Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law. Director of the UCLA American Indian Studies Center. First woman and youngest Justice of the Supreme Court of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation of Oklahoma. Former litigator at Quinn Emanuel. Co-Chair for the United Nations Indigenous Peoples’ Partnership Policy Board.

Angela R. Riley is Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law and Director of UCLA’s J.D./M.A. joint degree program in Law and American Indian Studies.  Her research focuses on issues related to indigenous peoples’ rights, with a particular emphasis on cultural property and Native governance.  She received her B.A. from the University of Oklahoma and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.

After clerking for Chief Judge T. Kern of the Northern District of Oklahoma, she worked as a litigator at Quinn Emanuel in Los Angeles.  In 2003 she became the first woman and youngest Justice of the Supreme Court of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation of Oklahoma.  In 2010, she was elected as Chief Justice.  She now serves as Co-Chair for the United Nations – Indigenous Peoples’ Partnership Policy Board and is also an Evidentiary Hearing Officer for the Morongo Band of Mission Indians.

In the words of the HLS community member who nominated her, “While teaching at Harvard Law School in 2015, students were unanimously blown away by her ability to teach complex material in an engaging and accessible way. Her deep commitment to promoting the rights of Indigenous peoples and Indigenous women in particular shines through her teaching. While at Harvard, she was an invaluable mentor and resource to the Native American Law Students Association.”