Prior to joining the CU School of Law in 1996, Sarah Krakoff spent three years living and working on the Navajo Nation, as a founder and director of the DNA’s Youth Law Project in Tuba City, Arizona. In this position, she litigated class action discrimination cases in federal court on behalf of Native American schoolchildren, obtaining favorable settlements for her clients. She also drafted a “Street Law” program for Native American Youth. In 1996, she became the director of CU Law School’s Indian Law Clinic. In this position, Professor Krakoff expanded the Clinic’s efforts to support Native American jurisprudence, involving students in projects that summarized opinions of tribal courts or aided tribes in the creation of their own legislation. One of her major achievements as director was obtaining permanent University funding for the Clinic, funding that ensures its future.
Professor Krakoff became an Associate Professor in 1999. Her scholarship focuses on Indian law and natural resources issues from a variety of perspectives. Her current projects include a book that examines the social, legal, philosophical, and environmental consequences of the enormous increase in outdoor recreation, the development of the Navajo Nation’s legal system.