September 1, 2005
The Venture Catalyst
Debbie Rosenbaum

Appleseed is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that assists and supports a growing network of seventeen Centers across the country, that draw upon a unique blend of legal advocacy, community activism, and policy expertise, to develop practical and lasting solutions to chronic injustices, including public education, health care, child welfare, justice and immigration.

Appleseed's Tribal Partnership Program is fundamentally changing the face of resources available in the Native-American communities bringing much needed pro bono legal resources to Indian Country.  Despite the wealth of a few tribes, Native-Americans still rank at the bottom of every indicator of social and economic well-being in America.  The extreme poverty, high alcoholism rates, geographic isolation, and lack of hope for change will result in suicide rates 72% higher than those for all other races.  Further, there are few legal resources addressing the grave legal needs of Indian Country.

The Tribal Partnership Program matches up individual Indian Tribes and Native-American non-profits with large law firms to provide legal assistance in the areas in which firms already have expertise: transactional work, contracts, economic development, federal constitutional law, code development, intellectual property, anti-trust, employment, securities, business law, and legislative efforts.  Numerous top-tier law firms participate in the Tribal Partnership Program.

A Few Highlighted Relationships:

Patton Boggs helped secure nearly $1 million in federal appropriations and grants for the creation of a teen center to help fight some of the highest suicide rates in the nation on the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation in South Dakota.

Shearman & Sterling is providing comprehensive general counsel support to the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians in Michigan, including:

• preparing a draft Uniform Commercial Code
• advising on several real estate and environmental matters
• preparing draft of probate code
• assisting on intellectual property matters, including protection of the tribal logo and video history of the tribe

Walker Associates is representing the Descendants of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre Survivors in an attempt to establish a memorial/education center and help repatriate the numerous Wounded Knee artifacts currently dispersed throughout the country.

The program has been widely successful among America's top law firms, providing attorneys a unique pro bono legal opportunity.