Current Employment Position(s)

Member

Lawyer Overview

Gabriel "Gabe" Galanda, a descendant of the Nomlaki and Concow Tribes and enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, is a Member in the Seattle office. He founded the firm's Tribal Practice Group in 2002 and serves on the Williams Kastner Board of Directors. Mr. Galanda's practice focuses on complex, multi-party Indian law and gaming litigation, representing Indian tribes. He also assists tribal governments and Indian-owned corporations with economic development and diversification initiatives, and works with corporate entities, financiers and gaming vendors that do business in Indian country. Mr. Galanda's recent work includes:

• Representing a tribal borrower in a $200 million gaming financing
• Developing an inter-tribal gaming machine permit allocation consortium
• Securing a settlement of $5.5 million and return of 17 acres of ancestral land for a tribe whose ancestral village and burial ground was destroyed by development of a state transportation project
• Defending tribes and tribal insureds from tort claims in tribal, state and federal court, including efforts to compel federal defense under the Federal Tort Claims Act
• Representing tribes in insurance coverage disputes with their insurers
• Prosecuting and defending commercial litigation matters for tribes and Indian businesses
• Defending and asserting tribal treaty and land rights and tax preemption in federal court proceedings
• Assisting tribes with corporate formation, real estate, financing, and gaming transactions
• Representing Indian casinos and tribal gaming agencies in various business and regulatory matters
• Facilitating contractual relations between national and publicly traded companies, and tribes
• Advocating on behalf of tribes and gaming companies to the Washington State Gambling Commission and National Indian Gaming Commission

Gabe has co-chaired the Emerging Northwest Tribal Economies conference - the premier tribal economic diversification summit in the Pacific Northwest - since 2004. He has also co-authored the Tribal Court Litigation chapter to the American Bar Association's Annual Review of Developments in Business and Corporate Litigation two-volume desk reference book, since 2006. The chapter is the most comprehensive tribal commercial litigation text currently in print. Gabe has also served as Editor-in-Chief of the entire book since 2007.

Areas of Practice

• Indian Law & Gaming
• Litigation - General
• Tribal Sports & Entertainment Law
• Law, Legislative & Government Affairs

West Practice Categories

Native Peoples Law, Gaming Law, Litigation & Appeals

Bar Admissions

• Washington
• U.S. District Court Western District of Washington
• Yakima Tribal Court
• Puyallup Nation

Professional Associations and Memberships

• American Bar Association (Ambassador, Business Law Section)
• American Bar Association (Membership Chair, Gaming Law Sub-Committee)
• Federal Bar Association (Member, Indian Law Section)
• National Native American Bar Association (Officer)
• Northwest Indian Bar Association (Treasurer)
• Washington State Bar Association (Chair, Indian Law Section)

Honors and Awards

• The Best Lawyers in America in Indian Law
• "Up and Coming Lawyers" by Lawyers USA, 2006 - Present
• Rising Star by Washington Law & Politics magazine in 2002, 2004 - 2007
• "Leading Edge Litigators" by Washington Law & Politics magazine, 2003 - Present
• WSBA Young Lawyers' Division's Outstanding Young Lawyer Award, 2004 - Present
• 2005 Doug Mason Memorial Award from the Municipal League of King County
• Northwest Indian Bar Association's Native Justice Award, 2004 - Present
• National Native American Law Students' Association Alumnus of the Year, 2001 - Present

Classes and Seminars

• University of Washington
• Seattle University
• University of Idaho
• University of Arizona

Past Employment Positions

• Dr. Stephen Cornell, Director of the Udall Center for Public Policy, Research Assistant
• Washington, D.C. office of Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Morris K. Udall Intern
• Office of the Prosecutor Tohono O'Odham Nation in Sells, AZ, Externed

Education

• University of Arizona College of Law, Tucson, Arizona, 2000
  J.D.
  
  Law Journal: Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law, Note Editor
• Western Washington University, 1997
  B.A.
  Major: English Literature

Offers Free Initial Consultation

Published Works

• Tribal Sports Business, Law & Regulation: A Win-Win-Win Proposition, Indian Gaming, July, 2009
• Sports, Deals, and Indian Country, Entertainment and Sports Lawyer,, Spring, 2009
• Holding Big Insurance Captive, Indian Country Today, May & June, 2009
• The Law of Business in Indian Country, Law Trends & News (American Bar Association), Winter, 2009
• Indian Law on the Bar Exam Benefits Everyone, Indian Country Today, February, 2009
• Smart Bets in Indian Country: A Gaming Lawyer's Primer, Gaming Law Gazette (American Bar Association), December, 2008
• Deal or No Deal? Understanding Indian Country Transactions, Business Law Today (American Bar Association), November/December, 2008
• Tribal Sports: Cultivating Healthy Indians - and Tribal Economies, Indian Law Newsletter (Washington State Bar Association), November, 2008
• Leveraging Tribal Sovereign Economic Advantages to Attract Private Investment in Indian Country, Indian Country Today, May, 2005

Address

Two Union Square
601 Union Street, Suite 4100
Seattle, WA 98101-2380

Phones

(206) 628-2780

Faxes

(206) 628-6611

Emails

Contact Us

Websites

http://www.williamskastner.com