Judge Christine Williams (President) is a Yurok Tribal member, has over twenty years’ experience in the field of Indian law and over ten years’ experience serving as a judge for various tribes throughout California. She has spent her legal career focused on representing tribes in a broad spectrum of legal matters—primarily tribal court development, Indian child welfare and cultural resource protection. Judge Williams currently serves as the Chief Judge of the Wilton Tribal Court. Judge Williams is also the Chairperson for the California Tribal Court Judges Association. She is an appointee to the Judicial Council of California’s Tribal Court State Court Forum and a member of the California Indian Law Association. Judge Williams was admitted to practice law in the State of California in 2000. She earned a Juris Doctor degree and Federal Indian Law Certificate from Arizona State University College of Law in 2000. She graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a double major in Women’s Studies and Sociology in 1996.
Current Term: 2023-2026. Pathway to Law and Scholarship Committee Co-Chair.
Current Term: 2023-2026. Pathway to Law and Scholarship Committee Co-Chair.
Cheyenne Sanders (Vice-President) is a citizen of the Yurok Tribe. Her family descends from the Village of Weitchpec and the House of Tse-kwel. Cheyenne currently serves as an in-house attorney focusing on litigation and government for a Southern California tribe. Cheyenne’s professional experience includes appellate litigation, ordinance drafting, and service as a tribal court judge. In addition to serving on CILA, Cheyenne serves on her Tribe’s economic development board and as Board Secretary of Native Action Network. Cheyenne is a graduate of Cornell Law School and a PLSI alum. This is Cheyenne’s third term on the CILA Board of Directors.
Current Term: 2022-2025. Conference Committee Co-Chair.
Current Term: 2022-2025. Conference Committee Co-Chair.
Loretta Miranda (Treasurer) is a descendant of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and was raised on the Morongo Indian Reservation in Southern California. She currently serves as Deputy Tribal Affairs Secretary & Special Counsel for the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom. Loretta previously served as General Counsel for the Karuk Tribe and was also a legal fellow at Berkey Williams LLP. She is a graduate of Lewis & Clark Law School and clerked for US Department of the Interior - Office of the Solicitor Pacific Northwest Region, Native American Rights Fund in Anchorage and the Yurok Tribal Court. Prior to law school, she worked as the Outreach Coordinator for the Friendship House in San Francisco. This is Loretta’s third term on the CILA Board of Directors.
Current Term: 2023-2026. Conference Committee Co-Chair.
Current Term: 2023-2026. Conference Committee Co-Chair.
Cole Bauman (Secretary) is a member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and currently serves as Associate General Counsel for the Pechanga Band of Indians. Cole holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Notre Dame and a J.D. from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. Cole is also a proud alumnus of the Pre-Law Summer Institute for American Indians and Alaska Natives. Prior to joining the Pechanga Band of Indians, Cole worked as a tribal attorney for an Indian nation in northern California and began his career by working at a boutique Indian law firm in New Mexico.
Current Term: 2023-2026.
Current Term: 2023-2026.
Shunya D. Wade-Pitiiddi’ is a human rights attorney and indigenous rights consultant. She holds a Juris Doctor from UC Irvine Law, an L.L.M in European and International Human Rights at Leiden University, and has been licensed to practice in the State of California since 2019. A woman of Black-Native American heritage, Ms. Wade has ancestry in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma. She has worked in Native American spaces since age 18. While attending the University of California, she co-founded the UCSD Inter-tribal Resource Center before becoming the President of the Native American Student Alliance. While in law school, Ms. Wade was a legal intern for the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and interned in UCI’s International Human Rights Litigation Clinic. She was a board member of UCI’s Native American Law Student Association (NALSA) and in that capacity organized legal symposiums from 2016 - 2017 focusing on indigenous and international issues, growing her international network of other indigenous advocates and lawyers. Since graduating Ms. Wade went into private practice in 2018 at Klinedinst PC eventually returning to public interest in 2020 joining Legal Aid Society of San Diego—all while continuing her pro bono work with indigenous peoples. Ms. Wade lives on the Morongo Indian Reservation with her family. In 2022 Ms. Wade received an L.L.M in European and International Human Rights Law from Leiden University where she wrote her Master’s Thesis “Protection of Indigenous Peoples Rights in the Commodification of their Intangible Cultural Heritage: Approaches and Best Practices for the Inter-American System.” Ms. Wade’s research focuses on indigenous sovereignty and economic development. Currently, Ms. Wade acts as the Executive Director of Indigenous Rights Advocacy Group an international indigenous rights NGO that provides education opportunities and consultancy services to indigenous groups and communities.
Current Term: 2022-2025. Newsletter/Legal Journal Committee Co-Chair.
Grace Carson (Yavapai/Chiricahua Apache) serves as a Skadden Fellow for Tribal Law and Policy Institute. Her Skadden Fellowship project is focused on developing a restorative justice program for tribal communities that channels harm-doers away from incarceration and fines, and towards rehabilitation, community involvement, and healing. This project builds on the foundation already established by Tribal Healing and Wellness Courts by incorporating Peacemaking—a tribal practice that repairs intercommunity harm that has been committed. Carson graduated the University of Denver with a BA in Political Science and Journalism (2019), and graduated UCLA School of Law with specializations in Critical Race Studies, Public Interest Law and Policy, and International and Comparative Law (2022). Her current research and scholarship is focused on ethnic studies, critical Indigenous studies, decolonization theory, and abolition theory.
Current Term: 2022-2024 (appointed to fill vacancy). Pathway to Law and Scholarship Committee Co-Chair; Newsletter/Legal Journal Committee Co-Chair.
Current Term: 2022-2024 (appointed to fill vacancy). Pathway to Law and Scholarship Committee Co-Chair; Newsletter/Legal Journal Committee Co-Chair.
Xavier Barraza is an enrolled member of the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians; his grandmother was Marie Arnold-Lincoln of Hopland, and his grandfather, Nelson Hopper of Big Valley. Xavier is a Senior Associate Attorney at Peebles Kidder Bergin & Robinson, LLP and the current president of the Native American Bar Association of Washington, DC. He has over 10 years of policy and legal experience representing tribal governments. His broad expertise encompasses Indian housing, tax, finance, lands, natural and environmental resources, economic development, tribal codes and ordinances, litigation, and veterans’ affairs. Xavier was born in Sacramento and raised on his tribe’s reservation in Hopland, CA. He is a proud alumnus of Sherman Indian High School, a Native American boarding school in Riverside, CA.
Current Term: 2021-2024. Member Engagement and Recruitment Committee Co-Chair.
Current Term: 2021-2024. Member Engagement and Recruitment Committee Co-Chair.
Sarah (Lucero) Parongoa serves as a Skadden Fellow at Disability Rights California. In partnership with the Torres Martinez Tribal TANF, Sarah’s work focuses on combating school pushout of Native youth with disabilities. Sarah graduated from Loyola Law School, where she participated in the Youth Justice Education Clinic and gained experience advocating for youth with disabilities. Prior to (and during her first two years of) law school, Sarah was a public school special education teacher, working in both Los Angeles and Honolulu. She earned her Bachelors of Education from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Sarah grew up in Denver, Colorado and is a descendant of various Pueblo nations from the southern regions of Colorado and northern regions of New Mexico. As a woman of mixed Native and Spanish heritage, Sarah is committed to respecting and preserving the traditions and values of these tribes, the tribes she works with, and the Indigenous community at large.
Current Term: 2023-2025 (elected October 2023 to fill vacancy). Member Engagement and Recruitment Committee Co-Chair; Pathway to Law & Scholarship Committee Co-Chair.
Current Term: 2023-2025 (elected October 2023 to fill vacancy). Member Engagement and Recruitment Committee Co-Chair; Pathway to Law & Scholarship Committee Co-Chair.
Simon Gertler is a staff attorney for California Indian Legal Services' Sacramento Office. Before joining CILS, Simon practiced Indian law with firms in Colorado, Sacramento, and most recently, his hometown of Oakland, California. Simon studied law at Arizona State University, where he earned a certificate in Indian Law. Simon was on the CILA board from 2021-2022, and CILA board President from 2022-2023. Simon is honored to re-join the board to fill a vacancy for 2024.
Current Term: 2024 (appointed May 2, 2024 to fill vacancy). Conference Committee; Member Engagement and Recruitment Committee.
Current Term: 2024 (appointed May 2, 2024 to fill vacancy). Conference Committee; Member Engagement and Recruitment Committee.