Richard Trudell

Richard Trudell (Santee Sioux)

Advisor

Blue Stone Strategy Group

Richard Trudell is the founder and executive director of the American Indian Lawyer Training Program, Inc. (AILTP). Under his direction and vision, AILTP implemented a variety of innovative programs, including starting a fellowship program for some of the country’s first Indian attorneys to establish private practices on or near Indian reservations, establishing an intern program for Indian law students to acquire practical experience in the field of Indian law by working with tribal governments and courts, and developing a tribal court advocate training program to provide paralegal training to lay advocates practicing in tribal courts.

In 1974, AILTP launched its premier publication the Indian Law Reporter, a monthly loose-leaf service providing coverage of federal, tribal, and state judicial and administrative developments in the field of Indian law. In 1980, AILTP established the American Indian Resources Institute (AIRI). AIRI’s work has focused on four major areas: natural resources education and training; tribal sovereignty and governance; publications and information dissemination; and tribal technical assistance through intensive academic institutes, topical seminars, and leadership forums and conferences.

In addition, AIRI has published numerous specialized books and manuals, including its most popular title, Indian Tribes as Sovereign Governments, first published in 1988 and revised and updated in 2004. Trudell has played a major role in convening intergovernmental forums and meetings to address issues and challenges facing Indian Country.

During the 1990s, Trudell worked closely with the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on Indian leadership forums and with the U.S. Public Health Service and the Indian Health Service on regional and national meetings that addressed Indian healthcare reform. He also convened some of the early conferences where tribal, federal, and state representatives discussed alternative options to litigation, such as the very important water rights conferences in the early 1980s.

He has served on governing and advisory boards of numerous organizations, including the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, the National Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation under an appointment by President Jimmy Carter, the Presidio Council of the Golden Gate National Park Service in San Francisco, and the Native American Rights Fund. He also participated in the creation of several other programs, including Indian Youth of America, a youth program that has served thousands of American Indian children, and the National Indian Justice Center.

Trudell is a veteran and received a B.S. degree in accounting from San Jose State University and a law degree from Catholic University.