Brad Jolly

Brad Jolly has practiced Indian law exclusively representing Indian tribes for his entire career. He graduated from the Indian Legal Program cum laude from Arizona State University College of Law, where he received the Alan A. Matheson Service Award and was a Pedrich Scholar. He also served as President of the Native American Law Students Association and as a student member of the Indian Legal Program Faculty Committee. Brad graduated with honors from the University of California at Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Native American Studies. While attending law school, he published an article in the Arizona State University Law Journal entitled The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act: The Unwavering Policy of Termination Continues, which analyzed the IGRA as an invasion of tribal sovereignty and an extension of the Termination Era legislation, P.L. 280, to all tribes in the area of gaming. The article has been cited by federal courts and the Secretary of the Interior. In addition, Brad served as a law clerk for the Colorado River Indian Tribes and the Fort McDowell Mohave-Apache Indian Community. He also has drafted rules of court for the recognition and enforcement of tribal court judgments for the Arizona State, Tribal, and Federal Court Forum, which were finally adopted by the Arizona Supreme Court in May 2000.

After graduating from law school, Brad was given a fellowship at the Arizona State University College of Law where he worked toward establishing an Indian Law Clinic and supervised students in assisting various Indian tribes with legal issues. Brad also served as Assistant Attorney General for the Colorado River Indian Tribes of Arizona and California, where he directly advised the Tribal Council and individual tribal departments and his practice included a wide range of Indian law issues, including jurisdictional matters, gaming issues and arbitrations, trespass actions, quiet title actions, contracts and taxation issues. Before returning to the West and establishing his own practice, Brad worked for several years as an associate at a small law firm in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he solely represented Indian tribes as general and special counsel and practiced Federal Indian law and Tribal law, conducting both transactional work and litigating on behalf of tribe's and tribal instrumentalities and agencies located in several states in a wide range of matters, including governmental, commercial, economic, gaming, Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, and employment matters.

Brad has represented Indian tribes throughout the United States, including Arizona, California, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska, as general and special counsel continuously throughout his career. He is admitted in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, the U.S. District Court of Arizona, U.S. District Court of Nebraska, the U.S. District Court of Colorado, the U.S. Federal Court of Claims, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska Tribal Court, the Hopi Tribal Court, the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa Tribal Court, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux (Dakota) Community Tribal Court, and the States of Arizona and Nebraska.

Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University

J.D. (1997) | Federal Indian Law

1994 - 1997

Honors: cum laude, Alan A. Matheson Service Award, Pedrich Scholar

Activities: President, Native American Law Students Association; Member, Indian Legal Program Faculty Committee

University of California - Berkeley

B.A. | Native American Studies

1989 - 1994

Honors: With Honors

Partner

Brad S. Jolly & Associates

2009 - Current

Founding Partner

Small Indian Law Firm in Denver, Colorado

2004 - 2009

Associate

Small Indian Law Firm in Minneapolis, Minnesota

1999 - 2004

Assistant Attorney General

Colorado River Indian Tribes

1998 - 1999

Law Clerk

Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation

1995 - 1997

Law Clerk

Colorado River Indian Tribes

1995 - 1995

"Fighting the Continued Attacks on Tribal Sovereignty" in Emerging Issues in Tribal-State Relations

Aspatore Books

2009

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act: The Unwavering Policy of Termination Continues, 29 Ariz. St. L.J. 273, 1997

Arizona State Law Journal

May, 1997

Arizona State Bar

Member

Current

Activities: Member, Indian Law Section

Nebraska State Bar

Member

Current

United States Supreme Court Bar

Member

Current

United States Federal Court of Claims Bar

Member

Current

United States Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit Bar

Member

Current

United States Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit Bar

Member

Current

United States District Court, Arizona, Bar

Member

Current

United States District Court, Nebraska, Bar

Member

Current

United States District Court, Colorado, Bar

Member

Current

Ponca Tribe of Nebraska Tribal Court Bar

Member

Current

Hopi Tribal Court Bar

Member

Current

Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa Bar

Member

Current

Arizona

Since 1998

Nebraska

Since 2007

8th Circuit

Since 1999

9th Circuit

Since 1998

U.S. Supreme Court

Since 2004