News

Announcements

• Berkey Williams LLP Client Tuscarora Nation Defeats Hazardous Waste Landfill Proposal
  The Tuscarora Nation’s decades-long fight to stop a proposed hazardous waste disposal facility in its ancestral territory ended with resounding victory, when the New York State Facility Siting Board (Board) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) denied Chemical Waste Management’s (CWM) application to construct a hazardous waste facility in Western New… Read more: Berkey Williams LLP Client Tuscarora Nation Defeats Hazardous Waste Landfill Proposal
• Berkey Williams Welcomes Indian Law Fellow Leila Bathke
  Berkey Williams LLP is pleased to announce that Leila Bathke is the Firm’s 2025-2026 Indian Law Fellow. Leila earned her B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles in 2021 where she majored in American Indian Studies. In 2025, she earned her J.D. from UCLA School of Law, graduating with specializations in Native Nations Law &… Read more: Berkey Williams Welcomes Indian Law Fellow Leila Bathke
• Berkey Williams LLP congratulates Sonoma County Indian Health Project, Inc. (“SCIHP”), a Tribal Health Program founded and operated by a consortium of sovereign Indian nations, on its successful transition to Self-Governance under the Indian Self-Determination Act.
  Berkey Williams LLP congratulates Sonoma County Indian Health Project, Inc. (“SCIHP”), a Tribal Health Program founded and operated by a consortium of sovereign Indian nations, on its successful transition to Self-Governance under the Indian Self-Determination Act. Title V represents a truer expression of the nation-to-nation relationship between the Unites States and Tribal Nations, and this… Read more: Berkey Williams LLP congratulates Sonoma County Indian Health Project, Inc. (“SCIHP”), a Tribal Health Program founded and operated by a consortium of sovereign Indian nations, on its successful transition to Self-Governance under the Indian Self-Determination Act.
• Senior Associate Erica Costa has been named as a 2025 recipient of the California Indian Law Association’s Outstanding Achievement in California Indian Law Award.
  BAKERSFIELD, CA – The California Indian Law Association, Inc. (CILA) is proud to announce that Assemblymember James C. Ramos is the 2025 recipient of CILA’s Outstanding Achievement in California Indian Law Award and Erica Costa is the recipient of the 2025 Outstanding Young Attorney Award. Click here to read full press release.
• The Round Valley Tribes Take a Major Step Towards Eel River Restoration
  The Round Valley Indian Tribes, a firm client, took a major step toward regaining control of the Eel River necessary to advance restoration work they have led for decades.  On February 13, 2025,  Tribal Council President Joesph Parker signed a memorandum of understanding at a ceremony at the California Natural Resources Headquarters that lays the… Read more: The Round Valley Tribes Take a Major Step Towards Eel River Restoration

Latest Publications

• KRRC Newsletter regarding Klamath Dam Removal
  Dam Removal on Schedule with Copco No. 2 Nearing Completion – The Klamath River renewal project shifted into high gear in June 2023, following final permit approvals by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that allowed construction crews to get to work on the deconstruction of Copco No. 2 dam. The deconstruction of Copco No.… Read more: KRRC Newsletter regarding Klamath Dam Removal
• Curtis Berkey, Erica Costa and Aviva Simon author “Revitalizing Stewardship and Use of Tribal Traditional Properties: Options for Improving California Policy and Law in State-Managed Lands and Waters.”
  Publication forthcoming in Volume 7 of the Indigenous Peoples’ Journal of Law, Culture & Resistance, 2023-2024. Click here to view the article.
• Indian Law Fellow Dillon Dobson co-authors article: IDSov and the silent data revolution: Indigenous Peoples and the decentralized building blocks of web3
  This article explores the technology underpinning the decentralized data revolution and encourages Indigenous Peoples (IPs) to secure their Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDSov) over the Metaverse and Web3. More specifically, this article will survey blockchain technologies, exploring some disturbing colonial uses and providing an international legal framework that IPs can use to advance their IDSov internationally… Read more: Indian Law Fellow Dillon Dobson co-authors article: IDSov and the silent data revolution: Indigenous Peoples and the decentralized building blocks of web3
• Associate Aviva Simon Pens Letter to Editor about Contemporary California Tribal Governments
  Click here to view, Letter: Our Patwin neighbors are still here today.
• Legal Challenges Regarding Native Land Ownership
  On July 9, 2013, Partner Curtis Berkey presented a webinar lecture as part of the continuing legal education series on the Native Land Law program sponsored by the Indian Land Tenure Foundation. Mr. Berkey discussed the aboriginal title doctrine, constitutional protection for Indian land rights and the availability of legal remedies for violations of Indian… Read more: Legal Challenges Regarding Native Land Ownership