"Matthew Fletcher, associate professor at Michigan State University College of Law, was drawn to law by his family and by tribal elders in his Indian communities – the Grand Traverse Band and the Pokagon Band.

“There was and is an acute need for American Indian lawyers, to work with tribal governments and to work on American Indian issues nationally in every sphere of government,” he says.

After earning his bachelor’s degree in English language and literature from the University of Michigan in 1994, Fletcher graduated from the U-M Law School in 1997. He is a member of the state bar in Arizona, Michigan, and Washington.

Fletcher, who teaches Advanced Topics in Indian Law, Constitutional Law I, Federal Law and Indian Tribes, began thinking about teaching when he realized that much of the legal work he was doing for Indian tribal clients had never been done before.

“There was no analytical track record upon which to build. Everything was an issue of first impression,” he says. “These experiences, as well as my love of writing, gave me the inspiration to develop my legal scholarship in American Indian law.”

Fletcher has worked as a staff attorney for four Indian Tribes: the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Hoopa Valley Tribe, Suquamish Tribe, and Grand Traverse Band. He is a citizen of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, located in Peshawbestown on Michigan’s Leelanau Peninsula.

He is the Chief Justice of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians Supreme Court, sits as an appellate judge for the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, and the Hoopa Valley Tribe, and recently accepted an appointment to the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Supreme Court."

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Native Intelligence - Law professor an expert on American Indian issues (The Flint-Genesee Legal News 11/26)