LEGAL EXPERIENCE

Kostan practices federal Indian law and tribal law, including rendering legal opinions; developing tribal policies and codes by reviewing and drafting tribal laws; representing tribal interests in tribal-state gaming compact negotiations; and asserting and defending tribal sovereignty in tribal and federal court litigation for various tribes.

After clerking with the Law Offices of Rapport & Marston: An Association of Sole Practitioners in Ukiah, California, and interning with the U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, Division of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C., Kostan formed Lathouris Law PLLC, a professional limited liability company in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Under Lathouris Law PLLC, Kostan currently serves as legal counsel and the code and policy development attorney for the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians; legal counsel, the code and policy development attorney, and the Indian Child Welfare Act (“ICWA”) attorney for the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe (and was also formerly its gaming attorney); as a contracted attorney for the Wind River inter-Tribal Council’s Shoshone and Arapaho Law and Order Code project; as the Chief Judge for the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe; and as the former governing document consultant for the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe.

In association with Rapport & Marston, Kostan served on the legal team for the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe in Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, et al. v. McMahon, et al., 934 F.3d 1076 (9th Cir. 2019), cert denied, 140 S. Ct. 1295 (2020), whereupon the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe was able to successfully obtain a federal court decision that the land in question was within the boundaries of the Tribe’s reservation and was therefore Indian country, and that the county law enforcement committed civil rights violations for enforcing state regulatory law against tribal members on that land.

In association with Rapport & Marston and Dehnert Law, PC, Mr. Lathouris helped represent several federally recognized tribes as part of tribal-state gaming compact negotiations with the State of California. He also served on the tribes’ legal team in the both the subsequent district court litigation (Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians v. Newsom, et al., No. 1:19-CV-0024 AWI SKO (E.D. Cal. Mar. 31, 2021)) and the appeal before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians, et al. v. State of California, et al., 42 F.4th 1024, 1030 (9th Cir. 2022)). The tribes prevailed on their motion for summary judgment against the State of California—which was affirmed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals—by successfully showing that the State committed bad faith negotiations, in violation of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, when the State insisted that the Tribes negotiate topics unrelated to gaming.

In association with Rapport & Marston, Mr. Lathouris served on the legal team for the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe in Chemehuevi Indian Tribe v. Havasu Water Company, et al., No. 20-471-GW-KKx (C.D. Cal. July 28, 2022), whereupon the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe was able to successfully obtain a federal court decision granting its motion for partial summary judgment against a for profit corporation, holding that the corporation was in trespass on the Tribe’s reservation trust lands.

TRAINING & CONSULTING EXPERIENCE

Kostan was formerly the Senior Law and Governance Analyst for Falmouth Institute Inc. As a consultant and adjunct instructor for Falmouth Institute Inc., Kostan provided consulting services and over 100 multiple-day training program instructions to various tribes and federal agencies around the country on federal Indian and tribal law, including federal consultation requirements under the U.S. Department of the Interior’s “Policy on Consultation with Indian Tribes”; working effectively in Indian country; tribal gaming law; tribal employment law, including how to create respectful workplaces that address sexual harassment; the roles and responsibilities of council and board members, including setting priorities and understanding decisions; the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act; ethics; leveraging ICWA and developing tribal child protection codes; and general tribal code and ordinance development.

PUBLIC SERVICE

Kostan was elected and sworn in as a Tribal Council Member for the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe on May 6, 2020. His term ended in May 2022 when he did not seek reelection. He has also served both as an executive board member for his tribe’s gaming commission and his tribe’s economic development corporation.

On November 30, 2017, Kostan was appointed and commissioned by Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval for a three-year term as a member of the Nevada Indian Commission (“NIC”), which effectively serves as the liaison between the State of Nevada and the 28 federally recognized tribal entities in the state. On December 8, 2020, he was re-appointed by Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak for another three-year term. As Vice-Chair of the NIC, Kostan helped draft the initial NIC’s “Policy to Promote Collaboration Between State Agencies and Indian Tribes”, in accordance with Nevada Assembly Bill 264. He is the current NIC Chair.

On November 23, 2021, Kostan was also appointed by Governor Sisolak to the Regional Transmission Coordination Task Force, which has been charged with advising the Governor and Nevada Legislature on topics and policies related to regional energy transmission in the West, including the costs and benefits of the transmission providers in Nevada joining a regional transmission organization to provide access to a wholesale electricity market.

VOLUNTEER WORK

As a volunteer, Kostan created, served on, and led a special committee for his Tribe to address how to safely re-open the Tribe’s enterprises amidst COVID-19, including drafting tribal laws regarding the adoption of health standards and guidelines regarding COVID-19. He also participated extensively during his Tribe’s budget meetings to address how revenue shortfalls would affect his Tribe’s general and social services funds and provided free legal services for his Tribe’s Executive Committee during the administration’s transition period in 2020.

Other volunteer work includes representing abused and neglected children in state and tribal dependency cases; representing native grandparents seeking custody and/or visitation with their grandchildren; and serving on his tribe’s ICWA Committee. He also previously served as an executive board member for the Stewart Indian School Preservation Alliance, a non-profit formed to promote, fundraise, advocate, and support the NIC’s efforts to protect and preserve the history of the Stewart Indian School (where his grandmother attended before running away).

EDUCATION & GENERAL EXPERIENCE

Kostan’s true passion has been serving the needs of Indian country, and he believes that each tribal nation is a sovereign with its own unique history, obstacles, and opportunities. He has studied federal Indian and tribal law and has completed courses in Tribal Gaming Law, U.S. Federal Gaming Law, Resort Hotel Casino Law, Gaming Transactions, Federal Courts, Health Law, Public Health Law, and Modern American Statutory and Administrative Interpretation. He has also completed the National Indian Gaming Commission’s “Roles and Responsibilities of the Gaming Commission and the Tribal Council” and a tribal law practicum where he identified tribal civil remedies over non-Indians. As part of a directed research course, he drafted an extensive paper on the origins and limitations of the practicable irrigable acreage standard used to quantify Indian water rights.

As the first enrolled member of a tribe to chair his law school’s Native American Law Students Association (“NALSA”), Kostan organized and participated on his school’s first team to compete in the National NALSA Moot Court Competition. The 2015 competition concentrated on issues of tribal regulatory and civil jurisdiction over non-Indians, requiring teams to draft briefs and prepare and present oral arguments before multiple panels of mock Supreme Court justices. From over 140 national competitors, Kostan was awarded 2nd Place Best Spoken Advocate.

In 2014, Kostan clerked with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP’s Gaming Law Group, where he researched federal Indian, tribal, and gaming law issues, including distinguishing Class II from Class III gaming devices, the applicability of state law on tribal trust land, and on forming agreements between tribes and non-tribal entities.

Also in 2014, Kostan was selected and served as a summer legal intern with the Department of the Interior, Office of the Solicitor, Division of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. As an intern, he analyzed Indian land opinions, traced trust assets, participated in the federal acknowledgement process, and ensured respect of the government-to-government relationship between the federal government and federally recognized tribes.

During law school, Kostan also dedicated his legal studies to environmental issues by pursuing courses in water law, public lands and natural resources, and environmental law. He was the sole recipient of his school’s 2015 Excellence for the Future Award for excellent achievement in the study of Environmental Law, which focused on the Administrative Procedures Act and the National Environmental Policy Act; the federal Endangered Species Act; the Clean Air Act, the risks of pollution, and the costs and benefits of environmental regulation; the Clean Water Act and federalism; the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; environmental justice; and environmental citizen suits.

Since law school, Kostan has continued his education in order to best advocate for his Tribe and clients. He has received a certificate from the University of California, Davis, School of Law: Tribal Justice Project for completing the “Tribal Justice for Tribal Communities” training program, which focused on essential skills and understanding of tribal courts; court development and court operation, including traditional tribal justice and sovereignty; tribal court jurisdiction; judicial ethics; fairness, due process, and full faith and credit; and remedies and penalties. He has also received multiple certificates from the National Indian Justice Center: Tribal Indian Child Welfare Advocates Training Program for completing the following ICWA-related courses: “Court Advocacy Skills for ICWA Advocates”, “Stages of Dependency”, “Tribal Customary Adoptions”, and “Active Efforts”. Kostan has also received certificates of training from Falmouth Institute for successful completion of “The Office of Management and Budget’s New Uniform Guidance: Administering Federal Funds and Contracts” and “A – Z of IDC: The Foundations of Indirect Cost”.