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Caroline LaPorte, J.D., is a staff attorney for the Indian Law Resource Center, where she serves as project director for the Safe Women, Strong Nations project. She is also the current Associate Judge for Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, an Associate Justice for Keewinaw Bay Indian Community. Caroline is a Texas Bar Licensed Attorney, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and an Associate Professor of Native American Studies at Northern Michigan University. Caroline previously served as the Director of the Indigenous Safe Housing Center at the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center and as NIWRC's Senior Native Affairs Policy Advisor in Washington, D.C. She also previously served as an attorney and the Judicial Advisor to the Seminole Tribe of Florida's Tribal Court. Her legal career has focused on Indian country—specifically—child welfare, housing, human rights, and gender-based violence. She served on the American Bar Associations Victim’s Rights Task Force, previously chaired the Victim’s Committee for the Criminal Justice Section of the ABA, and is the chair of the Board of Directors for StrongHearts Native Helpline. She has also worked on key federal legislation such as the Violence Against Women Act, the Not Invisible Act, and Savannas Act.
She graduated from the University of Miami School of Law, cum laude, was named a Henry Bandier Fellow for her Human Rights advocacy, and received the Natasha Pettigrew Memorial Award for child welfare advocacy work.