Leading Native American law students propels Zuniga to more ambitious goals
Written By Pat McDonnell
Makai Zuniga ('25) has ambitious goals.
Perhaps that is because the president of Boyd’s Native American Law Student Association (NALSA) has already achieved a first for Nevada. In spring 2024, the local NALSA chapter won the bid to host the association’s 2025 National Moot Court Competition at UNLV.
“It’s an opportunity to bring in some of the best legal minds to judge the competition,” says Zuniga, a Juris Doctorate candidate who came to Las Vegas after graduating from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He is a Northern Paiute citizen of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony.
Zuniga and other members of the NALSA chapter at Boyd participated in its reactivation in 2022, his first year in law school.
“We have a new start and we’re building from the ground up,” he says, noting he will work to help Boyd increase its Native American student population and spur growth in the chapter.
Zuniga was an intern this past summer with the Native American Rights Fund in Anchorage, Alaska. Prior to the internship, he said his goal was to see how Alaskan Native villagers interact and discover ways to uplift them.
“I want to understand what parallels there are between Alaska Natives and Nevada Natives and tribes,” he said.
Working as a summer law clerk last year with the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians helped Zuniga understand that economic resources are vital in providing legal services to tribal populations.
“San Manuel has the ability to bring in outside counsel to help them,” he said, noting many northern Nevada tribes do not have access to similar resources. “They have really sophisticated legal backgrounds.”
The partnerships that southern Nevada tribal groups such as the Las Vegas Band of Paiutes, Moapa Band of Southern Paiutes and the Mohave of the Fort Mohave Tribe could increase the region’s access to legal assistance.
“Nevada tribes are in triage mode,” Zuniga said. “We don’t have the resources to assess it as best as we could. That’s what I learned at San Manuel. There are plenty of tribes in Nevada that don’t have access to a single attorney.”
Characterizing himself as “optimistic, but vigilant,” Zuniga said he hopes Boyd will soon rival the law schools at Arizona State University and the University of Arizona in Native American attendance. Currently, he said, Zuniga is the only Native American student at Boyd from a Nevada tribe.
He has another hope for the next 10 years.
“By 2035, I would love to see the beginning of the early stages of some Indian gaming opportunities for Nevada tribes.”