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Colette Routel joined the Firm in 2007, after working for more than five years as an Indian-law associate with a large Minneapolis firm. Colette has a broad-based practice that includes litigation, gaming, financing and other matters for Indian tribes, tribal members, and businesses. Colette is currently an Assistant Professor of Law at William Mitchell College of Law, where she teaches Federal Indian Law, Property I & II, and Natural Resources Law.
Ms. Routel is an experienced litigator and has argued cases before five different tribal courts, Minnesota and South Dakota state courts, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. She has represented Indian tribes, tribal members and businesses in matters involving sovereign immunity, taxation, housing, the Indian Child Welfare Act, gaming and labor and employment. Colette also provides day-to-day advice for Indian tribes on jurisdictional issues, assists in the drafting of tribal laws and negotiates intergovernmental agreements and other contracts.
Colette advises clients on all aspects of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and other federal gaming laws applicable to Indian tribes. She routinely drafts and negotiates development, consulting and management agreements, and shepherds these agreements through the National Indian Gaming Commission's approval and declination process. Additionally, Colette has substantial experience evaluating the legality of gaming on proposed casino sites, and has drafted and analyzed requests for restored-lands determinations.
Ms. Routel has worked on tribally related financings involving more than 25 Indian tribes throughout the United States. These financings have included syndicated and non-syndicated bank loans and credit facilities and the offer and sale of indentured debt securities.
Colette also has an extensive pro bono practice and has handled matters involving family law, wildlife law, wilderness law, civil rights law and asylum/refugee law.
Colette has taught the following classes and seminars:
- Visiting Assistant Professor, Federal Indian Law and Natural Resources Law, University of Michigan Law School, 2008 - 2009
- Visiting Assistant Professor, Native American Law, Natural Resources Law, Civil Procedure, Wayne State Law School, 2007 - 2008
- Adjunct Professor, Environmental Law & Ecology, Hamline University School of Law, 2005
- Adjunct Professor, Environmental Law & Ecology, Hamline University School of Law, 2006
- Adjunct Professor, Native American Law, Hamline University School of Law, 2004
- Coach and Judge, National Native American Law Students' Association Moot Court Competition, Hamline University School of Law/William Mitchell College of Law, 2005
- Coach and Judge, National Native American Law Students' Association Moot Court Competition, Hamline University School of Law/William Mitchell College of Law, 2006
- Coach and Judge, National Native American Law Students' Association Moot Court Competition, Hamline University School of Law/William Mitchell College of Law, 2007
- Presenter, Tribes Mean Business, University of Wisconsin School of Law, 2006
- Presenter, NCAI Mid-Year Conference, Tribal Businesses: The Advantages and Disadvantages of Forming Separate Tribal Instrumentalities and Corporations, 2005
- Presenter, The NIGC's Proprietary Interest, University of Michigan Law School, 2005
- Presenter, Large Law Firm Commitment to Indian Law, University of St. Thomas Law School, 2004
- Presenter, Exhaustion Doctrine, Less than Predictable, Minnesota Institute of Legal Education, 2003
