Mary J. Risling, a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe, is the Directing Attorney of the Eureka office. She has a B.A. in Political Science and a J.D., both from the University of California at Davis, where she graduated with honors. In her capacity as Directing Attorney, Ms. Risling engages in Federal, State and Tribal administrative and judicial practice, with emphasis in federal Indian law. She conducts training on specialized legal and Indian law issues for Tribes, the CILS client community, state and federal agencies, post-secondary institutions and continuing legal education providers, including Continuing Education of the Bar and the Center for Judicial Education and Research. Since 1994, she has served on the California Judicial Council's Family and Juvenile Law Standing Advisory Committee. The Committee, appointed by the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, identifies issues and concerns confronting the California judiciary regarding cases involving marriage, family, and children and suggests appropriate solutions and responses to the Judicial Council. Ms. Risling is the author of the recently completed ICWA California Judges Benchguide, a guide developed by CILS pursuant to a contract with the Center for the Future of Children, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

Dorothy Alther

Dorothy Alther, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, has been an attorney with CILS for over seven years and the Directing Attorney for the Bishop CILS office since 1996. Her current work focuses on environmental law, housing law, Tribal ordinance development, land acquisition for the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, legal counsel for the Toiyabe Indian Health Project, Tribal court development and a variety of other Tribal matters. She also has extensive legal experience in the area of public benefits, poverty law issues and elderly Medi-Cal estate planning. Ms. Alther has been a trainer on Public Law 280, the Indian Child Welfare Act, housing law, and civil and criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country. She graduated from the University of South Dakota and earned her J.D. from Northeastern University. Ms. Alther served as Managing Attorney at DNA - People's Legal Services in Crownpoint, New Mexico prior to coming to CILS and has acted as Tribal Attorney for the Suquamish Tribe in Washington.

Laura Y. Miranda

A member of the Pechanga Band, Ms. Miranda is Directing Attorney of the Escondido office. She received her B.S. in Philosophy from UCLA, her J.D. from Cornell Law School, and has been practicing at CILS since 1998, where she has been the primary attorney for the Pechanga Cultural Resources Committee, assisting the Tribe in the preservation, protection, and repatriation of Luiseño cultural resources and human remains under the threat of destruction and desecration. Ms. Miranda has represented the Kumeyaay Cultural Repatriation Committee and the Luiseño Intertribal NAGPRA Coalition in their efforts to revise the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act. She has also represented Indian Tribes and Indian individuals in ICWA cases, Indian education matters and Tribal government infrastructure matters. Ms. Miranda sits as the CILS representative on the L.A. County American Indian Children's Council, and is an active member of both the ABA Native American Law Committee and the Friends of CILS Committee.

Joanne Willis Newton

A member of the Cree Nation of Chisasibi, Ms. Willis Newton is a staff attorney in the Escondido office, and joined CILS in 1998 after completing her Master of Laws in Comparative Law at the University of San Diego. Ms. Willis Newton lived in Canada for thirteen years, where she attended the University of Ottawa and received a B.Sc. in Biology, a B.A. in Psychology, and a LL.B. After graduating from law school, she articled with the Canadian Department of Justice for one year, including six months with the Human Rights Law Section and the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Legal Services. Subsequently, as a member of the Ontario and Quebec Bars, she worked on Native Law issues for several years as a consultant to a number of Aboriginal organizations and the federal government. Since joining CILS, Ms. Willis Newton has served the Indian community in the areas of cultural resource protection, education rights, gaming, environmental law, and the Indian Child Welfare Act.

Sonia Montero

A legal fellow in the Oakland office, Ms. Montero (Hopi) is a graduate of the University of California at Davis, School of Law. As a law student, Ms. Montero clerked for both the Eureka and the Oakland CILS offices, and returned to work at CILS in March 1997. She has worked with Directing Attorney Mary Jane Risling on preparing the ICWA California Judge's Bench Guide, assisted several Tribes in the drafting and amending of family Tribal codes and assisted in planning and organizing Tribal domestic violence awareness trainings. Currently, Ms. Montero is the Project Manager for the program-wide Advocacy, Collaboration and Referral Network (ACoRN) Project. ACoRN seeks to coordinate and constantly update referral listings & self-help packets, as well as work to collaborate with other agencies to improve delivery of free legal services. Prior to her work with CILS, Ms. Montero participated in the Hopi Tribal Appellate Court Project where she conducted research for the court, compiled court decisions and drafted the proposal for the court's Hopi case reporter. She also assisted with Federal Tort Claims Act and Title VII cases when she worked, before and during her legal studies, in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Georgette Hogan

A member of the Crow Nation, Ms. Hogan is a staff attorney and National Association of Public Interest Law (NAPIL) Equal Justice Fellow in the Bishop office. She received her undergraduate degree in Anthropology from Bryn Mawr College and earned her J.D. from Stanford Law School. Before law school, Ms. Hogan interned with CILS and worked at the Micro-Business and Tourism Development Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Indian-owned small businesses on the Crow reservation. During law school, she clerked at both the Bishop and Oakland CILS offices and the National Senior Citizens Law Center. During her two-year NAPIL fellowship, Ms. Hogan is focusing on assisting rural American Indians in receiving and maintaining Social Security benefits through outreach and individual assistance.

Devon Reed

A staff attorney in the Escondido office, Ms. Reed earned her Bachelor's degree in History at San Diego State University and received her law degree from California Western School of Law. Ms. Reed is a Tribal Council member for the Santa Ysabel Band of Diegueño Indians and has been a coordinator of the American Indian Recruitment Program, a mentoring program which helps promote Indian high school students to succeed in college, for the last six years. In her work at CILS, Ms. Reed has focused on domestic violence in Indian country, assisting Tribes in developing working relationships with law enforcement and service providers, and in developing Tribal codes and responses to address domestic violence.

Lisa C. Oshiro

An attorney with CILS since 1996, Ms. Oshiro (kanaka maoli, Native Hawaiian) is the senior staff attorney leading CILS' Washington, D.C., office project. Motivated by her desire and commitment to promote and protect the rights and sovereignty of Native Hawaiians and other indigenous peoples, Ms. Oshiro earned her law degree and Indian Law Certificate in 1995 from the University of New Mexico School of Law. Until recently, Ms. Oshiro was the Directing Attorney of the Escondido office. While there, she saw the office grow from a staff of six, including four attorneys, to a staff of fourteen, including ten attorneys. One of Ms. Oshiro's first tasks as the Directing Attorney was to relocate the Escondido office to its permanent home at Sixth Avenue and Escondido Boulevard. Ms. Oshiro has represented Indian Tribes and individuals in state and federal courts, at the trial and appellate levels. Ms. Oshiro is leading the D.C. office project from CILS' Oakland office where she is broadening her knowledge and experiences, working with more California Indian communities and developing the resources necessary to make CILS' D.C. office an invaluable resource for the California Indian community.