Thomas Weathers
OF COUNSEL
California State Bar No. 171422
Practice Areas
Business
Land Use
Eminent Domain
Property Tax
Indian Law Including:
Contracts
Governance
Economic Development
Gaming
Finance
Rights-of Way
Administrative Law
Energy Development
Cannabis/Hemp
Transportation
Housing
Indian Child Welfare
Thomas Weathers is Aleut and an enrolled member of the Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska in Alaska. He practices Indian law, business law, and related litigation. Tom advises and litigates on behalf of tribal and non-tribal clients on a range of matters involving contracts, torts, governance, economic development, gaming, finance, taxation, land use, real estate, eminent domain, leasing, rights-of-way, commercial ventures, administrative law, insurance, energy development, construction, cannabis, hemp, transportation, employment, personnel, housing, code drafting, and Indian child welfare. He serves as general counsel to several Indian tribes.
Tom is recognized nationally by Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, Finance Monthly, Lawyer Monthly, Legal Elite, and Lawyers of Distinction as a top attorney in Indian law. His law firm – The Law Offices of Thomas Eagle Weathers, P.C. – has been repeatedly ranked by U.S. News and World Report as a “Best Law Firm” for Native American Law regionally in Tier 1 (Gold) and nationally in Tier 2 (Silver). Tom has negotiated many consulting, loan, partnership, management, financing, construction, purchasing, employment, licensing, leasing, land use, easement, and real estate agreements worth millions of dollars. He has counseled clients in complicated tax, insurance, and business matters, and successfully litigated in tribal, state, and federal courts across the country. He has also helped clients restructure substantial debt, renegotiate loans in default, and realize economic development goals.
Tom is a past president of the National Native American Bar Association and he currently serves as an appellate judge for various tribal courts and has served as a judge pro tem for tribal trial courts and for state small claims courts. Tom has authored dozens of publications and has made presentations on issues ranging from civil litigation practice to the Indian Child Welfare Act, Basic Indian law, and economic development in Indian country. Tom is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in California, Alaska, and Washington, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court, the 9th and 10th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, and multiple tribal courts throughout the country.
Tom earned his undergraduate degree from Pomona College and his law degree from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, where he was on law review, and graduated Order of the Coif and “With Great Distinction” in the top 2% of his class. After law school Tom clerked for a federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. He has worked in large firms in the Bay Area, where he practiced civil litigation with an emphasis on business, land use, construction, and Indian matters.
Tom is an active member of the community, serving on the board of San Rafael Little League and the the San Rafael Fire Commission. He is on the California State Bar Council on Access and Fairness, an active member of the Sangster Inn of Court, and a former member of the Alameda County Bar Association East Bay Diversity Bar Coalition. He currently serves as co-chair of the Marin County Bar Association Diversity Section, where he offers legal programs on racial diversity and justice.