Editor’s note: This story is the first in a periodic series that will focus on Native entrepreneurs in the Pacific Northwest.
Since she was young, Molly Washington, N’dee and Mexican-American, has always been a vocal advocate for what she believes in.
Washington has worked at a variety of law firms and also served as the Deputy City Attorney for the city of Portland from 2015 to 2020. More recently, she worked for the National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMC) Oregon, first as the chief operating officer and then as the chief programs officer.
In May 2024, Washington opened her own practice, N’dee Law LLC, after more than a decade as an attorney.
“I’ve always been an advocate, so people would probably describe me as maybe even argumentative,” she said. “If I felt strongly about something, I was not scared to voice my opinion or to engage in dialogue back and forth to try to explain and convince people about why I felt the way I felt.”
Washington grew up in Waterloo, Iowa, raised by her adoptive parents.
“I am a split feather, lost bird, which means I am a Native adoptee and a Native former foster child,” Washington said. “I’m also a trans-racial adoptee, which means the parents who raised me are white.”
She described herself as a curious kid — full of questions about the world. That curiosity and determination to voice her mind carried into adulthood and led her to a career as a lawyer.
“I am ancestor guided and I ask Creator almost every day to illuminate my path,” Washington said. “And then I will walk it, without question.”
On April 1, Washington began a position as the Senior Policy Advisor for the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB).
“I looked at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board strategic plan, and looked at their list of: If our vision is realized, if the mission is achieved, this is Indian health in five years and 10 years. This is what you should see,” Washington said. “Every single thing on that list was real, tangible. Those things we had achieved previously, before colonization. It’s things that can still be achieved in our future, for our next seven generations.”
Washington will help NPAHIB work toward that vision through policy advocacy and working with the members and delegates from the 43 federally recognized Native nations from Oregon, Washington and Idaho that NPAHIB serves. She is also board chair of the Native American Youth and Center (NAYA).
With her new role, Washington is not currently taking on new clients but retaining current ones. Even so, she continues to make herself available to the community when needs arise.
“I will always make space and time for them,” Washington said. “I think the new role will give me something additional to offer for the pathway of Indigenous legal practitioners.”
Washington lives in Portland with her husband, Rakeem Washington, whom she met at Lewis & Clark Law School. Rakeem now owns his own company called Engage to Change, which provides anti-racism, anti-oppression consulting and training.
The Washingtons have four kids ages 16, 13, 7 and 18 months.
Journey to law
Washington earned her bachelor of arts degree in art with an emphasis on graphic design from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, staying close to home. After graduation, she realized she wanted to experience living somewhere else.
In the summer of 2003, two years before starting law school at Lewis & Clark, Washington drove to Portland with all her belongings packed into her red 1994 Oldsmobile Achieva and no plan. She had one friend in Portland, and got lucky enough to secure an apartment in the same building.
Needing a job, Washington brought her resume to the Portland City Grill and was hired as a cocktail waitress that same day. Washington spent five years working at the Portland City Grill, and it even helped her secure her first job at a law firm.
After graduation from law school, Washington had yet to secure a job, so began to look for law firms on Craigslist while still working at Portland City Grill. She found one that happened to be in the same building, called Smith Freed & Eberhard.
Washington realized that she recognized the managing partner from when he came down to the restaurant for post-work drinks. So she emailed him.
That same night, he came into Portland City Grill. Washington introduced herself with confidence, and he set up a time for her to come in for an interview.
Washington got a job as a contract attorney at Smith Freed & Eberhard, but she kept her job at Portland City Grill for about eight months before being offered an associate attorney position.
“On Fridays, I would leave the law firm, I would go down 13 floors to the 30th floor to the Portland City Grill. I would change into my uniform, and my colleagues would come downstairs, and I would wait on them,” Washington said.
“I was an attorney by day and a cocktail waitress by night for many months.”
Washington worked at Smith Freed & Eberhard for just over a year. Since then, she has worked at a variety of other firms, in addition to her Deputy City Attorney stint and role at NAMC.
Now, with N’dee Law LLC, she has her own firm.
N’dee Law LLC: advocacy and empowerment
N’dee Law LLC, an Oregon-based law firm, “specializes in contracts and transactions, construction law, small business support, public contracting and private projects, procurement, policy and advocacy, and equitable contracting and workforce diversity,” according to its website.
Washington also hopes to create more access and pathways for future Indigenous legal practitioners in her work. Part of that means emphasizing Indigenous wisdom and decolonization in her practice.
“I knew there was a way to serve people in the law that would mitigate some of the harm people experience when they’re in a legal situation,” Washington said, speaking to her motivation behind starting N’dee Law LLC.
“I try to include a decolonized approach as best as I can do in a system that was built on colonization. So the way that works is I incorporate our Native cultural values and practices as much as possible.”
Photo courtesy of Molly Washington.
“Sometimes this means inviting Creator into the room before a conversation or starting by smudging with sage,” she continued. “It means recognizing power dynamics at play and making it known that everyone in the room has something valuable to contribute.”
Having Indigenous legal practitioners in all aspects of law incorporating their lived experiences into their work is crucial, according to Jeremy Aliason, Seminole, Muscogee and Filipino.
“[The law] is the penultimate of colonialism,” Aliason said. “Yes, the system was not built for us, but how do we use it to support our communities? And by the system I mean the justice system, I mean the law.”
Aliason is the executive director of Legal Aid Services of Oregon and the first Native American director of any Oregon legal aid program. He met Washington the summer before she started at Lewis & Clark Law School during an Opportunities for Law in Oregon (OLIO) conference.
“What Molly does and does well is to make space for other people to be seen,” Aliason said.
Ryan McDonald, Wiyot Tribe, grew up in Washougal, Washington helping with his dad’s company, McDonald Excavating. He originally met Washington when she was working at NAMC-Oregon and brought together a group of Native-owned construction companies.
“She’s very aggressive in advocating for her people,” McDonald said. “She put our name out there and we got quite a bit of work from it. She just was always there to help.”
When Washington opened N’dee Law LLC, McDonald decided to come on as one of her clients. He appreciates how she works to decolonize her practice, he said. McDonald also expressed appreciation for how she communicates with her clients.
“With Molly, you’re just having a conversation as people,” McDonald said. “She really puts law into layman’s terms for someone like me who doesn’t understand that language.”
In her work at N’dee Law LLC, and with others such as Aliason, Washington hopes to inspire young Indigenous people to pursue a career in law.
“I have to be working to develop the pathway because that’s part of the seven generations,” Washington said. “We’re some of the most appropriate people to be doing this work, because of our experiences and because of our adaptability, and because of our knowledge and ability to learn and to survive and be resilient.”
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