Live-blogging from the D.C. Indian Law Conference - part 1

First impression - what a terrific, beautiful place the National Museum of the American Indian is.

Second impression - I wish the seats in the meeting rooms weren't quite so hard.

OK, more to the legal point - the mornings presentations were on "Ethics of Inter-tribal Investment and Co-Ownership," followed by "Beyond Land-Into-Trust:  Creative Land Ownership Options for Tribes." 
The first presentation sounds like it would be a snoozer, but, in truth, it was not.  There are quite a number of very interesting ethical problems face by law firms who are in the middle of the big money deals being made by tribes, through and with tribal corporations and non-tribal corporations and mixed corporations.  It really can get quite complicated, and the attorney  have to be constantly asking themselves just exactly who they're representing, and what their duties are.

The second - on Creative Land Ownership....it's certainly in a critically important issue area, but there are a lot of proposals on how to deal with it, but no idea how/when/whether or not they'll ever be adopted.  It's certainly interesting food for thought, but hard to tell if it's going to ever be anything more than just thought.

twp