{{Short description|Native American attorney}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = | honorific_suffix = | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | image_upright = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pronunciation = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1950}} | birth_place = | citizenship = Pawnee Nation<ref name="lifetimeAward">{{cite press release |last=Jessen |first=Janice |title=Thomas W. Fredericks Honored with Lawrence Baca Lifetime Achievement Award |url=https://www.prweb.com/releases/thomas_w_fredericks_honored_with_lawrence_baca_lifetime_achievement_award/prweb11794955.htm |location=Louisville, Colorado |publisher=PRWeb |agency=Blue Earth Marketing |date=April 28, 2014 |access-date=2023-03-28}}</ref><br>United States | education = | alma_mater = University of California, Santa Barbara <br> Harvard Law School | occupation = | known_for = | spouse = <!-- use article title or common name --> | partner = <!-- (unmarried long-term partner) --> | children = | parents = <!-- overrides mother and father parameters --> | mother = <!-- may be used (optionally with father parameter) in place of parents parameter (displays "Parent(s)" as label) --> | father = <!-- may be used (optionally with mother parameter) in place of parents parameter (displays "Parent(s)" as label) --> | callsign = <!-- amateur radio, use if relevant --> | awards = Thurgood Marshall Award <br> Hon. Sarah T. Hughes Civil Rights Award | signature = | signature_size = | signature_alt = }}
'''Lawrence Baca''' is a Native American attorney and was the deputy director of the Office of Tribal Justice with the United States Department of Justice.<ref>Baca, L. R. (2004). Meyers v. Board of Education: The Brown v. Board of Indian Country. ''U. Ill. L. Rev.'', 1155.</ref>
== Early life ==
Lawrence Baca was born in Colorado in 1950 to a white mother and Pawnee Indian father. His family moved to San Diego, California in 1953.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Schooley |first1=Wilson Adam |last2=Baca |first2=Lawrence |date=2012 |title=Interview with Lawrence Baca: Thurgood Marshall Award Winner |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23375640 |journal=Human Rights |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=22–24 |jstor=23375640 |issn=0046-8185}}</ref> Baca and his family experienced prejudice, including a hate crime targeted at his father.<ref>{{cite news |last=Galbraith |first=Melissa |date=10 Apr 1997 |title=Pawnee Chair Shares Experiences as Lawyer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/430250457/ |work=The Daily Utah Chronicle |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |access-date= 2023-03-28}}</ref><ref name=":1">Baca, L. R. (2003). Reflections on Diversity in the Public Law Office by the DOJ Civil Rights Division's First Indian Lawyer. ''Pub. Law.'', ''11'', 3.</ref>
== Education == Baca enrolled at the University of San Diego but later transferred to the University of California, Santa Barbara where he graduated in 1973. Baca took advantage of the individual major program at UCSB and created his own major titled American Indian History and Culture.<ref name=":0" /> During his time in university Baca worked with inmates in the federal prison in Lompoc on preparing for parole hearings.<ref name=":0" /> After college Baca applied to law school and with a letter of recommendation from the chancellor of UCSB he was admitted to Harvard Law.<ref name=":0" />
== Legal career == In 1976, Baca was the first American Indian lawyer to be hired at the United States Department of Justice through the Attorney General's Honor Law Program.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Procopiolaw |date=2017-07-25 |title=Honorable Lawrence R. Baca Named the Sarah T. Hughes Civil Rights Award Winner |url=https://bloggingcircle.wordpress.com/2017/07/25/honorable-lawrence-r-baca-named-the-sarah-t-hughes-civil-rights-award-winner/ |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=Blogging Circle |language=en}}</ref> He was also the first American Indian attorney ever hired into the Civil Rights Division.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Member Profile – Lawrence Baca – National Native American Bar Association |url=https://www.nativeamericanbar.org/lawrence-baca-member-profile/ |access-date=2023-03-28}}</ref> Later in life he taught at both Howard University School of Law and the American University College of Law. The Federal Bar Association created the Lawrence R Baca Lifetime Achievement Award for Baca's work in Federal Indian Law, it was created in 2008.<ref name="lifetimeAward">{{cite press release |last=Jessen |first=Janice |title=Thomas W. Fredericks Honored with Lawrence Baca Lifetime Achievement Award |url=https://www.prweb.com/releases/thomas_w_fredericks_honored_with_lawrence_baca_lifetime_achievement_award/prweb11794955.htm |location=Louisville, Colorado |publisher=PRWeb |agency=Blue Earth Marketing |date=April 28, 2014 |access-date=2023-03-28}}</ref>
=== Important cases === Baca litigated many important civil rights cases on behalf of Native Americans including ''United States v. Great Western Bank & Trust'', which gave Native Americans equal access to credit<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sorenson |first=Laurel |date=1984 |title=Twelve Who Made It |journal=ABA Journal |volume=70 |pages=64}}</ref> and in ''United States v. South Dakota and Fall River County'' he helped to ensure that Native Americans living on reservations had the right to run for public office.<ref>{{cite court |litigants=United States v. South Dakota and Fall River County |vol=636|reporter=F.2d |opinion=241 |pinpoint=401 |court=D.C. Cir. |date=1980}}</ref><ref name=":1" />
==References== {{reflist|colwidth=50em}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baca, Lawrence}} Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:Pawnee people Category:20th-century Native American people Category:21st-century Native American people Category:20th-century American lawyers Category:21st-century American lawyers Category:Native American lawyers