NAB ensures that its goals are met through a unique two-part system—the Tracking Program and the Briefing Program—driven by a dedicated volunteer network of attorneys, legal scholars, and law students.
FOR LAW STUDENTS
Law students play an essential role in the Native Amicus Briefing Project’s Tracking and Briefing Programs.
If you are interested in establishing a Tracking Team at your law school, please contact us.
TRACKING PROGRAM:
Law student groups, or Tracking Teams, identify, analyze, and summarize cases in the lower federal courts that are pertinent to Indian Country. Each Tracking Team is trained and overseen by an attorney supervisor.
Tracking Teams identify cases involving Indian law issues by searching dockets nationwide using Bloomberg. Once identified, under the supervision of a NAB attorney, the students prepare a summary of each case, which is added to NAB’s Tracking Wiki, and monitored for future litigation in the case.
The Tracking Wiki serves two essential functions. First, it provides centralized, easy-to-access information on pending Indian law cases in the lower federal courts. Second, it allows the Briefing Program to determine which of these cases may require amicus support from NAB.
Through the Tracking Program, students learn the building blocks of litigation while summarizing, analyzing, and recommending cases for potential amicus support.
If you are interested in establishing a Tracking Team at your law school, please contact us.
BRIEFING PROGRAM:
Law students who are interested and have demonstrated a commitment to NAB are afforded the opportunity to support the Briefing Program in the preparation of Amicus briefs. Assignments will range from drafting memoranda on research questions to drafting portions of a brief. Attorneys supervise student research and writing. Involvement in the Briefing Program provides law students with hands on experience in the federal litigation process.
PRO BONO ATTORNEYS AND CLINICS
Attorneys may serve pro bono either in their capacity as a member of a firm or organization or as an individual volunteer. Pro bono teams at renowned law firms generously support our network across the country, including WilmerHale and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
If you or your firm would like to join our network, please contact us.
BRIEFING PROGRAM
Through a process called Crowdbriefing that combines the efforts of pro bono attorneys, NAB’s managing board, NAB’s advisory board, and law students, NAB is able to provide Amicus support to cases quickly and efficiently. With recommendations from the Tracking Program and outside referrals, the managing board and advisory board identify and evaluate cases that they believe are in need of amicus support.
Once a case is selected, the board then divides the case into separate research questions and drafting assignments and identifies specialists from NAB’s pro bono attorney network who can best contribute to those assignments. We call this process Crowdbriefing. The board and its assembled team of lawyers and law students work together to research and draft an amicus brief for that case. Once a brief is completed, our network of editorial support engages in cite checking, proofreading, and Bluebooking before the managing board submits the brief to the court.
This Briefing Program provides an opportunity for pro bono attorneys to contribute in a meaningful way to Indian Country and the development of Indian law. Moreover, it offers law students’ essential litigation training and hands-on experience with the litigation process
If you or your firm would like to join our network, please contact us.