Albert Hale
state representative, Arizona
Albert A. Hale is the former President of the Navajo Nation. He served as the President from 1995 to 1998. He also served as an Assistant Attorney General for the Navajo Nation and special counsel to the Navajo Nation Council. He is also the former President of the Navajo Nation Bar Association. Senator Hale is the former Chairman of the Navajo Nation Water Rights Commission, a commission established by the Navajo Nation Council to oversee and coordinate the Navajo Nation’s water rights, litigation and negotiation efforts. He served as the Commission Chairman during the Negotiation of the New Mexico and the Navajo Nation San Juan River Basin Water Right Settlement Agreement. The Settlement Agreement was signed on April 19, 2005. He served as a Judge Pro Temp for the Laguna Courts, Laguna Pueblo, Laguna, New Mexico. He is one of the lawyers who filed a lawsuit in 1999 against the tobacco companies on behalf of a number of Indian Nations requesting compensation for injury to tribal members from use of smoking and chewing tobacco. Senator Hale is now in private law practice with offices located in St. Michaels, Arizona. He represents Navajo and non-Navajo clients in federal, state and various tribal courts which include Navajo Nation, Taos, and other tribal courts. His clientele include Navajo Engineering and Construction Authority, an enterprise of the Navajo Nation, the Fort Defiance Housing Corporation, the Bishop Piaute Tribe of Bishop, California, regarding the Tribe’s land and water rights claims, and companies doing business on the Navajo Nation. He is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation; born and raised in Klagetoh, Arizona. He is Ashiihi (salt), born for Todichiini (Bitter Water), Hanaghani (Walk About clan) are his maternal grandparents and Kiyanii (Tall House clan) are his paternal grandparents. He is a 1969 graduate of Fort Wingate High School, a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school located east of Gallup, New Mexico. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona (1973) and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University Of New Mexico School Of Law, Albuquerque, New Mexico (1977). He is a member of the New Mexico State Bar Association and the Navajo Nation Bar Association and admitted to practice in U.S. Federal Courts, New Mexico State Courts the Navajo Nation Courts, and various Indian Nation’s Courts. He has been practicing law for over 27 years, mostly in private practice. His law practice concentrates on representing businesses on Indian Nations. On January 20, 2004 Senator Hale was appointed to the Arizona State Senate to fill the District 2 Senate seat vacated by Senator Jack Jackson, Sr. Senator Hale was elected to the Arizona State Senate in November, 2004. Committees Senator Hale serves on are: Appropriations; Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Welfare; Judiciary; and Rules.
