We want to know what you think.

CILS is conducting a survey to measure the legal needs of our Native communities.  Your input will be used to help CILS evaluate any changes within the communities' legal needs and identify the location of groups sharing those needs.  Please take a moment to make your voice heard and take our survey.

We are back!

You may have recently noticed that our website was down. We apologize for any inconvenience this caused. Soon we hope to upgrade our website's capabilities in order to provide you with more materials and easier access.  Thank you for your interest!   

The 2012 Revised Edition of the  CILS California Judges Benchguide - Indian Child Welfare Act is now complete.  It will be debuted at the 2012 Statewide ICWA Conference at the Blue Lake Casino on June 19. CILS will have a limited number of printed versions and CD versions available at the conference. The bound guides are $45 and the CD’s are $5. CILS will accept check or cash only. This online version is available at no charge and can be download to your personal computer.  Thank you to all the community members and professionals that assisted in this revision, we truly appreciate your efforts.

CILS Welcomes our Summer Law Clerks

CILS strives to encourage and mentor tomorrow's Indian law attorneys by providing them with opportunities to serve our vital tribal communities.  This year is no exception.  CILS is happy to introduce our two summer law clerks and announce that both clerks were awarded prestigious Dan Bradley Summer Fellowships through the Legal Aid Association of California (LAAC).  The Fellowship program is named in honor of the former President and San Francisco Regional Director of the federal Legal Services Corporation and provides clerks with the opportunity to consider a career in legal services and other public interest law while providing legal services with a new source of dedicated and energetic staff. Congratulations and welcome Emily and Lucy.

Emily Zushi is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and a second-year student at UC Davis School of Law. Committed to serving local Native communities and hoping to practice Indian law in California, she is honored to be working for CILS. She is active in the local Cherokee community and is striving to learn the Cherokee language. She also speaks conversational Japanese at home with her husband, who was born and raised in Japan. Emily’s favorite hobby is singing. While she sings just about any genre, she is currently studying opera. Having grown up spending a lot of time with her grandmother, she also has a special love for the elderly and particularly enjoys volunteering with those in hospice.

Originally hailing from Houston, TX, Lucy is a rising third-year student at Boston College (BC) Law School.  At BC, she is an active member of the Native American Law Student Association and has spent two spring breaks in Arizona working for the Navajo Nation.  Last summer, she returned to the southwest to work for the Department of the Interior in Albuquerque, where she refined both her legal writing and her green chili recipes.  Lucy completed her undergraduate degree at Brown University and then spent two years working in the energy industry in France before repatriating and spending a year as a paralegal with Skadden, Arps in Boston.  In her free time, she enjoys boxing, arguing about European soccer, and hiking with her adopted Pueblo pup, River.