Katosha Nakai is the Sovereignty Attorney for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma where she is also a member and proudly lives. Katosha advises on all issues which could threaten, preserve, or advance the sovereignty of the Choctaw Nation.
Prior to this work, Katosha raised her family in Arizona. She founded and owned Tribal Policy People, LLC, focusing on tribal policy work across Indian Country and she managed the Phoenix operations of an Indian Law firm where Katosha was a partner representing tribal interests primarily in the areas of water, natural resources, energy, environmental law, and gaming. Before that, she was stakeholder relations and strategic development manager for a water utility serving Indian tribes.
Additionally, Katosha worked for two Arizona Governors, serving a Republican as a policy advisor, chair of Arizona’s Climate Change Oversight Group, and as a member of Arizona’s Homeland Security Senior Advisory Committee. A Democrat appointed her as a Commissioner of the Arizona Oil & Gas Conservation Commission. Notably, Katosha was a law clerk to the Chief Judge the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the largest federal appeals court in the country, which hears the majority of the nation’s Indian law cases. Katosha earned both her Juris Doctorate and her Indian Law Certificate from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications from Oklahoma City University.