Indian tribes enjoy sovereign immunity from civil suits arising from contractual relationships, even if the contracts are made, paid, or performed entirely off the reservation. Tribally owned corporations generally enjoy sovereign immunity from suit as well.

Savvy attorneys know that a well-executed waiver of sovereign immunity is a green light to conduct profitable business with an Indian tribe. Tribes regularly execute these waivers, but most transactional attorneys may only see one or two of these in their careers. While those attorneys can be forgiven for not having deep Indian law experience, they should not be forgiven for failing to bring in an expert. Here are some aspects of doing business with tribes that an experienced Indian law attorney will know how to handle.

Most Indian tribes doing business want to be fair and maintain mutually beneficial and lasting relationships, but they have a legitimate interest in protecting against the risk that the Tribe's coffers will be emptied by a large judgment award. To that end, Tribes are accustomed to executing limited waivers. In our experience, an overzealous tribal attorney may open negotiations with a waiver so limited that it offers no real recourse and present it as "boilerplate" language that can't be revisited. Of course, this is nonsense. To prevent the dispute resolution negotiations from souring the relationship, make it clear early on that you expect a process that will lead to a fair resolution for the parties and that you are prepared to walk away from a deal without a process that protects the interests of both parties.