From Summer Science Program to a Career in Native American Law and Appreciation for Cultural and Artistic Identity: SSP Alum Anthony Jones ‘03

By Summer Science Program

In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, we want to spotlight an inspiring Summer Science Program alum leading an accomplished career in legal advocacy for Native American tribes in Washington while honoring his heritage through traditional art pieces.

Meet Anthony Jones, a member of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe (a Salish term for “The Strong People”), a registered patent and Native American law attorney and a 2003 Summer Science Program alum.

Anthony has always had a knack for tinkering with things, from digging clams at Port Gamble Bay as a child to taking apart his electric guitar to understand how its electrical components create sound. It was this innate curiosity and passion for STEM that led Anthony to join Summer Science Program’s astrophysics program at New Mexico Tech as a rising high school senior in 2003.

The timing could not have been better. Although Anthony was good at math and science, he was unsure how to apply these skills outside the classroom – much less in a professional setting. He also had not given much thought to what colleges he wanted to apply to or what he wanted to study. Summer Science Program changed that.

Anthony found himself in a community of peers with similar interests and a faculty comprised of scientists and engineers who were eager to share the paths they took and the lessons they learned along the way. Together, they talked about how to choose the colleges that best fit their aspirations and how to aim high when setting goals.

Dorming at New Mexico Tech for five and a half weeks also prepared Anthony for the culture shock many students face during their first year of college. This glimpse into the college experience and the rigorous research into the orbit determination of near-earth asteroids helped Anthony feel confident in his skills to succeed in whatever field and college he decided to pursue.

After the Summer Science Program, Anthony decided to study engineering, and applied to MIT, CalTech, Stanford University and Harvard. He eventually picked MIT out of several offers and graduated from the institute with a Bachelor of Science in engineering and a minor in business management.

Then, he made a career shift.

Growing up on the Port Gamble S’Klallam reservation, Anthony was surrounded by tradition, culture and, more importantly, the tribe’s historical civil rights legacy.

In 1855, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe signed the Point No Point Treaty, ceding the rights to most of its territories to the U.S. government in return for preserving their preexisting rights to hunt, fish, and gather plants. The state of Washington did not honor those rights, eventually leading to large-scale protests during the civil rights era by several Native American tribes, including the S’Klallam, who ultimately emerged victorious. In a landmark 1974 decision by a federal judge, the U.S. government was not only compelled to honor its signed treaties with the tribes but also to recognize their sovereignty.

The S’Klallam Tribe’s legal battle for its rights and sovereignty left Anthony yearning for a career where he could work with other people and help them – especially Native American communities who historically have had to fight for their rights. Seeing that a career in engineering fulfilled his desire to tinker but did not offer much room to explore the “human side” of things, Anthony enrolled in law school at Washington University to study tribal governance and federal Native American law.

Soon after graduating, Anthony was hired as a tribal attorney for the Tulalip Tribes and moved back home to Port Gamble. For nearly nine years, Anthony provided in-house counsel for the Tulalip Tribes’ tribal government, municipality, and corporate and business entities, seamlessly shifting from drum ceremonies to courtroom proceedings. Anthony had found a job that bridged his legal advocacy skills with his culture.

From there, Anthony decided to reconnect with his engineering background by exploring intellectual property law with a focus on patents for technological innovation in artificial intelligence, software machine learning, and more. After passing the patent bar, Anthony transitioned to patent law at Perkins Coie, where he worked for the next two years

Anthony is now practicing both of his specializations, patent and Native American law, at Dorsey & Whitney, the first Am Law 100 firm to develop a full-service Native American law practice.

Anthony’s journey from college to returning home to advocate for Native American communities gave him a greater appreciation for his upbringing and deepened his connection to his cultural heritage. While studying the culture and history of Northwest Native people as part of his job, he began to study their artwork, artifacts and other cultural materials and was inspired to make drums, bentwood boxes, masks, paddles and other pieces of art that reflect his community’s traditions using his background in science and engineering.

His artwork and designs can be found now throughout the whole state of Washington. You may even find his thunderbird design on one of the Washington State ferries. The Seattle office of Earthjustice, an environmental nonprofit focused on legal advocacy, is home to a drum Anthony emblazoned with a killer whale. Anthony’s artistic talents have also been sought by Seattle’s Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. In 2018, Anthony collaborated with three other artists to create a Coast Salish glass sculpture commissioned by the Burke Museum where it’s now exhibited.

We at SSP International are proud of Anthony Jones and his inspiring work to advocate for Native American communities through science, law, and art, and look forward to seeing what he accomplishes next!