Vanessa Boyd Willard (Cherokee Nation) joined the firm in 2025 after more than twenty years of practice in the Tribal Resources Section of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). While at DOJ, she represented the United States as Trustee advancing and protecting tribal interests in water rights and treaty cases to support fishing, hunting, and gathering rights. Her work involved numerous tribal litigation matters, including tribal jurisdiction, land use, and reservation boundary issues.
Ms. Willard has extensive experience in complex litigation on behalf of Indian tribes. She led litigation teams, including legal and technical experts, to develop tribal water rights claims on behalf of numerous tribes including, but not limited to, the Hopi Tribe, Nez Perce Tribe, Kalispel Tribe, and Coeur d’Alene Tribe. She was lead counsel for the United States in a multi-month trial to prove the water rights necessary to meet the permanent homeland purpose of the Hopi Reservation. In re the General Adjudication of All Rights to Use Water in the Little Colorado River System and Source, CV 6417-203 (Final Report of the Special Master, May 25, 2022). Ms. Willard successfully litigated the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s entitlement to reserved water rights before the Idaho District Court, which laid the groundwork for success in the Idaho Supreme Court. In re CSRBA Case No. 49576, Subcase No.91-7755, 448 P.3d 322 (Id. 2019). She managed litigation issues related to treaty fishing rights in the ongoing case, United States v. Washington.
Ms. Willard also played an important negotiating role in numerous tribal water rights settlements. She, along with other members of the federal team, negotiated the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement which was recently introduced in Congress and seeks to resolve water rights for the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, and San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe. Likewise, Ms. Willard negotiated aspects of Congressionally-authorized settlements that resolve water rights for the Nez Perce Tribe, the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, and the Zuni Heaven Reservation. She worked to implement these settlements by successfully obtaining the court orders necessary for administration of water rights.
Ms. Willard graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1994 and the University of Texas at Austin School of Law in 1998. She is a member of the Bar of the State of Colorado.