Kanji & Katzen, PLLC is a law firm that is dedicated entirely to advocacy on behalf of Indian tribes and peoples. The firm, which has offices in Seattle and Ann Arbor, represents Indian nations and tribes across the country on a wide variety of issues, including sovereignty and governance, treaty fishing and hunting rights, Indian gaming, environmental protection, reservation boundaries, taxation and jurisdictional matters.

The firm's efforts focus primarily on litigation, and our attorneys are as comfortable trying factually intensive cases at the trial court level as they are in briefing complicated issues of law to appellate tribunals. One of the firm's principals served as a United States Supreme Court law clerk, and we accordingly possesses special insight into Supreme Court litigation.

The firm's caseload spans a great diversity of clients and matters. By way of example, the firm works very closely with the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and the Native American Rights Fund in their efforts to improve tribal success before the Supreme Court through the Tribal Supreme Court Project. The firm co-authored the widely acclaimed amicus briefs filed by NCAI in United States v. Lara (October Term 2003) and Inyo County v. Paiute-Shoshone Indians (October Term 2002). The firm is also active in the federal Courts of Appeals, and has enjoyed considerable success there. For instance, the firm's principals briefed and argued for the Tribes in the landmark Ninth Circuit shellfish case, which resulted in a strong endorsement of tribal treaty rights.

The firm has enjoyed similar success at the trial level. For instance, the firm was lead counsel for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in its successful trial defense of its Turtle Creek Casino under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, and then vindicated that decision on appeal in the Sixth Circuit. See Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians v. United States Attorney for Western District of Michigan, 198 F. Supp. 2d 920 (W.D. Mich. 2002), aff'd, 369 F.3d 960 (6th Cir. 2004). The firm currently serves as lead or co-lead counsel for Tribes in a number of complex trial court proceedings.

We have also participated in intensive negotiations, on scales both large and small, to advance the interests of our clients where that course of action seemed appropriate. For example, the firm was heavily involved in the successful omnibus tax negotiations between the State of Michigan and its twelve federally recognized Tribes, and has long engaged in negotiations with various States regarding the definition and implementation of tribal treaty rights.