Erica Costa (President) (formerly “McMilin”) is a descendant of the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians and Round Valley Indian Tribes and is an associate attorney at the law firm of Berkey Williams LLP. She is a graduate of UCLA School of Law, where she received her specialization in Critical Race Studies with an emphasis on Native American rights. At UCLA, Erica served as Vice-President of NALSA and participated in the National NALSA moot court competition. She also served as Executive Editor of the Indigenous Peoples’ Journal of Law, Culture & Resistance. While in law school, Mrs. Costa clerked for the Wishtoyo Foundation and the Yurok Tribe’s Office of the Tribal Attorney, participated in the UCLA Tribal Legal Development Clinic working for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, and worked as a part-time legal extern at the Tribal Law and Policy Institute. Prior to law school, she graduated from the University of California, Davis with a bachelor’s degrees in Native American Studies.
Current Term: 2018-2021. Committees: Fundraising, Conference, Scholarship, Pathway to Law
Current Term: 2018-2021. Committees: Fundraising, Conference, Scholarship, Pathway to Law
Janet Bill (Vice President) is a member of the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians. She earned both her Bachelor of Arts, with honors, degree and Master of Arts degree from Stanford University. While at Stanford University, she was very active in the Native American community and was co-chair of the Stanford American Indian Organization (2010-2011). Prior to law school Janet worked at the Owens Valley Career Development Center's Big Sandy Rancheria Tribal TANF site and began her law school experience as a member of the Pre-Law Summer Institute (PLSI) Class of 2017. Janet is a graduate of the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University (ASU), where she received the Indian Law Certificate and highest distinction for her pro bono hours. While in law school, she was a Legal Fellow for the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and served as a Law Clerk for the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, and the ASU Indian Legal Clinic. Janet is honored to serve as a CILA Board member and looks forward to serving the California Indigenous community.
Current Term: 2020-2023. Committees: Conference (Co-Chair), Scholarship (Chair), Pathway to Law, Community
Current Term: 2020-2023. Committees: Conference (Co-Chair), Scholarship (Chair), Pathway to Law, Community
Cheyenne Sanders (Secretary) is a member of the Yurok Tribe, a descendant of the House of Tse-kwel from the Village of Weitchpec. She received her B.A. from the University of Washington and her J.D. from Cornell Law School. She previously served as Deputy General Counsel for the Yurok Tribe and Tribal Attorney for the Morongo Band of Mission Indians. Since 2019, she serves as Associate Judge for a Washington State tribe where she presides over criminal and civil matters.
Current Term: 2018-2021. Committees: Fundraising, Scholarship, Pathway to Law, Legal Journal, Community
Current Term: 2018-2021. Committees: Fundraising, Scholarship, Pathway to Law, Legal Journal, Community
Tamara Honrado is an Associate General Counsel for the Yurok Tribe. Before she exclusively represented the Yurok Tribe, she was a Staff Attorney at California Indian Legal Services with a focus on the Indian Child Welfare Act. She also assisted individuals with obtaining Individualized Education Plans and executing wills under the American Indian Probate Reform Act. She received a Juris Doctor from Southwestern Law School’s accelerated SCALE program and holds a certificate in Working in Contemporary Native Nations Certificate from UCLA Native Law and Policy Center. She holds a license to practice law in the State of California, the Yurok Tribe, and the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation.
Current Term: 2019-2022. Committees: Pathway to Law (Chair), Policy (Co-Chair)
Current Term: 2019-2022. Committees: Pathway to Law (Chair), Policy (Co-Chair)
Lauren Goschke is a descendant of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians and is an attorney at Southern California Edison. She received her undergraduate degree from U.C. Berkeley, a graduate degree from Oregon State University, and her law degree from the University of Colorado Law School. While in law school Lauren served as the President of NALSA, the Executive Editor of the Colorado Natural Resources, Energy, & Environmental Law Review, and a student attorney in the American Indian Law Clinic. She also clerked at the Native American Rights Fund in Boulder, Colorado, the Solicitor’s Office at the Department of Interior in the Division of Indian Affairs in Washington D.C., and at Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Miller & Munson in Anchorage, Alaska. Prior to law school Lauren was a forester for the U.S. Forest Service in Idaho.
Current Term: 2020-2023. Committees: Fundraising (Chair), Pathway to Law, Legal Journal (Chair)
Current Term: 2020-2023. Committees: Fundraising (Chair), Pathway to Law, Legal Journal (Chair)
Mica Llerandi (Diné) is a Staff Attorney at California Indian Legal Services in the Escondido Office. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies from Yale University and her Juris Doctor and Certificate in Indigenous People’s Law and Policy from the University of Arizona. Mica worked on multiple Indian Reservations in Arizona; first on the Navajo Nation as a Staff Attorney and Domestic Violence Project Director with DNA-People’s Legal Services, then as a Deputy Community Prosecutor on the Gila River Indian Community, and lastly, as a Guardian ad Litem on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. In 2016, she moved to California and join Children’s Legal Services of San Diego where she represented children in dependency proceedings in San Diego County.
Current Term: 2020-2023. Committees: Conference (Co-Chair), Policy, Legal Journal, Community (Chair)
Current Term: 2020-2023. Committees: Conference (Co-Chair), Policy, Legal Journal, Community (Chair)
Tanner Allread is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and is a third-year student at Stanford University, where he is pursuing the Joint Degree (J.D./Ph.D.) in Law and History. At Stanford Law, Tanner serves as Co-President of the Native American Law Students Association, the History Editor of the Stanford Law Review, and a moderator for Critical Conversations for 1Ls. During his summers, he has worked for Kanji & Katzen, PLLC, and the Yurok Tribe’s Office of the Tribal Attorney. He is a member of the Pre-Law Summer Institute (PLSI) Class of 2018. Prior to law school, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Yale University and worked as a middle-school science teacher in Oklahoma City.
Term: 2019-2022 (appointed September 21, 2021 to fill vacancy)
Term: 2019-2022 (appointed September 21, 2021 to fill vacancy)
Curtis Vandermolen is an experienced policy consultant and legal professional. His professional career spans more than twenty years in various capacities with public and private entities. Mr. Vandermolen has worked with private contract lobbying, as a senior consultant to the California State Assembly, as Deputy Director at the Ca. Transportation Commission, as an associate attorney at a contract law firm, and as co-owner of this private consulting firm. Curtis earned his B.A. in Government from CSU Sacramento in 2008 and graduated with his Juris Doctorate from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 2020. He is currently an associate attorney at Peebles Kidder Bergin & Robinson, LLC in Sacramento.
Term: 2019-2022 (appointed April 26, 2021 to fill vacancy). Committees: Conference, Legal Journal
Term: 2019-2022 (appointed April 26, 2021 to fill vacancy). Committees: Conference, Legal Journal