Scott Wheat
Attorney
BIO
Scott has served tribal governments in various capacities, including as general counsel, in-house associate counsel, and special gaming counsel. He has negotiated Class III gaming compacts, federal Secretarial procedures in lieu of compacts, and state/tribal cigarette, tobacco and fuel taxation agreements.
Scott has substantial experience representing tribes throughout the West in all areas of tobacco commerce. He is also a leading practitioner in the area of after-acquired Indian lands for gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Scott’s broad, multi-state litigation experience includes representing tribal governments and enterprises in tribal, state and federal courts in matters involving gaming, taxation, jurisdiction, sovereign immunity, Treaty rights, natural resource protection, land use, federal recognition, ancient land claims, commercial agreements, and PL 638 contracts.
In addition to matter-specific engagements on behalf of tribes in Oregon, California and Texas, Scott serves as General Counsel and Special Gaming Counsel for the Spokane Tribe. Scott was an attorney for Crowell Law Offices from 2007-2013, where he focused on complex litigation on behalf of tribes.
Scott has also served as in-house counsel for the Office of the Spokane Tribal Attorney (2005-2007) and for the Office of the Suquamish Tribal Attorney (1996-2002). Over the course of his career, Scott has also served tribes as their prosecutor, public defender, judge, and appellate justice.
PERSONAL
A member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Scott resides in Spokane Washington with his wife and daughter, who are enrolled members of the Spokane Tribe. Scott enjoys spending time in Indian Country in Washington, Oklahoma and British Columbia, attending family and cultural events.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2013 – Present
Owner, Wheat Law Offices
2007-2013
Crowell Law Offices, Associate
2005-2007
Office of the Spokane Tribal Attorney, Staff Attorney
2003-2005
Law Offices of Scott Wheat
2001-1996
Office of the Suquamish
Co-Director (1998-2001)
Staff Attorney (1997-1998)
Tribal Attorney & Prosecutor (1996-1997)
1996-1995
Northwest Intertribal Court System, Tribal Prosecutor
EDUCATION
Seattle University School of Law, magna cum laude, 1995 - Top 5%
Inn of Court
Judicial Externship, Judge Elaine Houghton, Washington State Court of Appeals, Division II
The Evergreen State College, 1991. Liberal Arts
ADMITTED TO BAR
State of Washington
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Several Tribal Courts, including the Spokane Tribal Court, the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Court, the Suquamish Tribal Court, and the Rincon Tribal Court
REPRESENTATIVE SEMINARS & PRESENTATIONS
Speaker, Annual Northwest Gaming Law Summit, Seattle, WA, 2010, 2011, 2012. 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017
Presenter, Comparison Between the “Brown Compacts” and the 1999 Compacts, Western Indian Gaming Conference, 2012
Presenter, Tobacco Tax Agreements between States and Indian Tribes, Western Indian Gaming Conference, 2011
Presenter, Implications of the Rincon v. Schwarzenegger for Tribal TaxPlanners, National Intertribal Tax Alliance, 13th Annual Conference, 2011
Rick Eichstaedt
Attorney
BIO
Rick Eichstaedt started his legal career as a Staff Attorney for the Nez Perce Tribe. During his seven years with the Tribe, he worked on a wide variety of environmental, natural resource, cultural resource, and treaty-rights protection cases.
Rick currently serves as an adjunct professor of law at Gonzaga University and directs the nonprofit Center for Justice. Rick is licensed to practice law in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, as well as federal courts in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Rick has served on the Board of the Environmental and Natural Resource Section of the Idaho State Bar, and numerous natural resource management boards. He currently sits on the local board managing the Spokane River Regional Toxics Taskforce and provides policy guidance to the EPA Region 10 Tribal Operations Committee.
Rick has published articles on environmental and natural resources in various journals and legal publications, including articles on the exercise of treaty whaling rights by the Makah Tribe, implementation of Clean Air Act rules in Indian County, and on Federal Energy Regulation Commission dam relicensing proceedings.
PERSONAL
Rick resides in Spokane, Washington with his wife, son, and daughter. Rick is an avid skiier, whitewater rafter, and stand on-top paddleboarder.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2017 - Present
Attorney, Wheat Law Office
2005 - Present
Director/Attorney, Center for Justice
2011- Present
Adjunct Professor of Law, Gonzaga University
2009-2012
Attorney, Bricklin & Newman, LLP
1998-2005
Attorney, New Perce Tribe
1996
Intern, Department of Interior, Office of Regional Solicitor
EDUCATION
Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College, Portland Oregon
J.D., July 1997, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Certificate
Class Rank: Top 1/3
Hamline University, Saint Paul, Minnesota
B.A. Political Science and Anthropology, May 1994
ADMITTED TO BAR
U.S. Supreme Court
Oregon State Bar
Idaho State Bar
Washington State Bar
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Idaho Federal District Court
Oregon Federal District Court
Federal Court for the Eastern District of Washington
Federal Court for the Western District of Washington
REPRESENTATIVE SEMINARS & PRESENTATIONS
Legal Issues Involved in Utilizing Traditional Ecological Knowledge, U.S. EPA Region 10, March 2018
Community Lawyering, Washington State Bar Association, September 2017
The Hells Canyon FERC Relicensing, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, February 1999
Water Law and Indian Water Rights, Falmouth Institute, June 1999, March 2000, June 2000, March 2001, & August 2003
Nez Perce Tribal Water Claims in the Snake River Basin, Idaho State Bar Annual Meeting, July 1999
Indian Hunting and Fishing Rights Law, Falmouth Institute, January 2000, March 2001, October 2001, & July 2002
Challenges to Environmental Regulation in Indian Country and Snake River Dam Removal, National Tribal Conference on Environmental Management, May 2000
Tribes and the Endangered Species Act, Celebration 2000: Washington State Bar Association Annual Meeting, September 2000
Environmental Issues Impacting Indian Reservations, Environmental Crimes Conference, October 2000
Water Quality Jurisdictional Issues, Columbia River Basin Tribal Water Quality Conference, November 2000
Dam Breaching: A Tribal Perspective, Western Water Law Conference, February 2001
Columbia Basin Water Quality Processes, Columbia River Basin Tribal Water Quality Conference, October 2001
The Freedom of Information Act and Implications to Tribes, Pacific Northwest Tribal Air Network Quarterly Meeting, October 2002
Tribal Perspectives on Dam Breaching, University of Idaho, School of Law, April 2003
Tribal Water Quality Standards: Protecting Tribal Waters and Beyond, River Rally 2003, May 2003
Salmon Recovery and Environmental Justice, University of Idaho, School of Law, October 2003
Dam Relicensing 101, Sierra Club/The Lands Council Educational Event, May 2005
Guest Lecture on Tribal Water Rights, Gonzaga Law School Water Law Course, Fall 2005
Perspective on the Clean Water Act Use Attainability Analysis Process, EPA Workshop on Designated Uses and Use Attainability Analyses, July 2006
PUBLICATIONS
Co-Author, Water Quality Standards & Hydropower Dams: Finding Concrete Solutions, THE WATER REPORT, November 15, 2007, at 19
Co-Author, More Dam Process: Relicensing of Dams and the 2005 Energy Policy Act, THE IDAHO STATE BAR ASSOCIATION ADVOCATE, June/July 2007, at 33
Contributing Author, Treaties: Nez Perce Perspective (2003)
Co-Author, Federal Implementation of the Clean Air Act in Indian Country, THE IDAHO STATE BAR ASSOCIATION ADVOCATE, February 2003, at 16
“Save the Whales” v. “Save the Makah”: The Makah and the Struggle for Native Whaling, 4 ANIMAL LAW 145 (1998)
Jessica Flett
Attorney
BIO
A graduate of Cornell Law School, Jessica Flett is our youngest Associate. Prior to joining the firm, Jessica served as Prosecuting Attorney for the Spokane Tribe of Indians where she drew on her experience prosecuting gross misdemeanors in King County District Court. She also previously worked with the Yakama Nation as a Public Defender representing tribal members in criminal and civil cases before the Yakama Nation Tribal Court and the Yakima County District Court, as well as with the Tulalip Tribes’ Tribal Prosecutor as an intern.
Prior to attending law school, Jessica worked with the Spokane Tribal 477/TANF program providing services to tribal families in need. Earlier in her undergraduate education at the University of Washington she completed a summer research program at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory where she came to value scientific discovery, as well as a deep appreciation for all things related to space exploration.
More recently, she has been learning the skills necessary to represent tribal governments in matters related to gaming, PL-280 jurisdiction, sovereign immunity, commercial agreements, cultural resources protection, inter-governmental communications, among others.
In her free time, Jessica dabbles in video games, among other things, while maintaining her connections to a network of like-minded friends from around the world.
Jessica is an enrolled member of the Spokane Tribe of Indians and was born and raised in the Spokane area.