Biography

Anne D. Noto joined the firm as an associate in 1986.  She has successfully represented tribal clients before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in government mismanagement cases involving tribal funds, lands, and timber. She also has significant experience in litigation involving jurisdictional issues, sovereign immunity, treaty rights, trust land acquisitions, and a variety of other matters affecting tribal interests.

Ms. Noto has particular expertise in tribal and treaty history and the intersection of that history with current legal issues of importance to tribes, including the exercise of treaty hunting, fishing and gathering rights, reservation boundaries, trust land acquisitions, and claims against the federal government. 

Ms. Noto has also devoted a substantial part of her career to providing general counsel services to tribes, with a special focus on advising tribes on tribal and state tax matters, gaming regulation, and implementation of treaty hunting, fishing and gathering rights.  Her practice has also regularly involved lobbying before Congress as well as advocating for tribes in matters before administrative agencies, including agency development of policies and regulations affecting Indian interests.

Honors

  • Awarded the Order of the Coif for academic excellence
    George Washington University National Law Center (1986)

Reported Decisions

  • City of Duluth v. Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, 843 N.W.2d 577 (Minn. 2014)
  • Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, 133 S.Ct. 2552 (2013)
  • Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes of Fort Peck Indian Reservation v. Norton, 527 F. Supp. 2d 130 (D.D.C. 2007)
  • Samish Indian Nation v. United States, 419 F.3d 1355 (Fed. Cir. 2005)  
  • Inyo County v. Paiute-Shoshone Indians of the Bishop Cmty., 538 U.S. 701 (2003)
  • Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians, 526 U.S. 172 (1999)
  • New York Ass'n of Convenience Stores v. Urbach 694 N.Y.S.2d 885 (N.Y. Sup. 1999) (amicus)
  • Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation v. Shalala, 1995 WL 324710 (D.D.C. 1995)
  • Fond du Lac Band of Chippewa Indians v. Carlson, 68 F.3d 253 (8th Cir. 1995)
  • Bowen v. Doyle, 230 F.3d 525 (2d Cir. 2000), aff'g 880 F. Supp. 99 (W.D.N.Y. 1995)
  • Confederated Tribes of Colville Reservation v. U.S., 964 F.2d 1102 (Fed. Cir. 1992)

Presentations

  • Role of Indian Tribes in the Development of Hydropower Affecting Indian Lands, Rights and Resources, presented to the American Bar Association, Section of Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law during the its 7th Annual Conference on Natural Resource Development and Environmental Protection of Indian Lands (October 1995)

Education

George Washington University National Law Center, J.D. with high honors, 1986

Cornell University, B.A., 1980

Bar & Court Admissions

  • District of Columbia, 1998
  • Maryland, 1986
  • U.S. Supreme Court, 1998
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 1990
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1999
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, 1993
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, 1995
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 2001
  • U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, 1996
  • U.S. Court of Federal Claims, 1987
  • Tribal Court of the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, 2000
  • Peacemakers Court of the Seneca Nation of Indians, 1999