Carrie A. Frias currently serves as Legislative Counsel for the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. Previously, she was a partner at Patterson Real Bird & Rasmussen LLP, Native Law Group, where her practice focused on Indian law, trademarks, copyrights, and tribal jurisdiction. Over her fourteen-year career, Carrie has also served as General Counsel for the Indian Affairs Department for the State of New Mexico, as Chief General Counsel for the Pueblo of Pojoaque — where she was second chair in the Pueblo's bad faith litigation against the State of New Mexico in federal court — and as an Associate at Anderson Indian Law, where she lobbied on behalf of tribes in Washington D.C. and helped pass the tribal provisions of the VAWA Reauthorization, restoring some criminal jurisdiction to tribes to prosecute domestic violence crimes on their reservations.
Earlier in her career, Carrie served as a prosecutor for both the Hopi Tribe and the Pueblo of Laguna, and as a public defender and prosecutor for the State of New Mexico. Throughout her career, she has remained deeply committed to defending the rights of Native women and children who are victims of crime.