Honest. Smart. Committed.
Pete Heidepriem
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Practice Areas:
- Personal Injury
- American Indian Law
- Civil Rights
- Appeals
- Criminal Law
Biography
After joining HPS Law Firm, Pete began practicing in South Dakota's state and federal courts, as well as the tribal court of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. His personal injury work ranges from farm and ranch injuries to car crashes. Pete also represents people vindicating their civil rights in claims based on racial discrimination or other constitutional violations.
His trial work includes serving as a tribal prosecutor for the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, where he was lead counsel in a court trial and managed complex prosecutions involving violent crimes and drug offenses. He also has served as counsel to a tribal judge of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate.
Pete's appellate experience covers state and federal courts. He has appealed fraud and probate claims to the Supreme Court of South Dakota, achieving a unanimous decision in his client's favor. Before the U.S. Supreme Court, he filed an amicus brief regarding tribal sovereignty on behalf of American Indian tribes, and the Court ruled unanimously in favor of the party supported in the brief.
In addition to private practice, Pete maintains a focus on academic work. He serves as an adjunct professor of law at the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law, teaching a seminar on appellate advocacy and federal Indian law. During fall 2021, he was a Joachim Herz Fellow and visiting scholar at Bucerius Law School in Germany, where he conducted research on the intersection of international investment law and the rights of Indigenous peoples. Bucerius featured Pete in an article about his fellowship, and you can access it here.
His trial work includes serving as a tribal prosecutor for the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, where he was lead counsel in a court trial and managed complex prosecutions involving violent crimes and drug offenses. He also has served as counsel to a tribal judge of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate.
Pete's appellate experience covers state and federal courts. He has appealed fraud and probate claims to the Supreme Court of South Dakota, achieving a unanimous decision in his client's favor. Before the U.S. Supreme Court, he filed an amicus brief regarding tribal sovereignty on behalf of American Indian tribes, and the Court ruled unanimously in favor of the party supported in the brief.
In addition to private practice, Pete maintains a focus on academic work. He serves as an adjunct professor of law at the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law, teaching a seminar on appellate advocacy and federal Indian law. During fall 2021, he was a Joachim Herz Fellow and visiting scholar at Bucerius Law School in Germany, where he conducted research on the intersection of international investment law and the rights of Indigenous peoples. Bucerius featured Pete in an article about his fellowship, and you can access it here.
Clerkships
- Chambers of Chief Judge Jeffrey L. Viken of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota
- Chambers of Magistrate Judge Patricia A. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island
Published Works
- Indigenous Rights, Investor-State Disputes, and Canadian Law, S.D. L. Rev. (forthcoming)
- Recalibrate Revocations of Supervised Release, 51 U. Balt. L. Rev. 329 (2022)
- Tribal Remedies, Exhaustion, and State Courts, 44 Am. Indian L. Rev. 241 (2020)
- Cited in the first ever Restatement of the Law of American Indians, section 59 of Chapter 4 on Tribal Economic Development
- Chosen as one of the “Selected Law Review Articles” in the American Indian Law Deskbook 2021 Edition by the Conference of Western Attorneys General
- Cited in an American Law Reports annotation on the tribal exhaustion doctrine requirement, 72 A.L.R. Fed. 3d Art. 2 (2022)
- Fresh Fears of Deportation for Cubans in the U.S., 29 Geo. Immigr. L.J. 305 (2015)
- The Tohono O’odham Nation and the United States-Mexico Border, 4 Am. Indian L.J. 107 (2015)
Education
- Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, District of Columbia
- J.D. - 2016
- Honors: Dean's List, Moot court, Graduation commencement speaker, Georgetown Immigration Law Journal
- Bucerius Law School, Hamburg
- International and comparative business law - 2015
- Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- B.A. - 2013
- Honors: magna cum laude
- Honors: Phi Beta Kappa
- Major: Philosophy and Political Science
- London School of Economics, London
- Economics and political theory - 2011
Bar Admissions
- South Dakota, 2016
- U.S. District Court District of South Dakota, 2016
- Lower Brule Sioux Tribal Court, 2020
- U.S. Supreme Court, 2020
- Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Court, 2022
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 2022
Past Positions
- Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Appellate section intern
- Chambers of Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Judicial intern
- South Dakota U.S. Attorney’s Office, Legal intern
Current Employment Position
- Partner