PRACTICE AREAS
Employment & Labor
Environmental & Natural Resources
Indian Law
Indian Nations Labor & Employment
Litigation
Appellate
Business & Commercial Litigation
EDUCATION
University of Maine School of Law, J.D., 1986
University of Sussex, M. Phil,
with honors, 1983
University of California Berkeley, B.S. ,
phi beta kappa, 1979
BAR & COURT ADMISSIONS
Maine
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Tribal Court
Little River Band of Ottawa Indians Tribal Court
Mohegan Tribe Gaming Disputes Court
Passamaquoddy Tribal Court
Penobscot Nation Tribal Court
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians Tribal Court
Pueblo of Laguna Tribal Court
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
U.S. District Court, District of Maine
U.S. District Court, Western District of Michigan
U.S. Supreme Court
MEMBERSHIPS
American Law Institute, 2007-present
Maine Bar Foundation, 2005-present
Maine Bar Journal
Editorial Advisory Committee, 1989-2001/ Chief Editor, 1999-2001
Edward T. Ginoux Inns of Court
Senior Attorney, 1999-2001
Maine State Bar Association
COMMUNITY/PUBLIC SERVICE
University of Maine School of Law, American Indian Law
Adjunct Professor
National Ski Patrol, Sugarloaf Mountain; Stub Taylor, Pat Murphy Award (2008)
Alpine Patroller (1998-2010)
Portland Public Library Board of Trustees
Member (2003-2010)
Portland Public Library Executive Director Search Committee
Chair (2005)
PRACTICE AREAS
Employment & Labor
Environmental & Natural Resources
Indian Law
Indian Nations Labor & Employment
Litigation
Appellate
Business & Commercial Litigation
EDUCATION
University of Maine School of Law, J.D., 1986
University of Sussex, M. Phil,
with honors, 1983
University of California Berkeley, B.S. ,
phi beta kappa, 1979
BAR & COURT ADMISSIONS
Maine
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Tribal Court
Little River Band of Ottawa Indians Tribal Court
Mohegan Tribe Gaming Disputes Court
Passamaquoddy Tribal Court
Penobscot Nation Tribal Court
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians Tribal Court
Pueblo of Laguna Tribal Court
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
U.S. District Court, District of Maine
U.S. District Court, Western District of Michigan
U.S. Supreme Court
MEMBERSHIPS
American Law Institute, 2007-present
Maine Bar Foundation, 2005-present
Maine Bar Journal
Editorial Advisory Committee, 1989-2001/ Chief Editor, 1999-2001
Edward T. Ginoux Inns of Court
Senior Attorney, 1999-2001
Maine State Bar Association
COMMUNITY/PUBLIC SERVICE
University of Maine School of Law, American Indian Law
Adjunct Professor
National Ski Patrol, Sugarloaf Mountain; Stub Taylor, Pat Murphy Award (2008)
Alpine Patroller (1998-2010)
Portland Public Library Board of Trustees
Member (2003-2010)
Portland Public Library Executive Director Search Committee
Chair (2005)
Kaighn Smith, Jr. leads Drummond Woodsum’s nationwide Indian Law Practice Group. He has represented Indian nations and their enterprises for over 25 years. A litigator, his cases focus on all aspects of federal Indian law. He has won cases for Indian nations’ interests in a wide range of areas, including jurisdiction and sovereignty disputes, gaming matters, labor and employment relations, land-in-trust and environmental matters, and fishing and water rights. He represents clients in the federal, tribal, and state courts and before federal administrative agencies across the country.
In 2011, Kaighn published the leading treatise,
Labor and Employment Law in Indian Country, with the Native American Rights Fund. Since 2012, he has served as associate reporter (with Professors Matthew L.M. Fletcher and Wenona Singel) on the Restatement of American Indian Law for the American Law Institute. He is listed in Chambers USA and in Best Lawyers in America for the category of Native American Law.
Kaighn clerked for Judge Frank M. Coffin at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and for Justice Louis Scolnik at the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. He serves as Adjunct Professor of American Indian Law at the University of Maine School of Law.
REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS & MATTERS
Penobscot Nation and United States v. Maine Attorney General, et als, No. 1:12-CV-254-GZS (D. Me.) (pending)
Rassi v. Federal Program Integrators, 69 F.Supp.3d 288 (D. Me. 2014)
Francis v. Dana-Cummings, 962 A.2d 944 (Me. 2008)
Taxpayers of Michigan Against Casinos v. State of Michigan, 732 N.W.2d 487 (Mich. 2007)
TOMAC v. Norton, 433 F.3d 852 (D.C. Cir. 2006)
Inyo County, California, et al. v. Paiute-Shoshone Indians of the Bishop Community, 538 U.S. 701 (2003)
Penobscot Nation v. Fellencer, 164 F.3d 706 (1st Cir. 1999), cert. denied, 527 U.S. 1022 (1999)
Akins v. Penobscot Nation, 130 F.3d 482 (1st Cir. 1997)
AWARDS
-
Best Lawyers USA, Native American Law 2008-2018
-
New England Super Lawyers, Native American Law, Employment & Labor 2011-2017
-
Chambers USA, Nationwide, Native American Law
-
Martindale Hubbell, BV Distinguished
PUBLICATIONS
Kaighn Smith, Jr. leads Drummond Woodsum’s nationwide Indian Law Practice Group. He has represented Indian nations and their enterprises for over 25 years. A litigator, his cases focus on all aspects of federal Indian law. He has won cases for Indian nations’ interests in a wide range of areas, including jurisdiction and sovereignty disputes, gaming matters, labor and employment relations, land-in-trust and environmental matters, and fishing and water rights. He represents clients in the federal, tribal, and state courts and before federal administrative agencies across the country.
In 2011, Kaighn published the leading treatise,
Labor and Employment Law in Indian Country, with the Native American Rights Fund. Since 2012, he has served as associate reporter (with Professors Matthew L.M. Fletcher and Wenona Singel) on the Restatement of American Indian Law for the American Law Institute. He is listed in Chambers USA and in Best Lawyers in America for the category of Native American Law.
Kaighn clerked for Judge Frank M. Coffin at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and for Justice Louis Scolnik at the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. He serves as Adjunct Professor of American Indian Law at the University of Maine School of Law.
REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS & MATTERS
Penobscot Nation and United States v. Maine Attorney General, et als, No. 1:12-CV-254-GZS (D. Me.) (pending)
Rassi v. Federal Program Integrators, 69 F.Supp.3d 288 (D. Me. 2014)
Francis v. Dana-Cummings, 962 A.2d 944 (Me. 2008)
Taxpayers of Michigan Against Casinos v. State of Michigan, 732 N.W.2d 487 (Mich. 2007)
TOMAC v. Norton, 433 F.3d 852 (D.C. Cir. 2006)
Inyo County, California, et al. v. Paiute-Shoshone Indians of the Bishop Community, 538 U.S. 701 (2003)
Penobscot Nation v. Fellencer, 164 F.3d 706 (1st Cir. 1999), cert. denied, 527 U.S. 1022 (1999)
Akins v. Penobscot Nation, 130 F.3d 482 (1st Cir. 1997)
AWARDS
-
Best Lawyers USA, Native American Law 2008-2018
-
New England Super Lawyers, Native American Law, Employment & Labor 2011-2017
-
Chambers USA, Nationwide, Native American Law
-
Martindale Hubbell, BV Distinguished
PUBLICATIONS
