Charmayne Barczewski

Charmayne is a federal litigator whose practice sits at the intersection of federal Indian, environmental, and administrative law. She spent seven years inside the federal government, first at the Department of the Interior and then at the Department of Justice, where she learned how decisions affecting Indian Country are made and defended. She brings that knowledge to CHP on behalf of Tribal Nations.

In CHP’s Tribal Nations Practice, Charmayne partners with Tribal Nations and Native organizations facing threats to their sovereignty and jurisdiction, their lands, and their natural and cultural resources. She counsels and litigates on trespass and unauthorized occupancy of Tribal and allotted lands, including holdover tenancies and rights-of-way and leasing compliance. She also helps clients navigate the tangle of federal and state law governing Indian Country, ensuring Tribes have a meaningful seat at the table when agencies make decisions affecting them. As an experienced litigator, Charmayne supports the firm’s federal litigation docket across every area of CHP’s practice, including its cultural resource protection and historic preservation work.

Charmayne came to CHP from the Tribal Resources Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she spent four years litigating complex and often novel federal Indian law matters affecting Tribes across the country. Her work centered on Administrative Procedure Act litigation, and she defended federal decisions favorable to Tribal interests, including decisions by the Secretary of the Interior to acquire land in trust. She also participated in Indian water rights settlement negotiations in the Southwest and brought affirmative litigation to protect Tribal lands from trespass, defend treaty rights, and advance self-governance.

Before joining DOJ, Charmayne was a staff attorney with the Interior Board of Indian Appeals, where she dealt with matters ranging from fee-to-trust acquisitions and federal Indian probate to mineral and agricultural leasing and contracting under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. Earlier, as an associate attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, she litigated challenges to natural gas pipeline permitting and construction under the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, NEPA, the Endangered Species Act, and the Natural Gas Act, protecting public lands and critical habitat. Charmayne began her legal career as a law clerk to Justice Dana Fabe of the Alaska Supreme Court.