Loretta Tuell Becomes The First American Indian Woman To Receive Legal Achievement Award

Loretta A. Tuell, a member of the Nez Perce and founding partner at AndersonTuell LLP, in Washington D.C., was one of five women to receive one of the highest honors in the legal profession. Tuell received the 2009 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award from the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession. Tuell is the first American Indian woman in the history of the award to receive the honor.

Tuell grew up on the Nez Perce reservation in Lapwai, Idaho, and attended the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law. Upon graduation, she began practicing federal Indian law. Tuell has since served as counsel to Senator Daniel Inouye on the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, been appointed special assistant and counselor to the assistant secretary-Indian Affairs in the U.S. Department of the Interior, and was later appointed by President Clinton as the director of the Office of American Indian Trust. After witnessing how tribal gaming brought substantial benefits to Indian Country, Tuell understood her next calling to be in the private sector and joined the Indian law firm, Monteau & Peebles, LLP, in 2000. She then became the firm’s first American Indian woman partner one year later. In 2007, Tuell co-founded AndersonTuell, LLP, which is one of the first law firms in Washington D.C., with an American Indian woman as partner and is one-hundred percent Indian-owned.

The American Bar Association recognized Tuell and the other honorees at an awards luncheon held on August 2, 2009, in Chicago, IL. The other 2009 honorees were Linda L. Addison, co-founder of The Center for Women in Law at the University of Texas; Helaine M. Barnett, president of Legal Services Corporation, the Honorable Arnette R. Hubbard, a judge for the Circuit Court of Cook County; and the Honorable Vanessa Ruiz, the first Hispanic woman to serve on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Honorees of the award are recognized for having achieved professional excellence in their field and for their influence on other woman to pursue legal careers, opening doors for women lawyers, and advancing opportunities for women within a practice area or segment of the profession. The award was named in honor of Margaret Brent, the first woman lawyer in America who arrived in the colonies in 1638.

NIGA Chairman Ernie Stevens Jr., on behalf of the National Indian Gaming Association, would like to congratulate Loretta on being recognized for her professional accomplishments and express our gratitude for her service and dedication to Indian country.