Bryan C. Shade

As a member of the Lippes Mathias Indian Law Practice Team, Bryan 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.

Bryan Shade 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. Bryan is currently with the DC office of Lippes Mathias LLP, and formerly served as an attorney/advisor for Indian Affairs at the 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, Bryan 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, Bryan 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. 

Bryan advised the Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs during the COVID-19 Pandemic regarding impacts of the TGWEA on funds distributed by Tribes to their members under the CARES and ARP Acts. He has also advised Tribal governments on TGWEA’s benefits related to distribution of recovery payments made under those acts and from general revenue resources.

The Oklahoma Bar Association’s Indian Law Section presented Bryan with the inaugural G. William Rice Award in recognition of his commitment to and excellence in the field of federal Indian law.  Bryan is an enrolled member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma and resides in Alexandria, VA, 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. Bryan currently serves on the board of Unikusda, an organization dedicated to mentoring Keetoowah youth, and also hosts his own podcast, "Rez Judicata: The Federal Indian Law Podcast."