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| Robert Doody, Executive Director, ACLU of South Dakota |
Robert Doody comes to the ACLU long dedicated to the principles of civil liberties. Most recently, he comes to the ACLU from St. Francis Mission where he served as Vice-President of Programs and Operations. His efforts to professionalize the Mission resulted in an increase from two to seven programs and overseeing a $3.2 million dollar budget with 28 staff.
In addition to his public education and outreach work in his current position he has direct experience working in other ACLU program areas — with legal programs working as an attorney who is well-connected throughout the South Dakota legal community, particularly with regard to Indian law; While in law school, he worked as an intern with the North Dakota Legislative Council assisting with legislation concerning Federal Indian Law and tribal sovereignty.
Doody is extremely committed to working in Indian country and has built relationships with several different tribes working as an advocate and as an advocacy skills instructor, as well as an attorney. While at Dakota Plains Legal Services (DPLS) he litigated cases on behalf of tribal members dealing with consumer protection to questions regarding housing and land issues. He recently completed a series of cases that dealt with federal housing responsibility in developing housing units through the Mutual Help Program. While working at DPLS he also became a faculty member with the National Institute of Trial Advocacy in the American Indian Tribal Advocates Program. This program was specifically set up to train tribal advocates in the basics of trial advocacy both for criminal and civil cases. Since leaving DPLS, he has been appointed a special Judge for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe where he hears cases where the other judges have had conflicts of interest.
Doody has his Juris Doctorate from the University of North Dakota, a Master's of Philosophy from Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and a Bachelor's of Philosophy from the University of Ulster in Coleraine, Northern Ireland.