Seattle, WA – Former Superior Court Judge and Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs, Debora Juarez, has joined Williams, Kastner & Gibbs as Of Counsel in the firm’s Seattle Office.
In her new position Ms. Juarez will concentrate on economic development in Indian Country, providing legal counsel to tribes and their partners in a wide variety of business, environmental, and regulatory issues. Ms. Juarez joins Williams, Kastner & Gibbs as part of its concentrated effort to offer a wide range of legal services to tribal governments including counsel relating to economic development and inter-governmental relationships with federal, state and local governments.
Juarez brings extensive experience to this new position, and expects to further expand the scope and depth of the firm’s growing Indian law and gaming practice. "Tribes today have sophisticated and complicated legal needs, and Williams, Kastner & Gibbs is uniquely positioned to serve them well," she explained.
Juarez’s commitment to promoting tribal economic development is rooted in her personal experience as a Native American woman raised on the Puyallup reservation and as an enrolled member of Montana’s Blackfeet Nation. Most recently, she served as an investment banker and financial advisor with Morgan Stanley, where she held a Series 7 Securities license.
Juarez received her B.A. degree in Federal Indian Law/Tribal Law with an anthropology minor from Western Washington University in 1983 and her J.D. degree from the University of
Puget Sound School of Law in 1987. Debora interned at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland through Santa Clara University’s International Law and Human Rights program. She also participated in the University of Washington’s Tribal Advocates Training program.
Williams, Kastner & Gibbs PLLC, a Northwest law firm, has been providing businesses and individuals with a full range of legal services since 1929. Today, more than 80 attorneys in Seattle, Tacoma and Portland practice in many areas of law. They include appellate; business, corporate governance; tax and financial services; commercial litigation; construction; environmental; estate planning; health care; labor and employment; mergers & acquisitions; product liability; and real estate and land use.