On November 7, 2025, the University of New Mexico School of Law and its Law and Indigenous Peoples Program (LIPP) hosted the Gathering of Communities and Nations Convocation. The event featured former United States Secretary of the Interior and Distinguished Alumna Deb Haaland as the keynote speaker.
The UNM School of Law has a long history in supporting Native American law students. In 1967, it established one of the country’s first comprehensive Indian law programs. A year later, it launched the Pre-Law Summer Institute (PLSI), which is now in its 58th year and run by the American Indian Law Center. Many PLSI graduates have gone on to work as attorneys, judges, and professors.
In 1992, UNM introduced an Indian Law Certificate Program that evolved into LIPP in 2012. The program allows students to earn an Indian Law Certificate after completing specialized coursework focused on Federal Indian, Tribal, and International Indigenous Peoples law. LIPP also offers practical experience through the Southwest Indian Law Clinic (SILC), recognized as the first clinic of its kind. Students can further engage with Tribal legal issues by contributing to the Tribal Law Journal (TLJ), which is dedicated exclusively to Tribal law.
Deb Haaland attended PLSI in 2003 and earned her J.D. from UNM School of Law in 2006. She is a member of Laguna Pueblo and a longtime New Mexican who has organized for President Obama and served as chairwoman for New Mexico's Democratic Party. Haaland became one of the first Native women elected to Congress before being appointed as Secretary of the Interior, where she led initiatives such as the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative.
“Her presence at the Convocation served as a powerful reminder of the impact of both Indigenous leadership and of the support systems that help make such leadership possible,” organizers said.
The convocation highlighted UNM School of Law’s ongoing commitment to Native American legal education.
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