What is Four Rivers Indian Legal Services?
Four Rivers Indian Legal Services is a nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services to Native Americans in residential areas of Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Charlotte, Collier, Hendry, Glades and Lee counties. It also provides support to the reservation on the Treasure Coast where the members of the Eastern Band of Seminoles reside. In 2004 the Office of the Florida Attorney General created the Civil Division for the Reserves as part of their Indian Legal Services , to provide representation to the sovereign nations of the Florida Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes. In 2012 Four Rivers Indian Legal Services, Inc., became an independent nonprofit law firm dedicated to serving the legal needs of members of the sovereign nations in southern Florida through a multitude of issues, including civil legal matters. The mission of Four Rivers Indian Legal Services, Inc., is to build indigenous sovereignty and economic self-sufficiency through access to justice for Native communities in partnership with other dedicated organizations and community members.
Four Rivers Indian Legal Services Practice Areas
The mission of Four Rivers Indian Legal Services, Inc. is to provide a wide range of advocacy to Native Americans in Mississippi. In addition to general counsel and legal advice, the firm offers representation for a number of family law issues, including divorce, adoption, child custody, guardianship and name changes. Tribal members may also seek assistance with legal documentation, such as real estate closings, property deeds, drafting new wills, updating wills or codifying old ones, leasing of property and filing probate claims.
Tribal presidents and councils can get help from Four Rivers as well. While most of its focus is on individual litigation and advocacy, the firm also strives to assist tribes with establishing tribal sovereignty, enacting their constitutions and enacting and enforcing tribal law. Guidance is available through the resolution process to help tribes achieve their desired goals and objectives.
Four Rivers also works with local governments to help ensure they remain in compliance with the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 (ICRA). This includes advising clients on powers granted to tribal councils, courts and individual members of the tribes.
Citizens in need of guardianships also can rely on Four Rivers. In addition to being a guardian ad litem for children, the firm also can serve as conservator for incapacitated adults.
One example of the firm’s work is handling the case of Joe James v. Carroll County, in which a Choctaw Indian whose car was impounded in 2015 secured a $1.75 million verdict against the county for due process violations. The firm’s founding attorney represented James pro bono throughout the entire case.
Why Legal Services for Native People Matter
The topic of legal support, and why is it so important, in communities can be a touchy subject for many. The need for legal support in the Indigenous communities affects both the systems that impact them and the members that come from those communities. Community regulations and requirements are often complicated, especially for those who may have barriers to accessing this needed information. Additionally, navigating the complexities of how the law interacts with any given community requires an understanding of what additional unique barriers there may be. For example, for many Indigenous communities in British Columbia, issues around governance. Therefore, the team may have to facilitate legal aid or work with the member to best represent their interests. This can be an incredibly difficult process, and more so without legal support. Signature programs like Four Rivers Indian Legal Services offer unique legal support for those in need. The aid does not discriminate based on ethnicity, apparent socioeconomic status, or community involvement. Instead, the legal services ensure that anyone who needs assistance is given appropriate legal support and access to the resources they need to address their legal issue.
Where to Find support from Four Rivers Indian Legal Services
Eligibility for services from the Four Rivers Indian Legal Service is limited to individual Indians and tribes in the four river area, based on residency. Legal Services also sometimes provides similar services through contracts and grants to individuals and tribes outside of their service area, but not as a primary form of legal assistance. Legal Services provides a full range of legal services for civil cases. These services include, but are not necessarily limited to, client advocacy, negotiation and drafting of legal documents, settlement conferences, involvement in administrative processes , and representation for individual clients while working collaboratively with tribal clients. Legal Services can also help coordinate pro bono lawyers by using legal interns and law students. Legal Services’ offices are open Monday through Friday. In-person legal consultations are available Mondays and Wednesdays, and some Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays; clients are encouraged to call and verify Legal Services’ schedule. Legal Services also conducts law clinics and hearings outside of its offices, and can schedule appointments for clients remotely. For clients who cannot come to Legal Services’ offices, home visits can be arranged. Individuals and tribes in need of services can access the services and get an appointment by calling or visiting the nearest Four Rivers Indian Legal Services office; phone consultations may also be available.
Success and Impact Stories
Four Rivers Indian Legal Services has made an enormous impact on the lives of individuals and families living in the Fort Berthold, Spirit Lake, Standing Rock and Turtle Mountain Indian Reservations. In working with a variety of cases, the organization has demonstrated its effectiveness and commitment to its mission to ensure the protection of the basic civil legal rights and interests of the Native Americans in North Dakota and surrounding areas. We have been able to take affirmative action in prosecuting and defending cases to achieve successful resolutions on behalf of clients. In doing so, we have also been able to increase awareness of issues concerning the Native American population, by bringing attention to such issues in court, and in many cases, at the request of our clients, in the media, medical and governmental arenas. Some examples of our success stories are: a life threatening custody dispute involving Native American mothers; divorces from abusive spouses and families involved in domestic violence issues; and several wills and other documentary issues involving the elderly Native American citizens living in the associated reservations.
Challenges and Goals
The vision of the Four Rivers Indian Legal Services is to expand to tribes not only within the state of Utah, but to areas across the western region of the United States. Currently, they have full-time staff attorneys who serve the Ute Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation and the Hopi Tribe, and two full-time paralegals that are shared between both of these two Tribes. They have two part-time staff attorneys that serve the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians and the Kaibab Band of Paiutes, and contract legal representation for the Shivwits Paiutes , San Juan Paiutes and White Mesa Utes. They look forward to adding more full-time staff attorneys, paralegals, Self-Determination Counselors and Truth Tellers to not only serve the Tribes, but to train future leaders within their communities. The existing challenges for the Four Rivers Indian Legal Services include the limited funding it receives, which is inadequate for operating and expanding its reach to all tribes that lack legal resources. In addition, the cultural divide between tribes and neighboring communities can be difficult to navigate given the historical context in which they evolved.