Paul reappointed tribal judge

Patricia Paul was appointed to the Grand Ronde Court of Appeals by the Tribal Council of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Oregon in January. Paul, a La Conner lawyer and member of the Inupiaq Tribe, was reappointed to the three-member panel along with Robert Miller. Patricia Davis Gibson, the third judge, is a new appointee. Their two-year term started February. 1.

Paul is a business and estate-planning lawyer specializing in land use law and federal Indian law. She lives on the Swinomish Reservation, where her husband, Kevin Paul, serves on the Tribal Senate. She earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies from Antioch University in 1993 and a law degree from Seattle University in 1998. Paul is the food editor of the La Conner Weekly News.

The judgeship allows for family connections. Said Paul, “Traveling to preside at the Grand Ronde Tribal Court allows me to visit our daughter, Katherine, who lives and works in Portland. My husband, Kevin, travels with me and he visits the cultural department of the tribe.”

The Tribe established the Court of Appeals in 2001, Tribal Court Administrator Angela Fasana said. On average, the court has one to two cases per year. In 2015, the court received nine filings as the result of an enrollment audit and disenrollments.