Legal counseling in a practice area called Indian law is growing as U.S. tribes continue to step up economic development, say attorneys here.

K&L Gates LLP, a Pittsburgh-based global law firm, does legal work regionally and nationally for businesses owned by members of tribes, tribe-owned corporations, and external businesses seeking commerce with tribes, says attorney Theresa Keyes, a Spokane-based K&L Gates partner. Another law firm, Spokane-based Crowell Law Office Tribal Advocacy Group, works exclusively in tribal representation.

"It's becoming a newer focus because more and more companies are understanding how important economic development is on reservations, and they want to be a part of it," Keyes says.

She adds, "We're also expanding work with businesses that want to go on the reservation and do business in Indian country or on reservations, or with commerce nation to nation, which means one tribe wants to do business with another tribe."

Keyes, a commercial transaction specialist, is among about six Spokane K&L members involved in Indian law. They include her husband, Mike Keyes, a K&L partner and attorney experienced in legal issues relating to intellectual property, treaty rights, and online ventures, as well as Brian McClatchey, a newly hired associate attorney who formerly was the in-house counsel for the Coeur d'Alene Casino.

Scott Crowell, attorney and principal of the Crowell practice here, which also has a Sedona, Ariz., office, says he's seen "enormous growth" in Indian law since the late 1980s. His firm, located here at 10 N. Post, represents the Spokane Tribe as general counsel among its clients. Overall, the practice has five attorneys, two of them located in Spokane. Crowell is based in Sedona.

"When I first started practicing in the late '80s, the bar representing Indian tribes was quite small," Crowell says. "Most people were in it for the cause, not for the money, primarily because there wasn't much money in it. As tribes have matured in economic development, it seems like now every large law firm has its Indian law boutique. It's becoming quite large."

Indian law cases involve understanding the complex jurisdictional roles of tribal, state, and federal governments as business is conducted for a tribe or on tribal property, in light of tribes having the authority to govern themselves within the U.S. This authority often is referred to as tribal sovereignty, and the federal government recognizes tribes as "domestic dependent nations."

Keyes says, however, there are nuances regarding online and product-distribution issues with state and federal regulators.

"It's the interplay and intersection between tribal laws and treaties, state laws and regulations, and federal law, and all the jurisdictional roles of each, so clients need representation working through these issues because, in the corporate arena, oftentimes people are not familiar with concepts of sovereign immunity," she says.

In addition, she says, such legal work also requires knowledge of what's culturally and historically significant to tribes.

Although the rising demand in this practice area is driven to an extent by the Indian gaming industry's estimated $27 billion a year in revenues, many other types of businesses, such as retail, are in the legal mix. Adding to this picture is the potential for online gaming to be allowed at least within some states following a U.S. Department of Justice ruling last year, and the role Indian gaming might play if that option proceeds.

McClatchey says highly regulated tribal gaming involves cooperative intergovernmental agreements among state, federal, and tribal authorities. The potential for Internet gaming could well add another layer of complexity, McClatchey says.

"As tribe economies grow, inevitably there will be complexities, and these nuances and questions require expertise," he says. He and Keyes add that as state economies have struggled, some states have become more aggressive about possible business regulations, taxes, and fees.

McClatchey adds, "With Internet gambling internationally, there are so many unknowns, even if you're not dealing with tribal businesses."

He says U.S. legal experts think it's a matter of when, not if, online gambling in some form—likely poker—will be allowed, and that overseas gaming businesses seem interested in potential partnerships with Indian casinos if it does. If Internet betting is developed in the U.S., it's expected to vary by state. Any Internet gambling activity in the state of Washington is currently treated as a Class C felony, McClatchey adds.

Last year, the DOJ reversed a long-held opposition to many forms of Internet gambling, in a legal opinion that dealt specifically with lottery tickets but that legal experts said opened the door for states to allow Internet poker and other forms of online betting that aren't sports related, a New York Times article says.

Both McClatchey and Theresa Keyes add that Indian gaming leaders aren't necessarily seeking out potential Internet gambling partnerships.

"What we're saying and watching is we have offices across the world, and we're hearing there are a lot of European businesses that want to do business with tribal casinos to do online gambling," Keyes says. "They want to find good partners."

She adds, "We're not suggesting that Indian casinos are liking the concept."

McClatchey says that Indian gaming has surpassed the Las Vegas casino industry nationally in terms of revenue generated annually, so outside businesses have taken notice.

"They can't ignore Indian gaming," he says. "There are just under 250 tribes which operate gaming facilities and just over 400 Indian-land-based gaming casinos nationally."

Of online gaming, he adds, "There are probably 300 different opinions whether they want it or not. Some say it's going to happen no matter what and we better be involved. Others are saying absolutely not, it will destroy our brick-and-mortar businesses."

Indian law counseling also involves complex corporate agreements, Keyes says, such as in situations where a grocery store or restaurant wants to locate on tribe-owned property. Because tribes have sovereignty with legal immunity, outside companies may have questions about contractual arrangements, she says.

"There's the interplay of trying to understand whose law governs, which could make it difficult for a corporation outside the tribe to have an understanding of entering a contract with a tribe," she says. "A business may ask, 'If we get into a contractual agreement with a tribe, then if they don't do what it says, what remedy would we have?' The firm works through that."

Keyes declines to name specific tribal clients the Spokane K&L Gates office has worked with, but she adds that more and more business-focused work is emerging.

Crowell says a lot of tribes are putting money into infrastructure upgrades, nongaming economic development-related projects, and improving tribal governance processes, with those activities also generating more legal work.

"Many tribes are able to improve infrastructure, so there's ordinance and regulation drafting, assisting tribes in setting up governmental structure to establish health and safety departments, tribal courts, and social services to membership," he says. "There's other work in business contract negotiations, from small convenience stores to large hotel-casino resorts."

Both Keyes and McClatchey say that although these ventures on tribal land or that involve working with tribes are unfamiliar to many nontribal companies, that shouldn't stop such potential partnerships from moving forward.

K&L Gates also works with enrolled tribal members who go to their tribal government to obtain a license to do business. Legal questions may come up if those business owners, who don't have a state business license, conduct business online or off reservation land, Keyes says.

Other legal work might involve tribal business owners or tribal corporations seeking loans or lines of credit with banks, Keyes says. "Banks don't know what to do sometimes such as how do you secure an interest?" she says. "We help in those situations—what are assurances or instances where the transaction makes sense on both sides."