Deep and diverse Indian and tribal law experience

Samantha Skenandore advises tribal and corporate clients on federal Indian law and tribal law. She handles tribal governance, corporate governance, governmental affairs, corporate transactions, real estate, labor issues and litigation. With extensive multijurisdictional experience in tribal law, Samantha represents corporate entities, both tribal and nontribal, in matters involving participation in the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program, corporate entity formation, financing, minority- or women-owned certification, labor relations, complex commercial real estate matters and government relations. She knows how to achieve favorable results related to:

• State and federal legislation
• SBA 8(a) and minority business certifications, appeals and reorganizations
• Cultural resources preservation
• Real estate transactions, including fee-to-trust conversions, development of tribal commercial districts, zoning disputes and appeals, acquisition of federal surplus property, and intergovernmental agreements and contracts

An enrolled member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, Samantha previously served as a tribal attorney for the Ho-Chunk Nation Department of Justice, where her responsibilities included chairing the administrative grievance review board. Earlier in her career, she clerked for the U.S. Department of Justice, Indian Resources Section, and was a judicial clerk for the Colorado Division of Administrative hearings.

Bar Admissions

• Arizona
• Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation
• Ho-Chunk Nation
• Lac du Flambeau Tribal Court
• Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin
• Oneida Nation of Wisconsin
• Tohono O'odham Nation
• Winnebago Tribal Court
• Wisconsin

Education

• Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management, Certificate, Quarles & Brady Leadership Program (2018)

• University of Denver Sturm College of Law (J.D., 2005)

• University of New Mexico American Indian Pre-law Summer Institute (2002)
  • Certificate of Completion

• University of Tulsa Comparative and International Law Center, Geneva Institute on Indigenous Peoples Law (2003)
  • Completed international law coursework including observation of United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Peoples

• University of Wisconsin - Madison (B.A., 2001)
  • Behavioral Sciences & Law, Certificate in American Indian Studies

• "Advancing Sovereignty in Tribal Hemp and Cannabis"
• "Diversity in the Utility Industry"
• "Governmental Finance — Municipal and Tribal"
• "Tribal Economic Development"
• CARES Act Update: Impact on Commercial Real Estate - Part One
• CARES Act Update: Impact on Commercial Real Estate - Part Two
• SCOTUS Holds Bankruptcy Code Waives Tribal Sovereign Immunity: Implications for Tribes as Creditors: Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Coughlin
• She Rises Collective - Indigenous Women in Business

Seminar

• 2023 Community Breakfast
• Diversity in the Utility Industry
• ELFA Legal Forum
• Governmental Finance — Municipal and Tribal
• Indigenous Perspectives: "Understanding Sovereignty”
• Indigenuity & Teejop: Launching Mindfulness of this Sacred Place
• Overhauling Tribal Corporate Governance: Structuring the Separation of Business from Government
• Tribal Economic Development