Michael D.O. Rusco

Professor Michael D.O. Rusco has spoken, published, taught, and practiced extensively in the areas of business counseling, business litigation, tribal government, and federal Indian law. He is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, and a former University of Wisconsin Hastie Fellow. He has published articles on tribal sovereignty, competitive sovereign erosion, jurisdictional overlap, political participation by tribal citizens, tribal citizenship, and legal writing. He teaches business law, contracts, sales and leases, and legal writing.
 
He has advised tribal governments on a variety of high-stakes matters including commercial contracts, business structures, construction law, breach of trust, constitutional law, employment law, gaming, taxation, natural resources defense, code drafting, and U.S. Supreme Court appeals. He presently works as an independent contractor ghost writing trial and appellate briefs for named partners. He has presented oral arguments to the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Seventh Circuit. He has submitted briefs to the Fifth Circuit and Texas Supreme Court.
 
Professor Rusco previously served as senior tribal counsel to the Ho-Chunk Nation, a tribe with more than 7,700 citizens and 3,300 employees. Professor Rusco’s primary area of responsibility was advising the Nation’s Department of Business, the Ho-Chunk office that oversees the Nation’s billion-dollar gaming, entertainment, dining, hotel, retail, and smoke shop enterprises. In that capacity, he provided advice on contract review and enforcement, construction law, employment law, RFPs/RFIs, and taxation.
 
Professor Rusco worked as a newspaper reporter before going to law school. He honed his writing, research, and investigative skills for The Houston Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News, and The Albany Democrat-Herald. In undergrad, Professor Rusco was editor of the University of Houston's Daily Cougar, the third largest newspaper in Houston at the time.
 
He presently resides in the Harrisburg area with his wife Shanna, son Sam, and daughter Poppy, who sometimes come to his lectures for fun.