Pierce-Hickerson Award

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Honoring outstanding contributions to the advancement or preservation of Native American rights, the Pierce-Hickerson Award was created in 2003 by advocates in civil legal assistance programs to pay homage to the legacies of Julian Pierce and Robert Hickerson for their outstanding advocacy in pursuit of justice for Native Americans. Pierce was a Lumbee Indian who served as executive director of Lumbee River Legal Services in Pembroke, North Carolina, from 1978 until 1988. Hickerson served as director of Alaska Legal Services Corporation for 20 years and prior to that was director of the Oklahoma Legal Services Center.

Pierce-Hickerson winners listing

Frequency:
Biennial
Year:
2014
Recipient(s) name:

Rosalie (Lisa) Chavez

Recipient title:
Manager of Native American Programs
Recipient organization:
New Mexico Legal Aid, Inc.
Bernalillo, New Mexico
Where presented :
NLADA Annual Conference
Reason for selection of recipient(s):

Lisa is a member of San Felipe Pueblo. She is a 1987 graduate of the University of New Mexico School of Law and has devoted her entire legal career to advocating for low income and disenfranchised Indian people.

Lisa is admitted to practice law in New Mexico, the Federal District Court of New Mexico, and several Pueblo tribal courts. She is currently the manager of the Santa Ana office of New Mexico Legal Aid and manages the Native American Program (NAP), which provides free legal assistance to low-income people living on or near the 19 Pueblo Indian communities. NAP also provides technical assistance and training to tribal services providers, tribal court judges, and staff on various topics such as tribal court procedures, domestic violence advocacy, children’s law issues, and tribal court jurisdiction.

Lisa directed the Indian Pueblo Legal Services, Inc., between 1994 and 1998 when the program merged with Northern New Mexico Legal Services. She also served as the Interim Director of New Mexico Legal Aid twice since 2000 when all New Mexico legal aid programs merged into a statewide program.

Lisa Chavez also served on various boards and commissions including the New Mexico Access to Justice Commission, Southwest Association for Indian Art (SWAIA), San Felipe Pueblo Board of Education, and the Indian Law Section of the State Bar of New Mexico. She was a founding member of the Family Harmony Project, an advocacy program for victims of domestic violence in the checkerboard area of the Navajo Nation. Lisa was nominated and selected as the Best of the Bar in Indian Law by the New Mexico Business Weekly in 2009.

Frequency:
Biennial
Year:
2012
Recipient(s) name:

James Botsford

Recipient title:
Director of the Indian Law Office
Recipient organization:
Wisconsin Judicare
Wausau, Wisconsin
Where presented :
NLADA Annual Conference
Reason for selection of recipient(s):

The National Association of Indian Legal Services takes great pleasure in announcing that James Botsford will be awarded the 2012 Pierce-Hickerson Award. The Pierce-Hickerson Award honors outstanding contributions to the advancement or preservation of Native American rights. The Award was created in 2003 by advocates in civil legal assistance programs to pay homage to the legacies of Julian Pierce and Robert Hickerson for their outstanding advocacy in pursuit of justice for Native Americans.

Botsford began his attorney career in 1984 in a small legal aid office on an Indian reservation in Nebraska where he was the only attorney practicing Indian law. In 1991 James accepted the position of Director of the Indian Law Office of Wisconsin Judicare, based in Wausau, and has held that position ever since. Bostford also serves as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska; and is on the Steering Committee for the National Association of Indian Legal Services; the Board of the Indian Law Section of the Wisconsin Bar; and the Wisconsin Supreme Court created State Tribal Judicial Forum.

Frequency:
Biennial
Year:
2008
Recipient(s) name:

Steven C. Moore

Recipient title:
Senior Staff Attorney
Recipient organization:
Native American Rights Fund
Boulder, Colorado
Where presented :
NLADA Annual Conference
Reason for selection of recipient(s):

Steven C. Moore is the 2008 winner of the Pierce-Hickerson Award. This award is given in recognition of outstanding contributions to the advancement or preservation of Native American rights. It pays homage to the legacies of Julian Pierce and Robert Hickerson for their outstanding advocacy in pursuit of justice for Native Americans. Pierce was a Lumbee Indian who served as executive director of Lumbee River Legal Services in Pembroke, North Carolina, from 1978 until 1988. Hickerson served as director of Alaska Legal Services Corporation for 20 years, and prior to that was director of the Oklahoma Legal Services Center.

Moore serves as senior staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), where he has represented Indian tribes in complex litigation involving treaty fishing rights and implied federal Indian reserved water rights. He served as counsel for the Nez Perce Tribe in the Snake River Basin Adjudication in Idaho. A major settlement of the Nez Perce water rights was enacted by Congress and signed by President Bush in 2004. He also represents the Tule River Tribe of California in its water rights settlement and the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas in water litigation and settlement negotiations. His other work at NARF includes the protection of sacred lands, the repatriation of human remains and the protection of unmarked Native graves, the religious use of peyote by members of the Native American Church and the religious rights of Native prisoners. He is admitted to practice law in several federal and state courts, courts of appeals and the United States Supreme Court. Prior to joining NARF, he represented tribes and individual Indians in northern Idaho as an attorney for Idaho Legal Aid Services, Inc. and represented the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Montana.

For his tireless dedication and outstanding achievements in the struggle to ensure justice for all, we honor Steven C. Moore.