Heather Torres

Heather Torres serves as TLPI's Program Director. ​She is a graduate of UCLA School of Law's Critical Race Studies program, where she focused her courses and research on Federal Indian law and the racialization of American Indian identity. During law school, Heather served as the President of the Native American Law Students Association, Executive Editor of the Indigenous Peoples’ Journal of Law, Culture & Resistance, and Senior Editor of the Chican@/Latin@ Law Review. Her legal work experience includes serving as an Udall Foundation intern for the Senate Committee of Indian Affairs, extern with the Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles ICWA Court, Native American Summer Associate at Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP, student tribal code drafter in the Tribal Legal Development Clinic, and an UC Public Service Law Fellow with the Tribal Law & Policy Institute 2017-2018. During her fellowship, she provided research and drafting assistance to tribal code development resources, Wellness Court publications, Capacity Building Center for Tribes publications, and the Clearinghouse (www.tlpi.org). After her fellowship, she served as Director of Native Student Programs at the University of Redlands. Heather is licensed in the State of California and rejoined TLPI as full-time staff in June of 2019.