The Dorsay & Easton Team

Susan K. Driver, Of Counsel

Meet Susan (Suzy) K. Driver

Susan K. (Suzy) Driver has worked in Indian country for 40+ years, first as an attorney for the Navajo Tribe, and then as an attorney for the U.S. Dept. of the Interior.  In the Solicitor’s Office, she represented the Bureaus of Indian Affairs, Reclamation, Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service in water litigation and related negations in state and federal courts and hydropower licensing projects before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Suzy also served in the Secretary’s Office, Working Group on Indian Water Rights, as a Federal Negotiating Team Chair.  She teaches negotiations and conflict resolution, serves as a mediator and facilitator in complex multi-party negotiations and strategic planning processes, and manages large projects with multiple stakeholders for tribal clients.

Susan Driver, Of Counsel

University of Oregon School of Law, Eugene, Oregon
J.D., May 1981

University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
B.S., Psychology, March 1977

Chapman College, Orange, California
Semester at Sea, World Campus Afloat, Fall Semester 1974

  • Oregon, 1994
  • Navajo Nation, 1983 (inactive)
  • New Mexico Bar, 1982 (inactive)

Tribal:

  • Navajo Tribal Court (inactive)

Dorsay & Easton, LLP, Portland, Oregon
Of Counsel
January 2006 to Present

Attorney manager for Siletz Tribe’s Section 20 Application for the Salem Casino Project; secured water rights for the expansion of the Chinook Winds Golf Resort; represented tribal clients in water negotiations and related administrative proceedings before the Oregon Water Resources Department; lead tribal attorney exploring long-term planning for regional water supply project for the Siletz Tribe and Polk and Lincoln Counties.

Representative Clients

  • The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon, Siletz, Oregon
  • Chinook Winds Casino Resort, Lincoln City, Oregon
  • The Samish Indian Tribe, Anacortes, Washington

Susan K. Driver, J.D., Mediation Services, Portland, Oregon
April 1985 to January 2008

Attorney Mediator in private practice mediating environmental and public policy issues and facilitating meetings and strategic planning processes.

Representative Clients

  • Samish Indian Tribe (strategic planning)
  • Pacific Northwest Aquatics Monitoring Partners (strategic planning)
  • Pacific Northwest Wildfire Coordinating Group (strategic planning)
  • City of Portland Community Residential Siting Program (expansion of Providence Hospital in Portland urban neighborhood)
  • Portland Development Commission (Lents Community Urban Renewal) Environmental Pilot Project, U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon (EPA, U.S. Dept. of Justice water quality issues)

Portland State University, Portland, Oregon
Adjunct Professor, Conflict Resolution Program
March 2000 to July 2005

Taught graduate level seminars in Multi-Party Negotiations, Conflict Management Systems Design, and Careers in Conflict Resolution.

Working Group on Indian Water Settlements, Office of the Secretary U.S. Department of the Interior 
Special Assistant to the Counselor to the Secretary
August 1995 to March 1997

Chair of the Nez Perce and Lummi Federal Negotiating Teams tasked with negotiating settlements of Indian reserved water rights claims with the states of Idaho and Washington.

Office of the Regional Solicitor, Pacific Northwest Region, U.S. Department of the Interior
Attorney – Advisor
January 1985 to June 1995

Served as one of the principal water attorneys for the U.S. Department of the Interior, representing the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Reclamation in water rights litigation and related negotiations and hydroelectric power licensing proceedings in administrative, state, and federal courts throughout the Pacific Northwest Region.

U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Oregon, Portland, Oregon
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney
January 1985 to June 1995

United States v. Adair, et al., Civil No. 75-914 (D. Or.)(federal litigation related to the state adjudication of the Klamath Indian Tribe’s treaty-reserved water rights in the Klamath River Basin in Oregon).

Navajo Nation Department of Justice, Division of Natural Resources, Window Rock, Arizona
Attorney II
October 1982 - December 1984

Served as one of the principal water attorneys for the Navajo Indian Tribe representing the Navajo Tribe in state and federal court proceedings involving the adjudication of the Tribe’s treaty reserved water rights in the San Juan River in New Mexico and the Little Colorado River Arizona; drafted the Navajo Nation Water code and facilitated the reorganization of the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources.

DNA - People's Legal Services, Inc., Farmington, New Mexico Staff Attorney
August 1981 to September 1982

Provided free legal services in civil matters to low-income Navajo tribal members and others living on and near the Navajo Indian Reservation.

Native American Rights Fund, Boulder, Colorado
Legal extern and law clerk
January 1981 to June 1981

"Confederated Tribes of the Warms Springs Reservation Reach Historic Water Settlement," Winter 1998, Volume 5, Number 2, Big River News published by the Northwest Water Law and Policy Project of the Natural Resources Law Institute of Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College

Speaker

Various Annual Water Law Conferences sponsored by Law Seminar Group, Oregon State Bar, and Washington State Bar

  • Federal Bar Association, Oregon Chapter President 1990-1991
  • Oregon Women Lawyers
  • Oregon Mediation Association
  • Association For Conflict Resolution

April 7, 1997 Certificate of Commendation, U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division

Honored for work on behalf of the United States and the Nez Perce Tribe in the Snake River Basin Adjudication in Idaho and the related negotiations.

Get in Touch

Please enter your name.
Please enter a valid email address.
Please type your message.

1737 NE Alberta St, Ste 208

Portland, OR 97211

Phone: (503) 790-9060