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SAIO 50 for 50: Patty Ferguson-Bohnee

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This Week's Spotlight:  Patty Ferguson-Bohnee ('97, B.A. Native American Studies with honors)

Patty Ferguson-Bohnee

Ferguson-Bohnee (Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe) is the Director of the Indian Legal Clinic, Faculty Director of the Indian Legal Program, and Clinical Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. She has substantial experience in Indian law, election law and voting rights, and status clarification for tribes, including testifying before the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and the Louisiana State Legislature regarding tribal recognition. She successfully assisted four bayou tribes in obtaining recognition from the State of Louisiana, and has also advocated for the rights of unrecognized tribes in response to environmental disasters.

Ferguson-Bohnee is one of the American Bar Association Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession’s 2020 Spirit of Excellence Award recipients. She serves as the Native Vote Election Protection Coordinator for the State of Arizona, is a co-founder of the Native American Bar Association of Arizona and has served as President of the National Native American Bar Association of Arizona As a Fulbright Scholar to France, she researched French colonial relations with Louisiana Indians in the 17th and 18th centuries. In addition to her Stanford degree, Professor Ferguson-Bohnee holds a Juris Doctorate from Columbia University School of Law with a certificate in Foreign and Comparative Law. 

Patty's Interview