Partner
Ms. Leigh has worked exclusively in the field of Indian law since graduating from the U.C. Berkeley School of Law in 2005. Ms. Leigh serves tribal clients in many areas of the law, including environmental and cultural resources protection, health, employment, Indian child welfare, Tribal TANF, general litigation, tribal code development, and tribal governance. Ms. Leigh has appeared in federal, state, and tribal courts on a number of issues affecting tribal rights and sovereignty. She regularly appears in tribal courts on Indian child welfare and employment matters.
As a Partner, Ms. Leigh participates directly in serving tribal clients, specializing in the protection of tribal environmental and cultural resources, litigation, Indian child dependency, tribal TANF, employment and Indian health. Ms. Leigh successfully negotiated the first Memorandum of Understanding regarding Indian child welfare between an Indian tribe and the county’s Child Welfare Services Department in Northern California. Along with Curtis Berkey and Scott Williams, Ms. Leigh teaches the Advanced Indian Law seminar at U.C. Berkeley School of Law. She was awarded the Honorable Thelton E. Henderson Social Justice Prize by the U.C. Berkeley School of Law in 2012 for her dedication and commitment to the field of Indian law.
Prior to law school, Ms. Leigh served for two years as the Director of Retention of American Indians Now, a student-initiated academic and cultural support program for Native American students at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in American Indian Studies. She then served as a Research Assistant at the U.C.L.A. School of Law, working on Indian land rights issues. Ms. Leigh next worked at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington D.C. prior to attending U.C. Berkeley School of Law. Ms. Leigh was the first Public Interest Indian Law Fellow at Berkey Williams LLP, and became a Partner in 2014.