Donald (Del) Laverdure, a 1999 UW Law School graduate and current Hastie Fellow and Lecturer, has been confirmed as Chief Appellate Judge of the Crow Court of Appeals, the Crow Nation's highest tribal court. Laverdure was nominated by the Crow Tribal Executive Branch and confirmed in July 2002.

Laverdure currently teaches Federal Indian Law at the Law School. As a William H. Hastie fellow, he is working toward an LL.M. (Master of Laws) degree, writing a thesis on Indian Tax Law.

Approximately 16 cases are currently pending before the Appeals Court. The Crow Nation has 10,000 citizens and is located on a 2.2 million-acre reservation in southeastern Montana.

Laverdure has served as secretary and treasurer of the Indian Law Section of the Wisconsin State Bar, as Native American liaison to the State Bar Board of Governors, and as a member of the Encourage Placement of Minority Attorneys Committee. For more biographical information, see http://www.law.wisc.edu/facstaff/biog.asp?First=Donald&Last=Laverdure.

Laverdure is the second UW Law School Hastie Fellow this year to be named to the judiciary of a tribal government: Hastie alumna Stacy Leeds '00 was named the first woman justice of the Cherokee Nation earlier this year.

Submitted by on September 17, 2002

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