School of Law

Alfred Dennis Mathewson is an American law professor, attorney, and legal scholar whose distinguished career has been defined by leadership in legal education, scholarship in business and sports law, and a lifelong commitment to expanding access to the legal profession. Raised in segregated North Carolina in a home without indoor plumbing, Mathewson's journey to becoming the first African American Dean of the University of New Mexico School of Law upon his appointment as Co-Dean in 2015 reflects perseverance, excellence and dedication to equal justice.

A Summa Cum Laude graduate of Howard University School of Business with a law degree from Yale Law School, Mathewson joined the School of Law faculty in 1983 after practicing corporate, banking, and securities law in Denver. He has educated generations of lawyers teaching doctrinal courses and supervising in the Clinic while championing equitable access to corporate and commercial law services in underserved communities. His innovative Sports Law course gave students firsthand exposure to professional sports executives, lawyers, and facilities to connect law with practice.

During his tenure at UNM, Mathewson also served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Director of the Africana Studies Program, and Interim University Counsel. He is nationally recognized for his scholarship on sports law, especially racial and gender equity in athletics, and has spoken at leading law schools across the country.

Mathewson is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a member of the American and National Bar Associations. He has led the New Mexico Black Lawyers and Sam Cary Bar Associations. His many honors include the State Bar of New Mexico's Business Lawyer of the Year Award and recognition as a National Bar Association Region X Living Legend.

Technically retired, Mathewson continues to serve communities in New Mexico and North Carolina through work focused on police reform, guaranteed basic income initiatives, and youth legal education. He is married to his lovely and dynamic college sweetheart. They have three children and two grandchildren.

Bidtah is a member of the Navajo Nation and currently serves as Chief Legal Counsel to the Navajo Nation Office of President Buu Nygren and Vice-President Richelle Montoya. Immediately prior to this role, she served as the Director of the Navajo Nation Division of Natural Resources, overseeing 12 departments including agriculture, parks, forestry, land development, mine remediation, archaeological and cultural resources, and water resources, with a staff of more than 500.

Bidtah’s career has been dedicated to serving the Navajo Nation and its natural resources in several different roles since 2002 with the exception of a nine-month sojourn in 2022. During that time she served as the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) Deputy Secretary for Environmental Justice, Tribal Affairs, and Border Relations as an appointee of Governor Newsom.

Bidtah is also a champion for Indigenous arts and artists. She and her husband are Sustainers of gallupARTS, a nonprofit arts council serving Northwest New Mexico. She currently serves as Member of the National Council on the Arts as a Senate confirmed appointee of President Biden. She previously served on the board of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe as an appointee of President Obama.

Bidtah lives on the Navajo Nation in Fort Defiance, Arizona with her husband, teenage daughter, their black cat and rez dog. Their son attends the University of Arizona (Go Wildcats!).

Chuck Peifer began practicing at the Rodey Law Firm in 1985 where he had the privilege to learn from lawyers such as Jim Ritchie, Chuck Larrabee, Bob McCorkle, and Bruce Hall.

After a short period as Chief Assistant Attorney General in the administration of AG Hal Stratton, in 1990, he joined Jim Browning and Jane Wishner in starting the firm where he still practices and that is now called Peifer, Hanson, Mullins & Baker.

Chuck has long had a special interest in First Amendment and IPRA work and has spent a fair amount of time working on child welfare reform litigation in New Mexico. He also learned class action law from Joe Goldberg when they worked together on some early litigation seeking to help establish foster treatment care in New Mexico. For many years he served as a member and, later, Chair of the Supreme Court’s Committee on the Uniform Jury Instructions for civil cases and admits to being the primary author of the “successive tortfeasor” instructions, which he is informed are nearly incomprehensible but which he contends are really quite clear, at least to him.

Chuck has not yet managed to retire (and chooses not to see this award as encouragement to do so), but is spending some of his free time risking fate by piloting small airplanes. He has been to married to Karen for 35 years and is incredibly proud of their two sons, Will and John.

Krista Garcia is a New Mexico attorney focusing on family law, criminal defense, mediation, and child advocacy matters. After beginning her career as a prosecutor for the State of New Mexico, she transitioned to private practice where she has represented clients in complex custody disputes, domestic violence matters, criminal cases, and serves as a court-appointed Guardian ad Litem.

Krista earned her Juris Doctor from the University of New Mexico School of Law and has studied law in Madrid, The Hague, and Nuremberg.

She is committed to providing honest advice, fierce advocacy, and practical solutions that help clients move forward with confidence.