Lawrence Baca

Retired lawyer from the U.S. Justice Department, whose career has focused on advancing Native rights within the legal system.

Lawrence Baca is a Pawnee Indian and at the time of his retirement was Deputy Director of the Office of Tribal Justice, United States Department of Justice. Previously he was a Senior Trial Attorney in the Civil Rights Division for 28 years. At his 2008 retirement celebration he was presented the Attorney General’s Medallion, the highest Award that the Attorney General can present to a retiring employee. The Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights said of Baca that he’d filed more cases on behalf of American Indians in his career than any other attorney in the history of the Civil Rights Division.

Baca’s leadership extended beyond government service. He served as national President of the Federal Bar Association (2009–10) and chaired its Indian Law Section for 20 years, which created the Lawrence R. Baca Lifetime Achievement Award in his honor. He is also the only person to serve three terms as President of the National Native American Bar Association. His groundbreaking civil rights work in credit, voting rights, and education earned him numerous awards, including the ABA’s Thurgood Marshall Award, the FBA’s Sarah T. Hughes Award for Civil Rights, and the Carlos Montezuma Award from the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian. Widely recognized as an authority on federal Indian law and race, Baca continues to lecture nationally, leaving an enduring legacy as a champion of Native rights and civil rights in America.