People Spotlight: Walter R. Echo-Hawk Jr.
BY Staff Reports
Sunday, May 17, 2009
5/17/09 at 4:01 AM
Of counsel, Crowe & Dunlevy PC
Crowe & Dunlevy PC has named attorney Walter R. Echo-Hawk as of counsel at the firm.
Echo-Hawk will serve in the Indian Law and Gaming Practice Group. A lawyer, tribal judge, scholar and activist, his legal experience includes cases involving Native American religious freedom, prisoner rights, water rights, treaty rights and reburial/repatriation rights. He brings 35 years of litigation and legislative experience in federal Indian law to the organization.
"I strive to enhance the firm's ability to represent Indian tribes on a state and national basis," Echo-Hawk said.
Echo-Hawk has worked as a lawyer for the Native American Rights Fund for more than 35 years. He was instrumental in securing passage of three federal laws that respect Indian and religious freedoms and also the repatriation of Native American remains to Indian tribes.
He also served as general counsel to the Pawnee Nation, and is currently an associate justice on the Supreme Court of the Pawnee Nation.
Echo-Hawk is admitted to practice law before the United States Supreme Court, Colorado Supreme Court, U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, District of Columbia Circuit, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits, the Court of Claims and a host of federal District Courts.
He is chairman of the board of trustees and creator of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, an organization based in Portland, Ore., that was recently established with an initial $10 million grant from the Ford Foundation for endowment and operating funds.
Echo-Hawk is also a member of the board of trustees at Pawnee Nation College.
He is a member of the Pawnee Nation, belonging to the Kitkahaki Band, and was born on the Pawnee Reservation in Oklahoma.
Echo-Hawk graduated from Ramey High School, on the Ramey Air Force Base in Puerto Rico.
He earned his bachelor's degree in political science from Oklahoma State University in 1970, and his juris doctorate from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 1973.
Walter and his wife, Pauline, have two sons, Walter Echo-Hawk III and Anthony B. Echo-Hawk; a daughter, Amy Echo-Hawk; and granddaughters Anaya Lamarr and Alexie Echo-Hawk.
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