Representative Experience

  • Represented Chehalis tribe and joint venture partner (Great Wolf Resorts) in tax litigation, resulting in 9th Circuit ruling that permanent improvements on Indian land can never be subject to property tax.
  • Representing Everi Payments, a cash access service provider to Indian casinos, in a tax refund lawsuit against the Washington Department of Revenue.
  • Representing Four Directions, a nonprofit Native American voting rights advocacy group, in connection with federal and state elections in South Dakota to ensure equal voting opportunities for Native Americans.

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  • Tribal Gaming
    • Negotiating Class III Gaming Compacts, on behalf of Indian tribes, with the State of California.
    • Advising tribes on compact interpretation and implementation issues, disputes, and litigation with state and federal gaming authorities.
    • Advising tribes on compliance with federal rules and regulations, including minimum internal control standards.
    • Counseling tribal gaming regulatory agencies on investigations and on compliance with tribal gaming ordinances.
    • Defending tribe against the U.S. government’s allegations that certain gaming operations violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and the Johnson Act.
  • Tribal Governance
    • Drafting and advising with regard to tribal constitutions, as well as ordinances related to tribal and corporate governance.
    • Assisting tribe in establishing tribal court and dispute resolution systems.
    • Drafting ordinances and resolutions related to elections, enrollment and allocation of gaming revenues.
    • Advising tribes on Public Law 280 issues related to criminal jurisdiction on tribal land.
    • Advising tribes on enrollment and disenrollment issues
  • Tax
    • Counseling companies doing business with tribes regarding tribal, state and local taxes on Indian lands.
    • Representing power plant owner/operator on Indian land in tax refund claims against county in California.
    • Advised tribe regarding tribal taxation authority and ordinance.
  • Litigation and Dispute Resolution
    • Defending Bureau of Indian Affairs’ decision to take land in trust for tribal client against State of California’s appeal to the Interior Board of Indian Appeals.
    • Defending tribe’s leaders in a lawsuit alleging claims of misappropriation, defamation and slander.
    • Defending tribes against casino patrons’ tort claim, and establishing tort claims procedure for resolution of patron claims.
    • Advising tribe regarding construction claims and defending tribe against same.
  • Employment and Labor
    • Drafting tribal business policies and procedures, including human resources rules, regulations and employee handbooks.
    • Advising tribes and casino management on employee relations issues, disputes and litigation.
    • Defending a tribe and its casino against wrongful termination and related claims by former employees.
  • Communications
    • Assisting tribes in planning and securing federal authorizations to build and expand native-owned communications facilities to meet the needs of Indian Country, including a radio station.
    • Assisting companies seeking federal grants and loans to construct broadband facilities on Indian lands.
    • Working with companies to secure state and federal approvals to provide telecommunications services on Indian lands.
  • Environmental and Cultural Resources
    • Intervening for tribe in the Lake Oroville (California) relicensing proceeding before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, with comments arguing that greater protection is needed for tribe’s cultural resources impacted by project.
    • Negotiating ocean and river fisheries consent decrees with respect to several Pacific Northwest tribes.
    • Negotiating resolution of Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Endangered Species Act issues respecting tribes’ cultural, religious and subsistence uses.
    • Drafting tribal ordinances related to water quality, solid waste disposal and off-reservation environmental impacts.
  • Project Development and Commercial Finance
    • Representing lenders in financing casino projects.
    • Representing tribes in process for taking land into federal trust.
    • Assisting tribes in contract negotiations with developers, commercial banks and equipment vendors.
    • Advising tribes on construction of casino expansion and casino-hotel projects, including negotiation and drafting of construction contracts.
    • Representing tribe in securities offering for financing casino expansion project.
    • Representing tribes in commercial loan transactions.
    • Representing tribe on purchase of brewery operation.
  • Representing Companies Doing Business with Tribes
    • Representing banks in commercial financings for Indian tribes.
    • Representing private businesses in the leasing and development of mineral rights on tribal land.
    • Advising energy and waste management companies in connection with the siting of power plants and waste facilities on tribal land.

Practice Area Highlights

  • Native American team leader Blaine Green is a Chambers USA “Recognised Practitioner” for Native American Law and served on the Native American Law360 advisory board (2015–2016).
  • Pillsbury’s Native American Law practice has been repeatedly ranked by Chambers USA – Native American Law – Nationwide since that category’s inception.
  • Practice leader Blaine Green authored “One Size Does Not Fit All: Different Approaches to Conservation and Development of Tribal Resources” in Inside the Minds: Best Practices for Protecting Natural Resources on Tribal Lands (Thomson Reuters/Aspatore 2016).