Frank R. Lawrence is a Partner in the Indian Law Practice Group with more than a decade’s experience representing tribal governments in a broad range of tribal, federal and state law matters. Mr. Lawrence’s practice includes creating governmental and economic entities for Tribes, as well as appellate and civil litigation in areas of federal Indian law, with an emphasis on sovereignty and jurisdictional matters, tribal-state compacts, and administrative law. He has extensive experience counseling clients in all aspects of Indian gaming matters, including compact compliance, NIGC and tribal gaming commission compliance. With Mr. Levine, Mr. Lawrence serves as corporate counsel to the California Nations Indian Gaming Association.
Mr. Lawrence has participated in litigation and negotiations leading to compacts in California and Washington states, was the Proponent of California’s Proposition 5 (the first successful tribal statewide ballot initiative in the nation), and was a spokesman for both Proposition 5 and Proposition 1A. He has represented clients in a number of published cases including:
- Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida, 517 U.S. 44 (1996)
- Confederated Tribes & Bands of Yakama Indian Nation v. Locke, 176 F.3d 467 (9th Cir. 1999)
- Pueblo of Santa Ana v. Kelly, 104 F.3d 1546 (10th Cir. 1997)
- Rumsey Indian Rancheria of Wintun Indians v. Pete Wilson, 64 F.3d 1250 (9th Cir. 1994), amended 99 F.3d 321 (1996)
- Ysleta del Sur Pueblo v. State of Tex., 36 F.3d 1325 (5th Cir. 1994)
- Spokane Tribe of Indians v. Washington State, 28 F.3d 991 (9th Cir. 1994)
- Cabazon Band of Mission Indians v. National Indian Gaming Com'n, 14 F.3d 633 (D.C. Cir. 1994
- Larson v. Neimi, 9 F.3d 397 (9th Cir. 1993)
- Artichoke Joe’s v. Norton, 216 F. Supp. 2d 1084 (E.D. Cal. 2002)
- Rumsey Indian Rancheria of Wintun Indians v. Wilson, 112 F. Supp. 2d 1185 (E.D. Cal. 2000)
- Pueblo of Santa Ana v. Kelly, 32 F. Supp. 1284 (D. NM 1996)
- Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Intern. Union v. Davis, 21 Cal. 4th 585 (1999)
- Western Telcon, Inc. v. California State Lottery, 13 Cal.4th 475 (1996)
- Turner v. Martire, 2 Cal. App. 4th 1042 (2000).
Mr. Lawrence served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of California at Davis, School of Law, from 1995 through 1997, and has lectured on federal Indian law at the University of California, Davis School of Law, McGeorge School of Law, California State University, Sacramento, and National Indian Gaming Association conferences.