Michalyn Steele

Michalyn Steele grew up in western New York on the Cattaraugus Reservation of the Seneca Nation of Indians. Michalyn graduated from Brigham Young University with degress in Humanities (B.A. and M.A.) and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center. She is the Marion G. Romney Professor of Law and has served as the Associate Dean for Faculty and Curriculum and the Associate Dean for Research and Curriculum at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University. Professor Steele’s scholarship focuses on the sovereign powers of Native American tribes and has been published in the Harvard Law Review, the New York Law Review, and the UCLA Law Review, among others.

Prior to joining the academy, Professor Steele worked as a Counselor to the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of Interior, as an Associate at the D.C. firm (specializing in representing Tribes) Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Enderson & Perry, and for six years as a Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division as part of the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section. Her work at the Department of Justice was honored with several awards recognizing her achievements in Fair Housing Act investigations and litigation. Professor Steele teaches Federal Indian Law, Civil Rights, and Constitutional Law.