SAMANTHA MALTAIS

ADJUNCT LECTURER

LGLS 122B: INDIGENOUS RIGHTS, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND FEDERAL INDIAN LAW

Samantha Maltais is a third-year law student at Harvard Law School and a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah. Samantha’s legal interests include climate/environmental justice, tribal sovereignty, and international Indigenous rights. Prior to starting her legal career, Samantha co-directed a global campaign at Survival International to highlight Indigenous perspectives on the impacts of colonial contact and consulted on their work to decolonize conservation. Samantha is involved in Native activism, speaking at local demonstrations and publishing editorials in outlets such as the Boston Globe, Medium, and Teen Vogue. She currently sits on the U.S. Board of Directors for Survival as well as the Center for Indigenous Peoples Rights. 

During law school, Samantha was selected as a Cravath International Fellow and conducted legal research on the environmental benefits of tribal self-determination rights under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Aotearoa/New Zealand. She was also selected for the T.A. Barron Fellowship for her summer work in public interest environmental law at the Native American Rights Fund. Previously, Samantha clerked for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and interned at the Department of Justice - Office of Tribal Justice, as well as the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. 

At Harvard, Samantha is Co-President of the Native American Law Students Association, an article editor for the Harvard Environmental Law Review, an Admissions Fellow, and worked as a research assistant for projects related to tribal constitutions and tribal land acquisitions. Samantha received her B.A. from Dartmouth College, majoring in Government and Native American Studies, and later served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Kingdom of Tonga.