Robert T Anderson

Robert Anderson is currently the Principal Deputy Solicitor for the U.S. Department of the Interior. For 20 years he was a law professor at the University of Washington and directed its Native American Law Center. He has been the Oneida Indian Nation Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School for the past twelve years. He is a co-author and editor of the leading federal Indian Law treatise, Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law, and is a co-author of a leading textbook on American Indian Law. He has extensive expertise and has published many articles in the fields of natural resources law, water law, and American Indian law. He grew up in the small town of Ely in northeastern Minnesota and is an enrolled member of the Bois Forte Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Anderson attended local public schools and received his law degree from the University of Minnesota. He served as the Associate Solicitor for Indian Affairs and Counselor to the Secretary under Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. He began his career as a staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, where he practiced law for twelve years. Anderson also served on the transition agency review teams for President-elect Obama and President-elect Biden.