Joseph Thomas Flies-Away, MPA, JD

Joseph Thomas Flies-Away, MPA, JD (Hualapai), formerly served as Chief Judge of the Hualapai Tribal Court and as pro tem judge for several tribal courts in the Southwest. Currently he works as a Community Nation Building Consultant in Phoenix, Arizona. As a consultant, Flies-Away facilitates tribal community & nation-building projects in planning, evaluation, technical assistance, research, and training. Focusing on developing justice systems, including Healing to Wellness Courts, Flies-Away is interested in how courts and other governmental institutions contribute to effective governance and ‘living together well’.

Flies-Away’s experience includes serving as a Hualapai Tribal Council Member, Director of the Tribe’s Department of Planning & Community Vision, promoter and Chairman of the Board of the tribal corporation, HBE, Inc., and Chief Judge and Associate Judge of the Hualapai Tribal Court (trial court) and Associate Justice and Chief Justice of the Hualapai Court of Appeals.

Flies-Away has also taught students from Junior High to University, including Lecturer in Law at Stanford University School of Law, Adjunct Faculty at Arizona Summit Law School, and in Native American Studies in the Stanford School of Humanities & Sciences, Arizona State, and a UCLA course called Working in Indian Country. Flies-Away holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and is a graduate of Stanford University in English Literature.