Tribal Civil Legal Assistance Program

The Montana Legal Services Association (MLSA) and the National Association of Indian Legal Services (NAILS) programs propose to enhance tribal civil justice systems and improve meaningful access to justice within the service areas of the 17 participating NAILS member programs under the Tribal Criminal Legal Assistance Grant. To meet this goal, MLSA and the NAILS member programs will take a three-fold approach: 1) provide direct criminal legal assistance in tribal courts; 2) provide capacity-building services to Tribes to develop public defender offices; and 3) provide institutional-building projects to assist with Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA) education and implementation, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) education and implementation, and other projects designed to meet the needs of local tribal communities.

Primary activities and objectives include making subawards to 17 NAILS member programs, who will use the funding to provide direct criminal legal assistance to at least 800 individuals for public defense in tribal court, providing capacity-building services to Tribes to develop public defender offices, and provide four institutional-building projects. MLSA will administer and coordinate the grant, including monitoring grant compliance amongst the 17 subgrantees, organizing and coordinating an annual Convening/Conference of Subrecipients, and implementing an internal program evaluation. Project deliverables include signed MOUs and program descriptions from the NAILS subrecipients for the proposed project. MLSA and the NAILS member programs will submit data and reports to BJA on a regular basis.

Those who will benefit from the project include the 17 NAILS member programs and the more than 340 tribes and Indian communities they serve across 17 states, including Alaska and California. Individuals to be served are predominantly low income (i.e. living at or below 200% of  the federal poverty level) and living on tribal land, where poverty rates are often high and there may be limited access to criminal defense attorneys. Each program determines for itself which Tribes receive services; for most NAILS programs, this determination is based on which tribes reside in their service area. 

MLSA and the NAILS coalition expect the proposed services and projects will result in increased access to criminal legal defense services for individuals charged with crimes in tribal courts, as well as an overall strengthening of individual tribal justice systems through capacity building projects.  Ultimately, the proposed project will help ensure due process; protect the constitutional and civil rights of Native American defendants; and allow tribes to develop tribal codes and ordinances, which promote tribal sovereignty.