MIchelle La Pena  (Pit River)

Co-Chair, California I CAN’s California Indian Advisory Board

Michelle L. LaPena is a member of California’s Pit River Tribe and a mother of three. She is an Indian law attorney and has owned and operated an Indian law practice since 2006. In addition, she has published a number of law review articles, essays and non-fiction articles on topics relative to her work with California Indian tribes.   Michelle has served as a trainer in seminars with the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research regarding the implementation of SB 18, a statewide general planning law that she drafted in collaboration with Governor Gray Davis’ Legal Affairs Department in 2004. In 2006, she was featured on the cover of Los Angeles Lawyer Magazine with an article she co-wrote, entitled, “Real Estate Transactions in California’s “Indian Country”: How to Conduct Business with California Indian Tribal Governments and Businesses”. That same year, she left a prominent law firm to begin her own Indian law practice, which she operated successfully until the merger of her practice with Rosette, LLP in November 2018. She is extensively involved in developing statewide policy in California regarding cultural resources protection, including drafting, negotiating, and ensuring the passage of improved cultural preservation laws, including burial site protection and consultation requirements for new projects.  Michelle received her B.A. in 1993 and her J.D. in 1998, both from the University of California, Davis. She is a member of the Pit River Indian Tribe, and is admitted to practice in California, all federal district courts in California, the Hoopa Valley Tribal Court and the San Manuel Tribal Court.  She was a recipient of the 2015 Truman Capote Creative Writing Fellowship and earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts in 2017.