Patrice H. Kunesh

Indian Gaming

Economic Development in Indian Country

Federal Indian Law

Professional Background

Patrice H. Kunesh, of Standing Rock Sioux Hunkpapa Lakota descent, is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of South Dakota School of Law and the Director of the University’s Institute of American Indian Studies. A member of the faculty of the University of South Dakota School of Law since 2005, Professor Kunesh teaches in the areas of Children & the Law, federal Indian law, Legislation and Property Law. Recently awarded a Bush Leadership Fellowship, Professor Kunesh will pursue a Masters of Public Administration at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in the fall of 2009.

Upon graduating from the University of Colorado School of Law, Professor Kunesh began her legal career at the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) as a Skadden Public Interest Fellow. She later became in-house counsel to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe of Connecticut, working in the areas of child welfare, tribal law and governance development.

Professor Kunesh continues this focus in her academic scholarship. Her recent work includes law review articles dealing with the continuing relevance of traditional and cultural tribal jurisprudence and governance in modern society and cross-border jurisdictional issues: Tribal Self-Determination in the Time of Scarcity, 54 S.D.L.R. 398 (2009); Borders Beyond Borders-Protecting Essential Tribal Relations Off Reservation Under the Indian Child Welfare Act, 42 N.Eng. L.Rev. 15 (2007); Banishment as Cultural Justice in Contemporary Tribal Legal Systems, 37 N.M.L.Rev. 85 (2007) and related article, A Post Script on Quair v. Sisco, 37 N.M.L.Rev. 480 (2007); and a hard look at the fragility of Indian child welfare in South Dakota, A Call for an Assessment of the Welfare of Indian Children in South Dakota, 52 S.D.L. Rev. 247 (2007). Professor Kunesh also is a contributing author to the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF UNITED STATES - AMERICAN INDIAN POLICY, RELATIONS, AND LAW (Congressional Quarterly Press 2008), and several book reviews published in The Great Plains Quarterly; The Law and History Review, and the Journal of American Ethnic History.