Our Team

Gussie Lord

Managing Attorney Tribal Partnerships Program

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Media Inquiries

Timna Axel
Public Affairs and Communications Strategist
(773) 828-0712
taxel@earthjustice.org

Bar Admissions

DC, NM (inactive), NNBA

Gussie Lord is the managing attorney of the Tribal Partnerships Program. In May 2019, Gussie joined Earthjustice as a senior attorney and its first director of Tribal Partnerships. She partners with Earthjustice regional office staff to increase capacity and expertise in our critical work on behalf of tribes and indigenous communities.

Gussie has spent most of her career representing tribal governments, individuals, and Native-owned businesses. Prior to Earthjustice, she was with a small law firm in Washington, D.C., specializing in environmental law. She has worked with dozens of tribes and has represented clients in federal, state, and tribal courts and administrative proceedings, and has helped tribes to develop and enforce their own environmental laws and regulations. Gussie is well-versed in issues related to tribal jurisdiction and sovereignty and is a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin.

Ms. Lord is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and the Virginia Military Institute.

The Latest from Gussie Lord

April 18, 2024

In the News: Audubon

A Proposed Reset for Public Lands Could Be a Big Boost to Conservation

Quoted: Gussie Lord

If implemented in earnest, the shift would weave tribal knowledge of the land into its management, says Gussie Lord, managing attorney of the Tribal Partnerships Program at Earthjustice and an Oneida Nation of Wisconsin member.
March 4, 2024

In the News: Washington Post

‘On stolen land’: Tribes fight clean-energy projects backed by Biden

Quoted: Gussie Lord

“[Such projects] kind of fall between the cracks of our cultural resources laws and our environmental laws.”
September 7, 2022

In the News: High Country News

What the Inflation Reduction Act means for Indian Country

Quoted: Gussie Lord

“If a tribe is small, or not well-funded or well-staffed, they may not have the manpower to get through all of that really technical information in a truncated period of time. That minimizes tribes’ ability to provide meaningful input.”
November 8, 2021

In the News: Grist

Indigenous nations in Wisconsin suing to prevent wolf hunts

Quoted: Gussie Lord

“Their decision not to hunt for purposes of conservation is both protected by the Treaty and an exercise of tribal sovereignty.”
October 1, 2021

In the News: The Capital Times

Federal judge sets Oct. 29 hearing in Ojibwe tribes' effort to halt Wisconsin wolf hunt

Quoted: Gussie Lord

"This case is about Wisconsin’s responsibility to protect and conserve the natural resources we all share. The Ojibwe’s treaty rights guarantee them the ability to coexist with the natural world in the way that they believe is appropriate and necessary to sustain the future generations."
September 21, 2021

In the News: CBS News

Several Native American tribes sue Wisconsin over "unlawful" wolf hunting

Quoted: Gussie Lord

"The state trampled the tribes' rights, and we are in court today to try to make sure it doesn't happen again."
July 6, 2021

In the News: Wisconsin State Journal

Mining threat still looms amid Menominee River smallmouth, sturgeon, otters and kayakers

Quoted: Gussie Lord

“The state of Michigan should realize that Aquila Resources has never been honest, nor transparent, about its plans, and that this project cannot be built without pollution, impairment and destruction of the Menominee River and its ecosystem.”
March 8, 2021

In the News: Colorado Sun

A Native Woman’s Perspective on Why “Auntie Deb” Is a Great Choice To Run Interior

Quoted: Gussie Lord

“Her nomination to lead Interior represents an opportunity to help heal the historic wounds that the United States government has inflicted on Native people, by bringing them to the table over important decisions about the lands they have lived on for thousands of years.”