Donnelly, Thomas M.

DANIEL I.S.J. REY-BEAR, born in London, England, January 11, 1969. 

Bar and Court Admissions: Colorado; New Mexico; California; U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Tenth, Eleventh, Federal, and District of Columbia Circuits; U.S. Court of Federal Claims, U.S. District Courts for New Mexico, Colorado, Northern District of Texas, Northern District of California, and District of Columbia; and the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana. 
        
Language:  French

Employment: Mr. Rey-Bear specializes in litigation, transactional work, intergovernmental issues, and client support concerning sovereign immunity, jurisdiction, trust enforcement, employment, land acquisitions, economic development, financing, and taxation, as well as environmental protection, permitting, assessments, and remediation.

Education: Rice University, B.A. in Philosophy (1990), B.S. Mechanical Engineering (1992); University of Texas School of Law, J.D. (1995). During law school, Mr. Rey-Bear served as Managing Editor of Texas Forum on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights and was a Fellow, Board of Directors member, and Treasurer of Texas Law Fellowships, Inc., which funds public-interest law student internships.

Professional Activities: UNM Law School, Adjunct Professor - Indian Law Appellate Advocacy, Spring Semester 2008; NALSA Moot Court Competition, 2004 - present; California Indian Law Association, Board Member, 2005 - present, & Vice-President, 2006-2007; Conference Co-Chair, Federal Bar Association Indian Law Conference, 1998-2001.

Before joining the Nordhaus firm in April 1997, Mr. Rey-Bear served as a staff attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in Atlanta, Georgia. In that position, Mr. Rey-Bear worked on over 160 cases for various federal appellate judges and was recognized as the outstanding Eleventh Circuit Staff Attorney for the 1995-1996 term. 
        
During law school, Mr. Rey-Bear’s work included experience with the Indian Law Resource Center, in Helena, Montana; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of the General Counsel, and the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee, both in Washington, D.C.; and the Texas Indian Bar Association and the Consumer Protection Division of the Texas Office of the Attorney General, both in Austin, Texas.  Prior to law school, Mr. Rey-Bear worked as a machinery engineer with the M.W. Kellogg Company, in Houston, Texas. 

Notable transactions include the following:  Casino refinancing; Negotiation of financing agreement and five-way intergovernmental agreement, and issuance of legal opinions on jurisdiction, sovereign immunity, Non-Intercourse Act, NEPA compliance, and title issues for 25-year, zero-interest, $18.75 million loan under federal Clean Water Act State Revolving Fund from State Water Resources Board to tribe to purchase over 22,000 acres of land to conduct sustainable forestry, watershed restoration, nonpoint source pollution management, and carbon sequestration; NEPA, CEQA. and CWA compliance, cooperative agreement negotiation, compensatory wetland establishment, and construction dispute mediation for hotel and commercial marina development; NEPA and CWA compliance for 1600-acre master planned community; 14 federal acquisitions of land in trust for tribes totaling almost 60,000 acres.
 
Cases litigated include the following: Jicarilla Apache Nation v. United States, 100 Fed. Cl. 726 (2011) (briefed and argued as amicus curiae), holding that claims for failure to maximize and pool tribal trust funds are within Indian Tucker Act jurisdiction; Armijo v. Pueblo of Laguna, 2011-NMCA-006,149 N.M. 234, 247 P.3d 1119 (2010), cert. denied, No. 32,687 (Dec. 6, 2010), holding that tribal sovereign immunity bars off-reservation quiet title dispute; Jicarilla Apache Nation v. United States, 88 Fed. Cl. 1 (2009), rejecting federal effort to obtain discovery of private tribal financial records based on federal fiduciary duty for tribal trust fund management (briefed and argued as amicus curiae); Bales v. Chickasaw Nation Industries, 606 F. Supp. 1308 (D.N.M. 2009), holding that sovereign immunity precludes Title VII and ADEA claims against federally chartered tribal corporation; Navajo Nation v. United  States, 46 Fed. Cl. 217 (2000), rev’d, 263 F.3d 1325 (Fed Cir. 2001), rev’d, 537 U.S. 488 (2003), on remand, 347 F.3d 1327 (Fed. Cir. 2003), on remand, 68 Fed. Cl. 805 (2005), rev’d, 501 F.3d 1327 (Fed. Cir. 2007), rev’d, 129 S.Ct. 1547 (2009), finding lack of jurisdiction under the Indian Tucker Act over claims that the United States violated statutory, regulatory, and common law fiduciary duties regarding approval of a tribal coal lease amendment; Jicarilla Apache Nation v. Rio Arriba County, 376 F.Supp.2d 1096 (D.N.M. 2004), aff’d, 440 F.3d 1202 (10th Cir. 2006), concerning class-of-one equal protection claim for discriminatory tax treatment; Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians v. Superior Court of Lake County, 133 Cal.App.4th 1185 (2005), issuing writ of mandate based on holding that arbitration clause in alleged employment contracts did not waive tribal sovereign immunity for breach of contract action; Thompson v. Poncho, No. C-04-089 (Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana Court of Appeals May 2, 2005), affirming dismissal of claims by former tribal employee based on tribal sovereign immunity; Pueblo of Laguna v. United States, 60 Fed. Cl. 133 (2004), imposing a record retention order on the United States over the United States’ objections in a breach of trust case; Jicarilla Apache Nation v. United States, 60 Fed. Cl. 611 (2004), rejecting United States’ assertion of a discovery privilege under the Indian Mineral Development Act; Jicarilla Apache Nation v. Rio Arriba County Assessor, 92 P.3d 642 (N.M. Ct. App. 2003), rev’d sub nom. Jicarilla Apache Nation v. Rodarte, 103 P.3d 554 (N.M. 2004), abrogated in part, N.M. Laws 2005, ch. 231, concerning whether the management of land to produce and commercially harvest private and wild elk constitutes an agricultural use of land for property taxation purposes; National Labor Relations Board v. Pueblo of San Juan, 305 F. Supp. 2d 1229 (D.N.M. 2003), awarding attorneys fees under Equal Access to Justice Act with enhancement for expertise in federal Indian law; Rio Arriba County v. Acting Southwest Regional Director, 36 IBIA 14, recon. denied, 36 IBIA 102 (2001), upholding acquisition of a 32,000-acre ranch in trust for the Jicarilla Apache Nation against various challenges but remanding for reconsideration of taxation issues, on appeal, 38 IBIA 18, recon. denied, 38 IBIA 108 (2003), upholding reconsideration of taxation issues but referring matter to Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs based on possibility of bias by uninvolved local official; HRI, Inc. v. E.P.A., 198 F.3d 1224 (10th Cir. 2000), affirming federal regulation of underground injection control under the Safe Drinking Water Act within potential off-reservation dependent Indian community; and N.L.R.B. v. Pueblo of San Juan, 30 F. Supp. 2d 1348 (D.N.M. 1998), aff’d, 276 F.3d 1186 (10th Cir. 2002) (en banc), affirming inherent tribal authority to prohibit union security agreements on trust lands via a right-to-work ordinance.

Preparation of Amici Curiae Briefs:  Jicarilla Apache Nation v. United States, 91 Fed. Cl. 489 (2010), citing amicus brief favorably in denying federal motion to stay production pending further appellate review of privilege claim;  In re United States, 590 F.3d. 1305 (Fed. Cir. 2009), rev’d sub. nom United States v. Jicarilla Apache Nation, 564 U.S. __ (June 13, 2011), concerning application of fiduciary exception to attorney-client privilege for federal management of Indian trust funds;  Narragansett  Indian Tribe v. Rhode Island, 449 F.3d 16 (1st Cir. 2005), concerning tribal sovereign immunity and tribal-state jurisdiction dispute; Department of the Interior v. Klamath Water Users Protective Association, 532 U.S. 1 (2001), holding that Freedom of Information Act protection for inter or intra-agency memoranda does not protect from disclosure documents submitted by Indian tribes in course of proceedings in which tribes had a direct interest; Alaska v. Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government, 522 U.S. 520 (1998), holding that land held by Alaskan Native governments in fee was not dependent Indian community subject to tribal jurisdiction; and Kiowa Tribe of Okla. v. Manufacturing Technologies, 523 U.S. 751 (1998), affirming tribal sovereign immunity for off-reservation business transactions.

Publications and Presentations: Ethics Issues in United States v. Jicarilla Apache Nation, 131 S.Ct. 2313 (2011), 11th Annual California Indian Law Association Conference (Oct. 14, 2011); United States v. Jicarilla Apache Nation: The Executive Branch’s Latest Effort to Repudiate Federal Trust Duties to Indians, The Federal Lawyer, April 2011, at 48 (with Tim McLaughlin); Hot     Topics in Indian Land and Trust Law, 36th Annual Federal Bar Association Indian Law Conference (April 7, 2011); Interplay Between Tribal Sovereignty and Federal Environmental Laws, Tribal Energy in the Southwest (May 3, 2010); Prospects for Red and Green Justice and Development, Keynote Address at West-Northwest Journal of Environmental Law and Policy Symposium on Environmental Justice and Energy Development on Native American Lands (April 2, 2010); Application of Federal Laws to Tribal Businesses, Tribal Guide to Employment and Labor Laws (Oct. 14, 2009); Legal Issues and Challenges For Tribal Water Quality Standards, Pueblo Tribal Water Quality & Envtl. Health Training (Aug. 28, 2008); Developing Tribal Sovereignty Through Tribal Courts, Law Enforcement, and Trust Acquisitions, United Southern & Eastern Tribes Semi-Annual Meeting (June 5, 2006); Developing Tribal Environmental Laws, 12th Annual Tribal-EPA Conference (Oct. 27, 2004); U.S. Supreme Court Indian Trust Decisions, Natural Resources and Environmental Law on the Reservation (Aug 21, 2003); Tribal Claims for Federal Mismanagement of Trust Assets, 28th Annual FBA Indian Law Conference (April 10, 2003); Tribal Claims for Federal Mismanagement of Trust Resources, Natural Resources and Environmental Law on the Reservation (Sept. 12, 2002); Federal Acquisition of Land in Trust for Indians, California Indian Law Association Conference (Feb. 9, 2002); Indian Tribes and the Freedom of Information Act, Natural Resources and Environmental Law on the Reservation (Aug. 16, 2001); Tribal-State Environmental Cooperative Agreements, California State Bar Environmental Law Conference (Oct. 15, 2000);  Judicial Enforcement of the Federal Trust Responsibility Concerning Environmental Matters, U.S. E.P.A. Region IX Trust Responsibility Workshop (Aug. 29, 2000); Analysis and History of Tribal-State Environmental Regulatory Jurisdiction Disputes, California State Bar Environmental Law Conference (Oct. 15, 1999); When the Paths of Good People Meet: the Interaction of Federal Indian Law and the Environmental Justice Movement, Ninth Annual ABA/SONREEL Conference on Environment and Development in Indian Country, Nov 21, 1997.  The Flathead Water Quality Standards Dispute:  Legal Bases for Tribal Regulatory Authority Over Non-Indian Reservation Lands, 20 Am. Indian L. Rev. 151 (1995-96).  (First-prize winner, 1994-1995 American Indian Law Writing Competition; Native American Law:  A Career Path to Consider, 58 Tex. Bar. J. 840 (1994); Judicial Enforcement of Charitable Care Requirements for Non-Profit Hospitals  Tax Exempt Status, Tex. F. on C.L. & C.R., Fall 1993, at 1.