderstanding of conflicts of interest
Politics
My boss needs my permission to sue someone inside the Tribe
Unable to provide representation with certain issues because they are in the best interest of the Tribe.

15. What about conflicts of interest?
Because the Tribe is our client, we’re able to provide services to almost every area of the Tribe.
Exception: The Election Board
We’ve also segregated some duties so that departments and entities feel like they have some privacy.
Shayne works with the Casino on non-contract matters
Rebecca works with the Gaming Commission
Caitlin works with the Casino on all contract matters

16. Goals going forward Tribal Member Defender
Training employees and elected officials
Best Practices
Attorney-Client Privilege
Record keeping

17. Questions?
Contact Information