WASHINGTON, D.C. – Lippes Mathias today announced that Bryan C. Shade, senior associate and member of the firm’s Indian law practice team, has been named among the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s Native American 40 Under 40. The award acknowledges emerging Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian citizens between 18 and 39 years of age who have demonstrated leadership, initiative, and dedication to achieve significant contributions to Native communities throughout North America.

Shade concentrates his practice on advising tribal clients on issues ranging from gaming and economic development to self-governance and self-determination, and claims settlement and litigation. He is an experienced federal Indian law attorney who has represented tribes and Indian Country in a variety of roles on both sides of the federal-tribal table. Shade formerly served as an attorney/advisor for Indian Affairs at the United States Department of the Interior where he advised the assistant secretary – Indian affairs, the deputy assistant secretaries for Indian affairs for management, policy, and economic development, director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Office of Tribal Self-Governance on various issues relating to the federal trust responsibility to tribal nations. In 2021, Shade was appointed by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland to represent the department on the PROGRESS Act Negotiated Rulemaking Committee. Prior to serving in the Department of the Interior, Shade previously served as self-governance general counsel for one of the largest federally recognized tribes in the U.S. as well as executive director of tribal operations and federal programs director for his tribe. He has a demonstrated history of serving Indian Country and is a frontline expert on the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA) and other critical areas of federal Indian law. The Oklahoma Bar Association’s Indian Law Section presented Shade with the inaugural G. William Rice Award in recognition of his commitment to and excellence in the field of federal Indian law. He is an enrolled member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma and resides in Rockville, MD, with his wife and two daughters who are citizens of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and who are of Chickasaw and Mississippi Band of Choctaw descent.

The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s 2023 Native American 40 Under 40 class will be formally recognized at a dinner reception on Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at Caesars Palace Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Lippes Mathias is a full-service law firm with nearly 170 attorneys serving clients regionally, nationally, and internationally. With offices in Buffalo, Albany, Rochester, Long Island, and New York, N.Y.; Greater Toronto Area; Chicago, Ill.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Cleveland, Ohio; San Antonio, Texas; and Washington, D.C., the firm represents publicly and privately-owned companies, private equity and venture capital firms, real estate developers, financial institutions, municipalities, governmental entities, and individuals.