NARF Attorneys & Staff
We would like to recognize the NARF attorneys and staff who contributed to the project.
Mark C. Tilden (Navajo), NARF Senior Staff Attorney. Mark was the Lead Attorney and Project Manager on the development and publication of A Practical Guide to the Indian Child Welfare Act, as well as a contributing author. He was formerly with a private law firm from September, 1990 to September, 1994 when he then joined the Native American Rights Fund as a staff attorney. He represents tribal governments on federal recognition, administrative law, water law, environmental law, Indian gaming law and economic development, legislative advocacy at the state and federal level, Indian child welfare and protection services law and tribal governance. He writes, lectures and trains in some of these areas of federal Indian law. He was awarded the Environmental Achievement Award by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for Outstanding Work with the Oglala Sioux Tribe on developing a Tribal Environmental Code. He is the author of a book titled Tribal Constitution Handbook, A Practical Guide to Writing or Revising a Tribal Constitution and co-author of the soon-to-be-published Indian Child Welfare Act Handbook: A Legal Guide to the Custody and Adoption of Native American Children. He is admitted to practice law in Colorado, New York and the District of Columbia, as well as several federal and tribal courts. He is a member of a number of legal associations, including current service on the American Bar Association’s Presidential Advisory Council on Diversity in the Profession, and former service on the ABA Steering Committee on the Unmet Legal Needs of Children and the ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty.
Kim Gottschalk, NARF Senior Staff Attorney. Kim is a Senior staff attorney who joined the Native American Rights Fund in August of 1982. From 1974-1982 he was with the law firm of Fettinger and Bloom in Alamagordo, New Mexico representing the Mescalero Apache Tribe. At NARF, Kim has worked primarily on federal recognition, land claims cases and international indigenous rights. He received his law degree from Northwestern University.
David Gover (Pawnee/Choctaw), NARF Staff Attorney. David joined the Native American Rights Fund as a staff attorney in May, 2005. Since joining NARF’s Boulder office, he has worked in the areas of Indian child welfare, water rights, and repatriation. Before joining NARF, David served as an Assistant Attorney General for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and was primarily assigned to natural resource, environmental and water issues. He also served as Legislative Counsel for the Navajo Nation from October, 2001 to June, 2004. While serving the Navajo Nation, David was assigned to the Navajo Nation Council’s Resources Committee and provided advice on water, land, and oil and gas legal issues, and various governmental and legislative process matters. David received his J.D. and B.A. degrees from the University of Oklahoma in 2001 and 1997, respectively. He is admitted to practice law in Oklahoma, New Mexico, the Navajo Nation, and Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
David Selden, NARF/NILL Law Librarian. David has been the Law Librarian for the Native American Rights Fund/National Indian Law Library (NARF/NILL) since 1998. He is responsible for the overall direction and management of the NARF and NILL library programs and services. Prior to this position, David was the Research Specialist/Law Librarian at Orr & Reno, PA a mid-sized law firm in Concord, NH. David’s areas of expertise include legal research and instruction, digitization and web publishing and is a frequent speaker on Indian law. David serves on the Native Peoples Law Caucus of the American Association of Law Libraries as the project manager for the Tribal Law Cooperative project which seeks to improve access to tribal law. David has a Master of Library Science— Simmons College, Boston MA, 1987, and a B.S. Music Education, Appalachian State University, Boone NC 1983.
Monica Martens, NARF/NILL Assistant Law Librarian. Monica joined the Native American Rights Fund as a law librarian in October 2001. She coordinates technical services for NARF’s National Indian Law Library and co-manages NARF’s various web sites. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism and Communications from the University of Florida, a Master of Arts degree in Sociology from Colorado State University, and a Master of Science degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois. She frequently presents programs and writes articles about Indian law research. In 2006, she was awarded the Public Access to Government Information Award for the library's work in making its unique collection of tribal laws accessible online. She is a member of the Library and Information Technology Association, the American Association of Law Libraries, and was inducted into the honor society of Phi Kappa Phi.
We would also like to acknowledge volunteers and part-time employees at the National Indian Law Library who offered web support: Megan Blanton, Amjad Chaudhry, Connie Ge, Jill Herbert, Lisa Hertz, Jordan Howard, Marcin Mroz, Audra Schaefer, Jeff Schmidt and Erik Zurinskas,
We also recognize NARF's law clerks that contributed in multiple ways during the development of the guide: Molly Barnett, Jennifer Bear Eagle, Amy Bowers, Karol Dixon, Erin Dougherty, Dianne Hippe, Nicole Homer, Meghan Kelly, Stephanie Lurie, Ruth Mackey, Ray Rubio, Natasha Singh and Merrill Yeslith.
Lastly, we recognize NARF's legal assistant, Joanne Soklin, for her outstanding administrative support from its inception.