Derek Red Arrow Frank is an enrolled member of the Nez Perce Tribe (Nimiipuu), and works as an attorney with the law firm of Stokes Lawrence Velikanje Moore & Shore in Yakima, Washington.  Derek is the co-founder and co-leader of the Firm’s American Indian Law Practice Group.  Derek represents and advises tribal governments, tribal enterprises, non-profit Tribal organizations, and Indian-owned businesses in litigation and commercial disputes involving land-back programs, treaty rights, Tribal natural resources, taxation, inter-tribal trade, jurisdictional disputes, and other matters of federal Indian Law. 

Prior to working with Stokes Lawrence, Derek worked as a staff attorney for the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation’s Office of Legal Counsel, where he represented the Yakama Nation in administrative, state, and federal courts on issues involving treaty rights, water rights, economic development, hemp regulation, and tribal sovereignty matters.  He is a former law clerk to Chief U.S. District Court Judge Brian M. Morris for the District of Montana.

Derek graduated from Seattle University School of Law in 2018, where he served as the editor-in-chief of the American Indian Law Journal, and was a recipient of the Douglas R. Nash Native American Scholar Award.  While in law school, Derek served as a law clerk for Nez Perce Tribe’s office of legal counsel, Earthjustice, and the Civil Rights Unit of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office. 

Prior to becoming an attorney, Derek owned and operated a small business where he trained athletes for endurance competitions such as ultra-marathons, adventure races, and triathlons.  Derek enjoys dancing prairie chicken style at powwows throughout the Pacific Northwest with his wife, Bree Black Horse, and daughter, who are both traditional dancers.