Doreen Nanibaa McPaul

DOREEN NANIBAA MCPAUL is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and is also of Irish heritage. She was born and raised on the Navajo Reservation in Chinle, Arizona.  She is a 1995 graduate of Princeton University and earned her Juris Doctorate in 2001 from the ASU College of Law, where she also received a Certificate in Federal Indian Law and served as a staff writer for the ASU Law Journal. After law school, Ms. McPaul clerked at the Arizona Court of Appeals in Phoenix. She has worked as a tribal court staff attorney, as an associate attorney at a private firm, and as a visiting clinical law professor and Interim Director of the Indian Legal Clinic at ASU. Since 2008, Ms. McPaul has worked as an in-house tribal attorney for several Arizona tribes, including serving as the Attorney General for her own tribe, the Navajo Nation from 2019-2023.  Currently, Ms McPaul serves as an Assistant Legislative Attorney for the Tohono O'odham Nation.  Ms. McPaul is admitted to practice law in Arizona and New Mexico, as well as before several tribal and federal courts.

Ms. McPaul is a 2013 graduate of the State Bar of Arizona’s Bar Leadership Institute and remains active in the Bar and Indian legal community.  In 2018, Ms. McPaul was one of the first American Indians appointed to serve on the State Bar of Arizona Board of Governors. The Supreme Court of Arizona re-appointed Ms. McPaul to serve on the Board in 2019 and again in 2020 and 2023. She currently serves as Vice President of the State Bar of Arizona BOG. Ms. McPaul is also a founding board member and immediate past-president of the Tribal In-House Counsel Association, a national organization that provides informational networking and other support services and programming to in-house tribal attorneys and federal Indian law practitioners.  She also currently serves on the Board to the American Indian Law Center and was elected to membership in The American Law Institute in 2021.  Ms. McPaul most recently was selected to serve as a Trustee for the Irish Cultural Center in Phoenix. 

In 2021, McPaul received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad from Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins.  She also received the 2020 Alumnus of the Year Award from the National Native American Law Student Association  in recognition of her work, passion, dedication to serving Indian Country, and empowering native law students to dedicate their careers to serve their tribal communities.  She is also the recipient of the State Bar of Arizona Indian Law Section’s 2020 Rodney B. Lewis Award of Excellence for exemplifying the honesty, integrity, courage, grace, dignity and respect of the award’s namesake.  Finally, Ms. McPaul received the 2020 Cushing Academy Leadership Award for outstanding leadership, commitment to public service, and invaluable contributions to the Navajo Nation and the legal profession.

Most importantly, Ms. McPaul is a proud military spouse and mom. She is married to SFC Mark McPaul (retired) and they have three sons.