Cheryl Fairbanks
TLINGIT–TSIMSHIAN ELDER & JUSTICE ADVOCATE
Cheryl Demmert Fairbanks, Esq., is Tlingit-Tsimpshian and was born in Ketchikan, Alaska. She is an accomplished attorney, justice, educator, and policy leader whose career has been devoted to Indian law and Indigenous rights. Currently, she serves as the Interim Co-Director for the University of New Mexico’s Native American Budget and Policy Institute. She has also served as a Tribal Court of Appeals Justice and as the Walter R. Echo-Hawk Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at Lewis and Clark. In addition, she has been a visiting Professor of Law at the University of New Mexico’s Southwest Indian Law Clinic, where she shared her expertise with the next generation of Indigenous lawyers and leaders.
Ms. Fairbanks has held many roles throughout her career, including Senior Policy Analyst with the New Mexico Office of Indian Affairs, where she was instrumental in establishing the Indian Child Welfare Desk, the New Mexico Office of Indian Tourism, the University of New Mexico Indian Law Clinic, and the passage of the New Mexico Indian Arts and Crafts Act. Her private practice has spanned work with several respected law firms, including Cuddy McCarthy LLP and Roth, VanAmberg, Rogers, Ortiz, Fairbanks & Yepa, LLP, specializing in tribal-state relations, peacemaking, tribal courts, mediation, family law, and Indigenous law.
Before her law career, Ms. Fairbanks dedicated herself to education, teaching at the Albuquerque Public Schools, Zia Day School, and serving as an administrator at Acomita Day School and the Albuquerque/Santa Fe Indian Schools. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Fort Lewis College (1969) and a Juris Doctorate from the University of New Mexico (1987). Throughout her life’s work, she has combined her dedication to justice, education, and policy with a deep commitment to uplifting Indigenous communities and strengthening tribal sovereignty.
Cheryl Demmert Fairbanks, Esq. works in the area of Indian law as an attorney, peacemaker, and tribal court of appeals justice. Currently, she is a SOROS fellow and she recently founded Sovereignty 360, a peacemaking entity. Also, she was the Interim Co- Director for the UNM Native American Budget and Policy Institute, visiting Professor of Law at the UNM Southwest Indian Law Clinic and was in Oregon serving as the Walter R. Echo-Hawk Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at Lewis and Clark School of Law. Formerly a Partner at Cuddy McCarthy LLP, she had a general practice in Indigenous and Indian law. Currently, she serves as a Peacemaker, Justice for the Tlingit and Haida Supreme Court and the Inter-Tribal Court of Appeals of Nevada. Prior to her law career, she served as a teacher for the Albuquerque Public Schools, Zia Day School, and Administrator for Acomita Day School and the Albuquerque/Santa Fe Indian Schools.
Also, Ms. Fairbanks was a partner with the law firm of Roth, VanAmberg, Rogers, Ortiz, Fairbanks & Yepa, LLP, where she specialized in Indian law. She also worked as senior policy analyst with the New Mexico Office of Indian Affairs in the area of state-tribal relations. There, she was instrumental in establishing the Indian Child Welfare Desk, New Mexico Office of Indian Tourism, the University of New Mexico Indian Law Clinic, and the passage of the New Mexico Indian Arts and Crafts Act.
Ms. Fairbanks is Tlingit-Tsimshian and was born in Ketchikan, Alaska. She obtained her BA from Fort Lewis College in 1969 and her JD in 1987 from the University of New Mexico.
Ms. Fairbanks' publications include:
Indigenous Justice as a Concept in American Jurisprudence, @LAW (NALS) (Summer 2005 reporter)
The Sacred Trust: Our Children, Our Tribal Sovereignty, and the Indian Child Welfare Act, Inside the Minds, Emerging Issues in Tribal-State Relations (2012 Ed.) (Aspatore)
Indian Child Welfare Act Checklists for Juvenile and Family Court Judges NCJFCJ, June 2003
