Rodina Cave Parnall (Quechua) is the Director of the American Indian Law Center, Inc.  Rodina attended the PLSI program in 1998, tutored in 1999, and taught the Indian Law course in 2011 and 2016. Rodina recently served as Senior Policy Advisor to the Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs in the U.S. Department of the Interior. Before that, she practiced law in New Mexico and Arizona representing Indian tribes and tribal entities.

Rodina has been an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law and an Associate Judge on the Southwest Intertribal Court of Appeals (SWITCA). She graduated from the Arizona State University College of Law with a Certificate in Indian Law and the Outstanding Law Graduate Award. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Rodina clerked for the Honorable William C. Canby, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Professor Sherri Nicole Thomas serves as the Associate Dean of Institutional Culture and Equity and as Assistant Director of the Law Library for the University of New Mexico School of Law (UNMSOL). As Assistant Director, Sherri coordinates collection management and leads the Library Systems Group. She teaches required Legal Research courses and frequently leads legal writing and research workshops and courses focused on specific legal topics. She provides presentations on diversity issues and other substantive areas of law, including Federal Indian, Tribal and Copyright Law. In 2019, the Society of American Archivists honored her contributions to the Indigenous Digital Archive Treaties Explorer awarding the project the C.F.W. Coker Award for innovative development in archival description or descriptive tools that enable archivists to produce effective finding aids.

Sherri is Black and American Indian, and she grew up on the Dine (Navajo) Reservation and is an enrolled Tiwa (Taos Pueblo) member.

Before graduating from the UNMSOL in 2005 with an Indian Law certificate, Sherri worked as the Information Manager for Environmental Risk Analysis, Inc., a bio-litigation consulting firm, in San Mateo, CA, and as a Database Specialist/Cataloger for Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, PC, based in Palo Alto, CA.

She is also proud to be a long-time collaborator with the American Indian Law Center and their varied endeavors to support indigenous peoples and communities, as well as native attorneys at the beginning and throughout their legal careers.

Kristin Theis-Álvarez (Xicana/Tsalagi) is the dean of admissions and financial aid at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. She graduated from UC Berkeley, earning her BA in Rhetoric and Native American studies and went on to earn her JD from Stanford University Law School. From 2006 to 2007, Theis-Álvarez worked as coordinator for the Building Young Minds Scholarship Program for Habitat for Humanity East Bay, where she designed and managed a college scholarship program serving low-income high school students. She has worked in law school admissions and financial aid at Berkeley Law since 2007.

Theis-Álvarez is deeply involved in the national law school admissions community and leadership. She has served on the LSAC Newcomers Conference Planning Committee, the Services and Programs Committee, the Board of Trustees, and the Summer Workshop Planning Work Group. She also chaired the Services and Programs Committee (2013-2015) and the Annual Meeting and Educational Conference Planning Work Group (2018) and is currently in her fourth consecutive year as a member of the Board of Trustees as chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. In that role manages the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Subcommittee, Research and Data Work Group, and Pipeline Initiatives Work Group. In the past, Theis-Álvarez has served in several other leadership positions, including as a board member of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, on the UC Berkeley Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion’s Native American Advisory Council, and as a member of the Chancellor’s Native American Initiative Steering Committee.

In 2022, she launched Berkeley Law’s Native American Opportunity Program+ which effectively makes Berkeley Law tuition free for students who are enrolled members of federally recognized Native American nations. Theis-Álvarez also co-created the Native American Pathways to Law Initiative which will host its 9th annual program in summer 2023.

Renée Ferrell is the Director of Admissions & Financial Aid and Director of the Master of Studies in Law Program at the University of New Mexico School of Law. She earned a BA in Political Science from Virginia Tech and a JD from the University of Kentucky College of Law. She previously served as Assistant Dean for Enrollment Management at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law, where she also taught Juvenile Justice and Trial Practice. She has presented on issues surrounding admissions, financial aid, and increasing diversity in law schools and the legal profession at various conferences and workshops, including those sponsored by the Law School Admission Council and the Kentucky Bar Association. Before entering law school administration, she served as a juvenile public defender, providing representation to children from low-income families.

Reyes Aguilar is associate dean for admissions and financial aid at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. Dean Aguilar earned a BA in political science from Texas A&M University and a JD from the S.J. Quinney College of Law. In his time as a law school administrator, Dean Aguilar has been engaged on the national level in the areas of law school admissions and financial aid. Dean Aguilar has been active with the Law School Admission Council having served on numerous committees, workgroups and on its Board of Trustees. He frequently presents at conferences and workshops, including those sponsored by the LSAC; the AccessLex; and the ABA. His ABA service also includes serving on an accreditation review team and an appointment as Vice-Chair of the Government Relations & Student Financial Aid Committee. In 2003, the Utah Minority Bar Association named Mr. Aguilar as honoree of the year, in 2016 the Utah State Bar Association recognized him with its Raymond Uno Award for contributions to the advancement of minorities in the legal profession and in 2018 The Council on Legal Education Opportunities honored Dean Aguilar with a CLEO EDGE education award as part of its 50th Anniversary celebration.

Laura Fonseca is director of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and initiatives at the Law School Admission Council. Through this role, Fonseca engages with internal and external constituents to develop and support efforts that increase access and equity within legal education. Prior to this role, she served as inaugural director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law—Bloomington, cotaught the 1L legal professions course, and served as a director of career services. Fonseca earned her BA from Indiana University, her MA from University of Florida, and is a doctoral candidate at Indiana University’s School of Education.

Kate Rosier (Comanche) serves as the Assistant Dean for Community Engagement and the Executive Director of the Indian Legal Program (ILP) at Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. In the Executive Director role Rosier leads the ILP’s recruitment and retention efforts and has worked with over 1000 Native American students. Rosier is responsible for the ILP’s programs, marketing, development and tribal partnerships. In 2015 she was responsible for bringing together an amazing team from various law schools and programs to launch the national Native American Pathway to Law Initiative. The goal of this program is to help get more Native American students into law school by guiding pre-law students through the law school admissions process and helping to fund LSAT preparation courses.

Rosier is licensed to practice law in Arizona and served as an Assistant General Counsel for the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and worked as a tribal prosecutor for the Gila River Indian Community. She also serves as the Board Secretary of the American Indian Law Center and is the former President of the Native American Bar Association of Arizona. Rosier received her JD from the University of Utah College of Law and a BA from Capital University.

Dallas Lopez is an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Community. He is currently an Associate Director of Admissions and Operations at Berkeley Law. Dallas started his legal as an associate at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld’s D.C. office in the American Indian Legal Policy practice group. He then transferred to the Los Angeles office as an entertainment and general corporate associate.

When Dallas was at Berkeley Law, he helped restart the Native American Law Students Association and served as president for two years. He was also the co-editor-in-chief for the Law Raza Law Journal, chair of the For People of Color Conference, and board member for the Coalition for Diversity. Dallas was also a research assistant for Sonia Katyal and Seth Davis.

Before law school, Dallas attended American Indian Law Center’s Pre-Law Summer Institute as part of the class of 2018.

Joseph Lindsay is the Director of Admissions and Operations at Berkeley Law. Joseph previously served as the Director of Financial Aid at Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State for 10+ years, and most recently as an Admissions Coordinator at Texas A&M University School of Law in the Office of Admissions. In years past, he also served as an instructor for Future Sun Devils and ASU’s Upward Bound, as well as volunteered on conference planning committees for two of Access Group’s (now Access Lex) Annual Conferences. Joseph attended Arizona State University and earned his degree in History. He is originally from the Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation in Parker, Arizona and is a member of the Chemehuevi Tribe.

Jasmine Neosh (Bear Clan, Menominee Nation) is a second-year student at the University of Michigan Law School as well as a graduate student in the Environmental Justice program at the School for Environment and Sustainability. She is a proud TCU graduate, having obtained two degrees from College of Menominee Nation in 2019 and 2022. Prior to law school, Jasmine served as a Student Ambassador for the American Indian College Fund and student blogger for Tribal College Journal. Jasmine currently serves as the Area 4 Representative and Advocacy Chair for the National Native American Law Students Association. She is also the Vice President of the Michigan Law chapter of NALSA. She also serves as the Managing Production Editor and conference liaison of the Michigan Journal of Environmental and Administrative Law and a member of the Indigenous steering committee for the renowned Forge Project New York.

Amber Reano (Dine/Kewa Pueblo) is a research assistant and staff writer at the American Indian Law Center, Inc, and a second-year law student at the University of New Mexico School of Law. Prior to law school, she worked as a nonprofit professional at Big Brothers Big Sisters of CNM, Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, and First Nations Development Institute. Amber graduated with her B.A. in Public Health from Brown University in 2016.

Shaniya Eachenagee Decker is a current third year law student at the University of New Mexico School of Law. At UNM School of Law she will receive her Juris Doctorate degree in May 2024 and a certificate in Indian Law. She grew up in Saint Ignatius, Montana on the Flathead Reservation. She is a Salish, Nakoda and Turtle Mountain Chippewa.

Shaniya serves as President for UNM Native American Law Student Association and as Web & Social Media Editor for UNM Tribal Law Journal. While in law school she is currently working for the New Mexico ACLU in the Indigenous Justice Division.

After law school she would love to work in Indian Law and continue to serve Indigenous communities and people.