TRIBAL AFFILIATION: Mr. Patterson is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

PRACTICE AREAS: Federal Indian law; constitutional law; Native American natural resource development; international indigenous rights

ADMISSIONS: Colorado State Bar; Fort Berthold District Court; Northern Plains Inter-Tribal Court of Appeals.

EDUCATION: University of Tulsa (LL.M, 2004, American Indian and Indigenous Law); University of Wisconsin Law School (J.D., 2002); Black Hills State University (B.S., 1999, Social Science and American Indian Studies). As an LL.M candidate, Mr. Patterson studied at the Geneva Comparative Law Institute in Geneva, Switzerland. The program, which was hosted by current and former United Nations representatives, followed the work of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations and provided an in-depth study of the international legal/political system as it relates to indigenous peoples. While at the University of Wisconsin, Mr. Patterson served as Vice-President of the Indian Law Student Association, co-organizing the University’s annual Coming Together of the People Conference, a Native American law conference focusing on contemporary legal issues confronting Tribal Nations. He also participated in a student exchange program with the University of Witswatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa where he studied tribal customary and constitutional law in the South African legal system.

ASSOCIATIONS: American Bar Association; Colorado State Bar Association; Federal Bar Association, Indian Law Section; Native American Bar Association

HONORS: 2000-2001 Don A. Olson Outstanding Native American Law Student award for academic and scholastic achievement.

PRIOR LEGAL EXPERIENCE: Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Patterson clerked for both the Native American Rights Fund and the Native American Program of Oregon Legal Services, providing legal services to tribes on issues relating to tribal cultural preservation and natural resource development. During the course of Mr. Patterson’s practice he has served as special counsel to tribal governments on a broad range of legal issues including: development and revision of tribal constitutions, drafting tribal codes and ordinances, federal recognition, fee-to-trust applications, tax planning, housing issues, management of water resources, and water rights settlement negotiations. He has also served as private counsel to tribal nonprofit organizations, corporations, and individual clients regarding business planning, corporate governance, tribal election disputes, controversy matters, probate of estates, employment litigation, and allottee compensation issues.