Our Attorneys

Catherine Baker Stetson attended Vassar College during her undergraduate career and later earned an M.A. from Brown University and a Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico. After obtaining her law degree from the University of New Mexico, she practiced Indian law with Ussery & Parrish until leaving to start a firm with Kevin Gover (Pawnee-Comanche) in 1986. The firm later grew to include Susan Williams (Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux) and W. Richard West (Cheyenne), though Rick West later returned to Washington, D.C. to become the Director of the National Museum for the American Indian, where he remains today. Gover, Stetson & Williams, P.C. was honored as one of the Top 25 Women-Owned Businesses in New Mexico in 1996 -- the first law firm to achieve that honor.

In 1997, Kevin Gover went to Washington, D.C. to become Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, and Cate opened Stetson Law Offices, P.C., a law firm whose practice is limited primarily to providing legal services to tribes and tribal entities. In addition, she started Legi\X Company, a political consulting and lobbying firm.

Timothy J. Humphrey, Sr. (licensed only in Montana) (head of Blackfeet family) received his Bachelor’s Degree with honors from New Mexico State University, a Masters of Social Work from the Worden School of Social Services in San Antonio, Texas, and his law degree from the University of Montana in 1983. Tim has had a wide range of experience with tribal courts, including employment as the Court Administrator to the Blackfeet Tribal Court for two years after graduating from law school. Tim worked as an independent contractor for six years with Kevin Gover at Gover, Stetson & Williams, P.C., focusing on environmental issues, tribal corporations, code development, and gaming before leaving to work for Stetson Law Offices, P.C. Tim brings important experience in the fields of cultural resources and environmental assessments and works extensively with our tribal housing clients. He has been instrumental in the development of tribal environmental laws and regulations, including solid waste management. He was involved extensively with the negotiations that resulted in the first EPA approval of a tribal municipal solid waste facility permitting program.

Jana L. Walker (Of Counsel) (Cherokee/Delaware/Shawnee) has practiced law since 1987 and is a New Mexico Board Certified Specialist in Federal Indian Law. She also is certified as a grants writer. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Oklahoma and graduated from the University of New Mexico School of Law cum laude. After law school, she was an Associate in the commercial department of Sutin, Thayer & Browne, P.C., and then practiced Indian law as an Associate and Junior Partner with Gover, Stetson & Williams, P.C. Thereafter, as a solo practitioner, Jana has focused on representing Indian tribes and tribal agencies and organizations in the areas of taxation, environmental regulation, economic development, reservation business transactions, code development, gaming, and organization and maintenance of business associations, including board training. Since 2000, Jana has been Of Counsel to Stetson Law Offices, P.C. She is a well-known speaker on Indian law issues and widely published on Indian environmental issues. In 1992, then American Bar Association President Michael McWilliams appointed Jana to serve a three-year term on the ten-member American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Environmental Law. In 2002, USEPA Administrator Carol Browner appointed her to the twenty-five member National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, where she served as a member and Vice Chair of its Executive Council, member and Acting Chair of its Indigenous Peoples Subcommittee, and member of the NEJAC Fish Consumption Work Group. Jana has been very active in national and state bar associations, serving as a past officer and council member of the American Bar Association's Section on Environment, Energy, and Resources, as well as the Chair of its Committee on Native American Natural Resources. She also has served as Chair of the State Bar of the New Mexico's Indian Law Section and as a member of the State Bar of New Mexico's Federal Indian Law Specialty Committee. Jana is an alumni of the Pre-Law Summer Institute for American Indians, conducted through the University of New Mexico School of Law, and enjoyed returning as a Legal Writing and Advocacy Professor for a past session.

Debra Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) received her B.A. from the University of New Mexico in 1988 and her J.D. from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 2006. She was instrumental in passing SB482, in both houses of the 47th New Mexico Legislature, which gives in-state tuition to all enrolled members of New Mexico tribes, regardless of their residency. While still in law school, through the Southwest Indian Law Clinic, Debra brought the first criminal jury trial in the Pueblo of Laguna Tribal Court in 2006. Among her other accomplishments, Debra was on the Tribal Law Journal, advanced placed in the 2006 Native American Law Student Association Moot Court Competition at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle, and won the Mary Beth and W. Richard West, Jr. Award for Excellence in Indian Law. She was also honored by her community of Laguna Pueblo with both the Excellence in Education and the Outstanding Achievement Awards. Debra is currently on the Laguna Election Board.

Gussie A. Lord (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin) is a 2006 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. As a law student, she competed in the National NALSA Moot Court, and also worked to bring the Navajo Nation Supreme Court to the University of Michigan Law School for a public court session. Gussie was a 2004 Morris K. Udall Scholar in the United States Department of the Interior and later was a student attorney in the Public Defender’s Office in Washtenaw County, Michigan. Prior to law school, Gussie attended the Virginia Military Institute (“VMI”) in Lexington, Virginia where she was a member of the first co-educational class and first women’s track and cross-country teams. She studied abroad at St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford, England, in 2000 and completed four years of Army ROTC training. She graduated with Distinction in Academic Merit in 2003, and became the first Native American woman to graduate from VMI since its founding in 1839.

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