Professional Profile

Craig A. Jacobson

Partner

Craig Jacobson joined Hobbs Straus as an associate in 1998, and has extensive experience in the areas of real estate, finance, tribal governance, federal contracting, and environmental and natural resources law. Craig frequently speaks and presents on a wide-range of federal Indian law topics, including Tribal Council training and staff development.

While in law school, Craig began working in Indian country with the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe in Washington State. He assisted the Tribe in the creation and management of an environmental department, development of an on-reservation health clinic, and negotiation of Title I and Title IV agreements with the federal government. This experience allowed him to witness and participate in community development first hand, and become involved with the issues of healthcare improvement, employment, the protection of natural and cultural resources, and economic development.

He has extensive ISDEAA experience, including Title IV Self-governance (both BIA and non-BIA). His finance and business law experience directly assists tribal governments in entity selection, bond and tax credit closings, and expansion of economic development opportunities. His litigation experience in tribal, state, and federal court runs the gamut of a number of complex issues, including the nature and scope of tribal sovereign immunity, regulatory authority, as well as protection of tribal resources and assets. His background in complex environmental issues includes state and federal environmental regulatory analysis, as well as the development of tribal environmental codes and regulatory schemes.

Craig also has a wide range of experience in cultural resources issues, real estate transactions, and housing issues. He often works with tribal governments on the acquisition of ancestral lands and the placement of those lands into trust status. He has written several articles, including “Indian Tribes and the Base Re-alignment and Closure Act: Recommendations for Future Trust Land Acquisitions,” co-authored with Geoffrey D. Strommer, in the North Dakota Law Review, September 1999 and “Placing Land into Trust in Alaska: Issues and Opportunities,” co-authored by Geoffrey D. Strommer and Stephen D. Osborne, in the American Indian Law Journal, Spring 2014.

When not at work, he enjoys sports, music and spending time with his family.

Professional Organizations

Oregon State Bar Association, Environmental Law Section and Indian and Environmental Law Section
Washington State Bar Association, Environmental Law Section and Indian and Environmental Law Section

Education

Northwestern School of Lewis & Clark College, J.D., Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law
University of Oregon, Robert D. Clark Honors College, B.A., cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 1991

Bar Admissions

Oregon State Bar
Washington State Bar Association
Alaska Bar Association

United States District Court – District of Alaska
United States District Court – Western District of Washington
United States District Court – Eastern District of Washington
United States District Court – District of Oregon
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Numerous Tribal Court Bars

Practice Concentration:

Tribal Affairs