Instructor appointed by President Obama to Indian Law and Order Commission
01/25/2011
Paralegal instructor Theresa M. Pouley, and Chief Judge of the Tulalip Tribal Court, has been appointed by President Obama to the Indian Law and Order Commission. Pouley has taught Indian Law at Edmonds College.
Theresa M. Pouley, Appointee for Member, Indian Law and Order Commission
Theresa M. Pouley is currently the Chief Judge of the Tulalip Tribal Court. She is also an Associate Justice of the Colville Tribal Court of Appeals, and a member of the Colville Confederated Tribes in Northeast Washington. Judge Pouley has served as the President of the Northwest Tribal Court Judges Association since 2005, and on the Board of Directors for the National Tribal Court Judges Association from 2003 to 2004.
From 1999 to 2005, Judge Pouley was the Chief Judge of the Lummi Nation. In 2009, she worked with the Department of Justice as a facilitator for the “Tribal Nations Listening Session”, and in 2010 she facilitated a “Focus Group on Human Trafficking of American Indian and Alaska Native Women and Children” developed by the Office for Victims of Crime. She has also worked and lectured with the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts on domestic violence and Indian law issues for the last several years.
Judge Pouley frequently lectures at local, state and national conferences on Tribal Courts and Indian law issues, and makes regular presentations at the University of Washington’s Indian Law Symposium. In 2005, The National Tribal Child Support Association named her Outstanding Judge. Previously, Judge Pouley practiced law in Michigan and Washington until her appointment to the bench in 1999.
She continues to teach Indian law at Edmonds College, and previously taught at Northwest Indian College. Judge Pouley holds a B.A. from Gonzaga University and a J.D. from Wayne State University Law School.