Doreen Nanibaa McPaul is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. She is Kinyaa'áanii, born for Bilagáana, her maternal grandfathers are Honaghaahnii, and her paternal grandfathers are Irish. She was born and raised in Chinle, Arizona on the Navajo Reservation. She is a 1995 graduate of Princeton University. She attended the AILC's Pre-Law Summer Institute in 1998 and returned as a TA in 1999 before earning her Juris Doctorate in 2001 from the Arizona State University College of Law, where she also received a Certificate in Federal Indian Law and served as a staff writer for the ASU Law Journal. After law school, Ms. McPaul clerked at the Arizona Court of Appeals for the Honorable Jefferson L. Lankford (retired). Ms. McPaul has diverse professional experience serving as a tribal court staff attorney, an associate attorney at the Nordhaus Law Firm in Albuquerque, and as a visiting clinical law professor and Interim Director of the Indian Legal Clinic at ASU. From 2008 to 2025, Ms. McPaul worked as an in-house tribal attorney for several Arizona tribes, including a 4-year appointment as the Navajo Nation Attorney General. Ms. McPaul has 25 years of experience practicing Indian law, and is admitted to practice law in Arizona and New Mexico, as well as before several tribal and federal courts.

Ms. McPaul is a 2013 graduate of the State Bar of Arizona’s Bar Leadership Institute and remains active in the State Bar and Indian legal community. In 2018, Ms. McPaul became one of the first American Indians appointed to serve on the State Bar of Arizona Board of Governors and she currently serves as President-Elect of the State Bar. Ms. McPaul is a founding board member of the Tribal In-House Counsel Association and served 11 years as Board President before becoming TICA's inaugural Executive Director. She also currently serves on the Board of the American Indian Law Center and was elected to membership in The American Law Institute in 2021. Finally, Ms. McPaul serves as a Trustee for the Irish Cultural and Learning Foundation in Arizona.

Ms. McPaul has received several honors for her work. In 2021, she received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for Irish Abroad from Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins at a ceremony at the Áras an Uachtaráin in Dublin. She also received the 2020 Alumnus of the Year Award from the National Native American Law Student Association in recognition of her work, passion, and dedication to serving Indian Country, and empowering native law students to dedicate their careers to serving their tribal communities. She is also the recipient of the State Bar of Arizona Indian Law Section’s 2020 Rodney B. Lewis Award of Excellence for exemplifying the honesty, integrity, courage, grace, dignity, and respect of the award’s namesake. Finally, Ms. McPaul received the 2020 Cushing Academy Leadership Award for outstanding leadership, commitment to public service, and invaluable contributions to the Navajo Nation and the legal profession.

Most importantly, Ms. McPaul is a proud military spouse and mom. She is married to SFC Mark McPaul (retired), and they have 3 sons, 2 rez dogs, and a cat.

James Washinawatok II received his law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School and a master’s in law and policy from the University of Arizona College of Law’s Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy Program. During law school, he interned with the Indian Law Resource Center in Helena, MT, and with the Ho-Chunk Nation Legislature.

After law school, he was a legal fellow with the National Congress of American Indians and a part-time clerk with Hobbs Straus Dean & Walker. He relocated to the Southwest and joined the Nordhaus Law Firm in Albuquerque, NM. In 2007, he joined the Southern Ute Indian Tribe’s in-house attorney training program in coordination with Maynes Bradford Shipps & Sheftel, LLP. After completing the training program in 2010, James has been a tribal attorney with the Southern Ute Legal Department for 14 years.

In 2015, he was appointed to the Tribal In-House Counsel Association’s board where he served as Treasurer, Vice-President, and now President.

Mr. Washinawatok is an enrolled Menominee with Akwesasne Mohawk ancestry and grew up in Keshena on the Menominee Reservation. He is married to Brenna Clani-Washinawatok, and they have a son and a daughter and live in Farmington, New Mexico.

Louis Mallette worked as an attorney in the Navajo Nation Department of Justice’s Litigation Unit in Window Rock, Arizona from 2017 to 2025. He received his J.D. from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 2017. Louis has worked on cases in Navajo Nation, state, and federal courts and administrative tribunals. He is married to a Navajo tribal member and they have one son.

Peter earned a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California in 1989, and a J.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1993. He was admitted to practice law in the state of Colorado in July 1995.

After working in Denver for six years practicing primarily Criminal Law, Domestic Relations, and Juvenile Law, Peter worked in the Justice Department of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe for 25 years, serving as the Tribe’s General Counsel for 23 years. Among other things, Peter has drafted numerous laws, policies, and regulations for the Tribe, has assisted the Tribe in government relations and cultural protection, and has worked on resource development for the Tribe. Peter is now a solo practitioner. He is not a Native American.

Peter currently serves on several boards and commissions and is a founding member of the Tribal In-House Counsel Association and currently serves as TICA's Treasurer.

Peter has lectured at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the Denver University on various Indian Law matters such as Water Law, Jurisdiction, Tribal Government, Cultural Protection, and Historic Preservation. Peter has also lectured and participated on panels at numerous conferences on such matters as Historic Preservation, Oil and Gas Leasing, Tribal Government, and Jurisdiction.

Danielle McLean is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. She was a James Johnson Scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill and received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2007. Danielle received her Juris Doctorate in 2010 from the University of North Carolina School of Law. She was admitted to the North Carolina Bar in 2010 and worked in private practice for seven years focusing her practice on Abuse, Neglect, and Dependency proceedings. In 2016, Danielle was hired as the Legal and Compliance Officer for the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. Since joining the Lumbee Tribe, she has worked on the Tribe’s federal recognition efforts, federal grant compliance, Tribal Housing and Tribal Enrollment. She currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband Kyle and their children.

Tim Evans currently serves as Deputy General Counsel for the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. He joined San Manuel’s in-house Legal Department in 2019 as a Managing Attorney, then served as Vice President, Associate General Counsel-Government. In his current role as Deputy General Counsel, he oversees the day-to-day operation of the in-house Legal Department at San Manuel, works with Tribal leadership and the Chief Legal and Compliance Officer on overall legal strategy for the Band, and provides advice and counsel in areas of importance including tribal governance and asset acquisitions. Prior to joining San Manuel, Tim practiced Native American law for over 15 years at a large national law firm in several capacities, including tribal governmental, transactional, administrative law, and litigation work, in their Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. offices. Tim received his J.D. degree from Cornell Law School, an M.P.A. degree from Princeton University, and an A.B. degree from Harvard College. He is a member of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe of North Carolina.

Brian Guth has been working with Indian tribes for most of his professional career. He currently serves as In-House Counsel to the United Auburn Indian Community, a federally recognized Indian tribe located near Sacramento, California. His experience also includes roughly seven years working for a large national law firm that served as both outside counsel and General Counsel for a number of tribes across the country. In between those two jobs, Mr. Guth worked for a year with a small California law firm, representing cities and other public agencies.

Mr. Guth attended La Sierra University in Riverside, California and subsequently graduated from the UC Berkeley School of Law. He joined TICA hoping to find (and contribute to) a forum for resource and information sharing that would help tribal attorneys across the country better serve their clients. He has been a TICA Board member since December of 2015.

Elise McGowan-Cuellar is an enrolled member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and serves as an Appellate Justice for her Tribe. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan with a degree in American Culture and graduated from Michigan State College of Law with the Indigenous Law Certificate from the Indigenous Law & Policy Center.  In addition to her role as Appellate Justice, Elise also serves as Executive In-House Counsel for the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. Prior to serving the Executive Branch of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, she served as a staff attorney for the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. She has also worked for the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indians Legal Department and Michigan Indian Legal Services. Throughout the year, Elise enjoys living Mino Bimaadiziwin (the good life) attending and dancing at powwows with her three children and asserting tribal treaty rights.

Kathryn V. Myrtle has dedicated her entire career to the field of Indian Law and to the advocacy of Tribal Nations. She earned her B.A. in political science from Rhode Island College in 2019 and her J.D. from the University of South Carolina, School of Law in 2022. After law school, she served as Judicial Law Clerk for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court. She also worked at a national law firm on its Indian Law Practice Team based in Buffalo, NY before returning to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation in 2025. There, she currently serves in the Office of Legal Counsel, where she represents the interests of the Tribal Nation and its departments, arms, entities, and enterprises, including Foxwoods Resort Casino.

Harrison Rice is an Assistant Attorney General with the Tohono O’odham Nation. Prior to joining the Tohono O’odham Nation, Harrison served as an Attorney-Candidate for the Navajo Nation Department of Justice. Harrison earned his Associate and Bachelor degrees in Contemporary Music Performance from the University of Central Oklahoma, and earned his J.D. from the University of Arizona in 2019, with a certificate in Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy. Harrison is a member of the Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma. He lives in Tucson, Arizona, with his husband, David, and two kids, two cats, and two dogs.