Brattle Experts Honored by Cherokee Nation for Support in Landmark Trust Settlement
Brattle Principal Dr. Charles Gibbons and Principal Emeritus Dr. Mark Berkman served on the Trust Litigation Team that was recently honored with the Cherokee Nation’s Gadugi – Unity Through Generations award for their work on Cherokee Nation v. Bureau of Indian Affairs et al. Brattle estimated losses for settlement purposes on behalf of the tribe in the long-running lawsuit, which concerned the US government’s alleged mismanagement of the Cherokee Nation’s federal trust assets and resources.
In litigation first filed in 2016 and renewed in 2019, the Cherokee Nation contended that the US Department of the Interior and its Bureau of Indian Affairs failed to provide proper accounting of Cherokee Trust Fund assets – including property owned by the tribe, land sale proceeds, and gas and mineral rights – throughout the 20th century. Brattle was engaged by the Cherokee Nation to provide a reasonable estimate of losses for settlement purposes due to lost use or lost revenues arising from the government’s inadequate stewardship of the Nation’s tribal lands.
In January 2025, the Cherokee Nation and the government reached an $80 million settlement, the largest one-time payment in the tribe’s history. The Nation will use the settlement proceeds to build new judicial facilities to house the tribe’s Supreme Court, district court, and attorney general’s office. In recognition of the support of the legal team and related experts throughout the proceedings, the Cherokee Nation awarded the Gadugi – Unity Through Generations award to the Trust Litigation Team at the 73rd Cherokee National Holiday in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, in August 2025. The award was bestowed upon the team for “their spirit of working together for the betterment of the Cherokee Nation.”
