Team

Leah Jurss

Associate

Leah has focused her legal career on issues of jurisdiction, sovereignty, and treaty rights in both federal and tribal courts. Before she joined Hogen Adams, Leah served as a law clerk to the Honorable Roberto A. Lange of the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota, where she worked on a wide variety of civil and criminal matters. During law school, she served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Michigan State Law Review and provided amicus curiae support to tribes engaged in Indian Child Welfare Act litigation through the Indigenous Law & Policy Center Law Clinic at Michigan State University College of Law. After receiving her J.D., she was the Academic Fellow at the Indigenous Law & Policy Center, where she developed and taught a course to help first year Native American law students succeed in law school. Leah is a descendant of the White Earth Nation of northern Minnesota.

Outside the office, Leah enjoys cycling with her husband and exploring parks and trails with her flat-coat retriever, Mitten.

Contact

Bar Admissions

  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
  • U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan

Education

  • J.D.  Michigan State University College of Law, summa cum laude (2015)
  • B.A.  University of Minnesota, summa cum laude (2012)

Selected Publications, Presentations, and Honors

:

  • “Tribal Jurisdiction—A Historical Bargain,” with Matthew L.M. Fletcher, 76 Maryland L. Rev. 101 (2017)
  • “Telling Stories in Court: Developing a Reflective Tribal Legislative History,” 10 Albany Gov’t L. Rev. 157 (2016)
  • “Eating Mascots for Breakfast: How Keeping Native Faces Off Labels Can Grow Tribal Economies,” 6 Law J. for Social Justice 27 (2016)
  • “Domestic Violence in Indian Country and the 2013 Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act,” Guest Lecturer, Michigan State University College of Law (2015)
  • “Tort Claims in Indian Country,” Panelist, Tribal In House Counsel Association Annual Conference (2015)
  • “How the Past Can Inform the Future: Domestic Violence in Indian Country,” Panelist, Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Annual Conference (2015)
  • “Halting the Slide Down the Sovereignty Slope: Creative Remedies for Tribes Extending Civil Infraction Systems over Non-Indians,” 16 Rutgers Race & L. Rev. 39 (2015)
  • “The Indian Child Welfare Act,” Guest Lecturer, Michigan State University College of Social Science (2015)
  • National Native American Law Students Association’s 3L of the Year (2014-2015)
  • Jurisprudence Achievement Awards in Federal Law and Indian Tribes, Tribal Law, Tribal Economic Development, Contracts, Property, Domestic Violence, and Research, Writing, and Analysis