We are pleased to announce that Allison Athens has joined our Indian law practice in Santa Fe. Allison grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska, and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. After law school she clerked for the Alaska Court of Appeals and then worked at the Office...
Attorney Carolyn M. “Cammie” Nichols and paralegals Esther Lopez and Sonia Salazar have been for the past several years diligently pursuing claims against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe on behalf of clients who are survivors of sexual abuse by priests; first in litigation, then in bankruptcy court a...
Rothstein Donatelli is hiring a Summer Associate 2023. Tempe, AZ. This is a 40 hour/week in-office position with remote work flexibility, as needed and approved upon hire. Applicants must have completed 1L or 2L year by Summer 2023. Excellent research abilities. Excellent written and oral communication skills. Indian law coursework and work experience is preferred but not required. Closing Date: February 10, 2023.
Exciting news! Our Albuquerque location is growing and has hired three new associate attorneys this year. We are happy to welcome Taylor Smith, Isabella Pacheco, and Roshanna Toya to the team...
After an hours-long standoff at a home in Albuquerque on July 6, 2022, during which the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) and the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office (BCSO) repeatedly threw smoke grenades and flash bangs into the home, which ultimately caused a fire that destroyed the home, fift...
Rothstein attorneys Adriana Orman and Wouter Zwart and New Mexico Environmental Law Center attorney Mia Montoya Hammersley authored the article “Indigenous Erasure in Public Schools, Critical Race Theory, Discriminatory Policies, and Remedies for Students,” published in the July/August 2022 issue...
Kendra is a rising 3L at the University of Oklahoma Law School, where she is getting her certificate in Indian law. A native Nebraskan, she received her BA in Education and MA in History from the University of Nebraska at Kearney before moving to Flagstaff, Arizona to attend Northern Arizona Univ...
Yoselin is a rising third-year student at the University of New Mexico School of Law. Yoselin is originally from Denver, Colorado. She visited New Mexico once, and that is all it took to know this was to be her home and where she would attend law school. At UNMSOL, she serves as the Vice Presiden...
Emmalee (she/her) is currently a rising third-year student at the University of New Mexico School of Law. She is extremely passionate about the advancement of equity and diversity in the legal space. In furtherance of this passion and in addition to her work with Rothstein Donatelli, she has cler...
Partner Mark Donatelli was interviewed as part of an investigation by NPR and the The Marshall Project into a federal prison located in Thomson, Illinois, that is one of the country's most violent and dangerous prisons. The prison has been the location of the federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) sp...
DWIs and Expungement A frequently asked expungement question is “Can I expunge my DWI conviction?” The answer, as it so often is in the law, is: “It depends.” The New Mexico Criminal Records Expungement Act is divided up into different sections, including Convictions and Non-Convictions. All “no...
Earlier this month, the families of Rex Corcoran, Jr., and Carmela DeVargas led a protest in front of the Santa Fe County Detention Center in support of their demand that a grand jury be empaneled to investigate the jail's role in the deaths of Mr. Corcoran and Ms. DeVargas. Mr. Corcoran and Ms. ...
Partner April Olson will join with other distinguished panelists at the upcoming 18th Annual ILPC/TICA Indigenous Law Conference (November 4th & 5th) to discuss legal protections for Indian children beyond the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) that are still viable after the Fifth Circuit's Brakeen...
The Firm is pleased to welcome Steve Heeley as of counsel. The breadth and depth of Steve's work on behalf of Indian tribes is unparalleled. Most recently, Steve spent many years as outside counsel and consultant to a large tribe in Arizona, and, prior to that, as in-house counsel for the tribe...
Partner Mark Donatelli chides Governor Lujan Grisham for ignoring the results of a recent study showing that bail reform in New Mexico (implemented in 2017) has successfully reduced pretrial detention rates while maintaining public safety. Notwithstanding the results of the study, Governor Lujan...
Associate Attorney Job Announcement
Attorneys Glennas’ba Augborne Arents and April Olson analyze the Fifth Circuit decision in Brackeen v. Haaland and discuss the decision’s impacts on the federal Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and ICWA cases in the state of Arizona.
Nat (they/them) is a rising third-year student at the University of New Mexico School of Law (Class of 2022). They are the Bluebook Editor for Volume 52 of the New Mexico Law Review, president of the Lambda Law Student Association, and a W.K. Kellogg Child & Family Justice Advocate. They also ser...
Rothstein Donatelli Welcomes Summer Associate
This year's special legislative session has brought several new changes to New Mexico, including to the Criminal Record Expungement Act. These changes will provide, among other things, improvements to the way expungements are handled as well as providing for automatic expungement for certain cann...
The lawyers of Rothstein Donatelli stand shoulder to shoulder with survivors of childhood sexual abuse in New Mexico. Unfortunately, the Catholic Church unleashed untold number of predators into our communities, leading to generations of devastation and decades of secrecy and coverup. Each of us ...
Partner April Olson discusses how state court pro hac vice rules often deny tribes the ability to participate in state court child custody proceedings concerning Indian children, and suggests how state court rules could be revised to ensure that tribal nations have “a seat at the table,” as requi...
After the NMAG withheld more than 26,000 pages of public records documenting connections between credibly accused priests and New Mexico, Rothstein Donatelli filed a lawsuit on behalf of a priest sex abuse survivor to obtain those public records. For decades, Catholic Church authorities se...
Partner April Olson, a graduate of Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Conner College of Law Indian Legal Program (ILP), was recently featured in a series published by ILP titled, “Progress, Power, and Purpose,” in celebration of Women's History Month and contributions made by ILP women legal p...
Rothstein Donatelli congratulates partner Richard W. Hughes, who has been named the 2020 recipient of the New Mexico State Bar Indian Law Section Attorney Achievement Award in recognition of his achievements in Indian law and his many contributions to the community. Richard has practiced federal...
