Karuk-Berkeley Collaborative (KBC) is a student-led pro bono project that contributes to the Karuk Tribe’s ongoing efforts to preserve its natural and cultural resources. Working with tribal representatives, supervising attorneys, and other stakeholders, KBC provides useful, concrete deliverables including memoranda, amicus briefs, white papers, and legal templates. KBC also seeks to raise awareness of Federal Indian law, environmental, and cultural property issues among Berkeley Law students.
Past projects of the Natural Resources team have helped the Tribe use the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act to cope with the impacts of dams and mining on sacred tribal resources, including wild and scenic rivers, national forests, and protected species such as the California native coho salmon. The Cultural Property team’s most recent projects have included analysis of federal law as it relates to cultural patrimony, as well as memos on trademark and copyright questions regarding use of the tribe’s name, cultural practices, and symbols.
During the 2018-2019 academic year, KBC members will work on new legal research assignments for the Karuk Tribe in the general areas of Natural Resources and Cultural Property law. Most of these work products will likely take the form of group memos.
Time Commitment: 8-16 hours/month. Because KBC members spend the semester researching and producing a final memo, some weeks involve more time writing and editing, while others are much lighter.
For more information, please contact the student leaders at karukberkeleycollaborative@gmail.com.
We are grateful to our supporters:
EJW Community Food Enterprise (Legal Eats)
David B. Oppenheimer
