Casey Douma and Suzanne Martinez Receive Inaugural Scholarship

Casey Douma and Suzanne Martinez were the recipients of the first New Mexico State Bar Indian Law Section Bar Preparation Scholarships.

The section established the scholarship so that awardees can better concentrate on preparing for the bar exam. The scholarships are for current graduates who intend to practice Indian law. Douma and Martinez were awarded scholarships of $2,000.

They were selected based upon their interest and academic background in Indian Law, involvement in Indian communities and issues, academic achievement and financial need.

Douma's heritage is Laguna Pueblo and Hopi-Tewa. In 2005, he started a moot court program based on Indian law issues for high school juniors and seniors at the Santa Fe Indian School. He also co-taught a class at UNM entitled, “Building Native Nations.” The class structure modeled a tribal council and students tackled issues common to Indian Nations.

While working on her master's degree in American Indian Studies at UCLA prior to law school, Martinez produced documentary films about social issues facing Native Americans. In the summer of 2005, she received an award from the Institute for American Indian Research to study the role of indigenous peoples in the United Nations system in Geneva, Switzerland.