Members of our national Real Estate Group have formed a Tribal Law Team which includes attorneys from other practice groups and offers a multi-disciplinary approach to providing effective legal advice to the Firm's tribal clients. Our team includes attorneys with significant real estate, Indian law, environmental, corporate, tax, utility, finance, intellectual property and litigation backgrounds.

Our experience in helping tribal clients is varied and includes:

• Addressing environmental and natural resource issues, including natural resources management and preservation, water rights claims, and the regulatory requirements necessary to protect tribal air, water and lands.
  
  
• Gaming compact negotiations, operations, financing, vendor contracts, licensing and formation and representation of tribal gaming commissions.
  
  
• Tribal housing projects, including representation of Indian housing authorities and tribally-designated housing entities in all aspects of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act ("NAHASDA"), as well as other federal Indian housing programs such as Section 184.
  
  
• Analyzing and litigating the current NAHASDA allocation formula and suggesting ways to increase the allocation available to tribal housing clients.
  
  
• Drafting, reviewing and negotiating architect, engineering and construction contracts for tribal governmental buildings, health clinics, schools, gaming operations, housing projects and other structures and infrastructure.
  
  
• Advice regarding general tribal government and governance matters, with an emphasis on strengthening tribal self-government, sovereignty and self-determination

Recent representative transactions:

• Advising an Arizona tribe in the development of the nation's first comprehensive Tribal Implementation Plan under the Clean Air Act.
  
  
• Handling federal and state gaming law matters, with emphasis on Indian gaming and Arizona and National Indian Gaming Commission regulatory issues.
  
  
• Representing tribal gaming commissions/offices and casino management entities in regulatory and operations matters.
  
  
• Providing guidance on meeting environmental regulations and permitting requirements applicable to renewable energy development both on and off-reservation, including solar power, ethanol production, and others.
  
  
• Drafting tribal ordinances and developing tribal codes in the areas of gaming, labor and employment and pesticide use.

For more information on how our Tribal Law Team can assist with your real estate needs, please contact Diane M. Haller at (602) 229-5625 or .