Professional Profile

Steve D. Osborne

Partner

A partner in the firm’s Portland, Oregon office, Steve works primarily on issues arising from the negotiation, performance, and enforcement of tribal contracts and compacts under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. He has been involved in the firm’s work on health care issues for over 20 years, from contract support costs to facilities to extending tribal self-governance to non-IHS agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services. He served on the litigation team for the Northern Arapaho Tribe in contract support cost litigation against the IHS in the District Court and Tenth Circuit, which eventually led to a victory in a consolidated Supreme Court case in June of 2024. Becerra v. San Carlos Apache Tribe, 144 S. Ct. 1428 (2024) (IHS owes contract support costs on health care services funded by third-party revenues such as Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance). Steve also helped litigate the two cases that established the right of tribal contractors to enter into fully-funded facilities leases under Section 105(l) of the ISDEAA, Maniilaq Association v. Burwell, 72 F. Supp. 3d 227 (D.D.C. 2014) (Maniilaq I), and Maniilaq Association v. Burwell, 170 F. Supp. 3d 243 (D.D.C. 2016) (Maniilaq II). Since then, Steve has helped negotiate scores of leases with both IHS and BIA that have resulted in millions of dollars of additional facilities funding for tribes and tribal organizations around the country.

Steve’s publications include The History, Status, and Future of Tribal Self-Governance Under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act in the American Indian Law Review (2015), with Geoff Strommer, and Placing Land into Trust in Alaska: Issues and Opportunities in the American Indian Law Journal (2015), with Geoff Strommer and Craig Jacobson. Prior to law school, Steve taught literature and writing courses at UCLA, Boise State University, and the College of Idaho. He also served as the technical editor for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

An avid runner, guitarist, and tennis player, Steve enjoys spending time with his wife Nancy and their three daughters.

Professional Organizations

Member, Indian Law Section, Oregon State Bar
Member, Environmental & Natural Resources Section, Oregon State Bar
Oregon State Bar Indian Law Section; Environmental Law Section

Education

Lewis & Clark Law School, J.D. (cum laude), 2003
Lewis & Clark Law School, Certificate, Environmental and Natural Resources Law, 2003
University of Washington, Ph.D., 1989; M.A., 1986; B.A. (magna cum laude), 1982

Professional Organizations

Oregon State Bar
Alaska Bar Association
Idaho Bar Association
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit
U.S. Court of Federal Claims
U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon

Practice Concentration:

Self-Determination and Self-Governance
Alaska Native Issues
Tribal Affairs
Programs & Services
Economic Development