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Show SUN "SEPTEMBER 7, 1997 ye “FIST PETEFF SE Sew: The Sait Lake Tribune Lynn R. Johnyon/TheSalt Lake Tribune Claudeen BatesArthur, formerattorney general of the Navajo Nation, nowis in private practice (when notraising horses) in St. Michaels,Ariz., near Window Rock. Blazing New Trails Navajo attorney adds grandmother, horsewomanto her résumé. BY JUDY MAGID THE SALT DARE SRUFONE Notlong ago she saw meout on thetractor here atthehorse farm. Shesaid, ‘Whyare you doing a man's work?’ Thefirst Navajo woman to graduate from Arizona State “TI knew her and her kids. I watched her go through a divorce, She kept on working. It was a difficult time and a T. MICHAELS,Ariz. — For more than 20 years, Claudeen University College of Law, Tempe(1974), Bates Arthuris a difficult job, My admiration for her continues to grow.” Bates Arthur has been admittedto the bar associations of Bates Arthur defined herself as a Navajo womanlawyer. trailblazer. the Navajo Nation, Arizona and New Mexico as well as to Navajo Nationsaid. her achievement asattorney general is momumental ments for 17 years, Now shehasa private law practice with an office in her home in St. Michaels, a little better than a stone's throw from Window Rock, capital of the Navajo Nation, The office overlooks her garden and faces east toward the Window Rock, where a hugecircle in the red-rock cliff is open to embrace the sky. Nation fromthe ground up,” Nelson said. ‘'Unti! then, out side counsel handled Navajo legal affairs.” Technically, Bates Arthur was the Navajo Nation’s second attorney general “[Navajo Nation] Chairman Peterson Zah appointed Claudeen when he waselected in 1982," Nelson said. “A “Today, | would put ‘grandmother and horsewoman' at the top of the list,” the former attorney general of the Bates Arthur worked in Indian and federal legal depart- Bates Arthi Long-time colleague Michael Nelson, presiding judge for the Apache County Superior Courtin St. Johns, Ariz., said “Essentially, she set up a legal system for the Navajo the U.S, Supreme Court, U.S. Courtof Appeals for the 10th and 9th circuits, and U.S. district courts in Arizona and New Mexico and is authorized to practice before the White Mountain Apache Tribal Courts. She was Navajo Nation attorney general when the U.S. SupremeCourt uphelda ruling allowing the Navajo Nation to tax companies operating on Navajo land (Kerr-McGeevs Navajo Nation). More important than the millions of dol lars these taxes bring to the Navajo Nation is the recognition by the U.S. government of the Navajo Nation as a legitimate government with theright to tax the keynote speaker for the Young Wom- white lawyer from outside [the Navajo Nation] served as en's Christian Association of Salt Lake City LeaderLuncheon IX Friday at 11:30 a.m. at the Salt Lake Marriott hotel. At 55, she is trying to confine her legal practice to three days a week. “A couple of years ago, I took a look at mylife, asking myself whatit is I want to do, The answer is to raise racing attorney general for a few months prior tothat. “The federal government doubted that Navajos could set up a legal system. She got in there and did it — and as a Navajo. The systemis in place today.” Nelson met Bates Arthur when each worked with the People’s Legal Service — DNA — in Shiprock, N.M. They kept in touch when Bates Arthur went to Washington, D.C., as an attorneyin the U.S. DepartmentoftheInterior, Office wear. Evidently there was concern that | would wear some raised horses when I was a youngster. I was his jockey.” Not that her mother, Rose Bates, approved. “My motheris a tough cookie, but she did not want me being a jockey, She wanted her daughters to do girl things. of the Solicitor, When Bates Arthur moved to Window Rock as field solicitor for the Department of the Interior, and later when she became attorney general, she and her family lived across the street from Nelson. See BATES ARTHUR, Page J-3 quarter horses, My father, Claude Bates, who died last year, Bates Arthurdid not arguethecase. “My name is on the brief,’ she said. I was head of the law firm, so to speak. I felt because Elizabeth Bernstein did the work, she should have the opportunity to appear before the court “1 was in court. A clerk called to see what I was going to sort of Navajo dress insteadof a lawyer power suit “1 do notgo to court to make a personal statement. I do |
