Bella K. Sewall

Adviser for utilities, tribes and infrastructure developers on federal water and natural resources matters. Thirteen years of experience in federal government. Strategic legal and policy engagement to facilitate projects with Washington lawmakers.

Bella Sewall has extensive experience working with federal agencies on interstate and tribal water resource issues and matters involving water law, federal Indian law, administrative law and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Bella brings expertise from her 13 years at the Department of the Interior advising agencies including the Bureau of Reclamation, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Geological Survey. She served as lead agency counsel in several federal cases involving tribal trust resources and water rights. As the assistant legislative counsel in the Office of the Secretary, she prepared officials for congressional hearings, drafted legislative proposals and worked with the White House, Congress and other federal agencies to accomplish the secretary of the Interior’s legislative agenda. Additionally, Bella negotiated the final statutory language for several legislative settlements regarding Indian water rights, and worked with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its Treatment as State program for Tribes. In recognition of her proficiency while serving in the federal government, Bella received the Solicitor’s Excellence Individual Award, the Secretary’s Indian Water Rights Office Star Award, the EPA’s Gold Medal for Exceptional Service and Department of Justice’s Certificate of Commendation.

She has taught as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and the University of Tennessee College of Law and has provided training on federal Indian and water law.

Education

• J.D., 2002, Yale Law School
• B.A., 1998, Harvard University, summa cum laude

Admissions

New York

District of Colombia 

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Treasurer and Board Member, Beaumont Magnet Academy Foundation

AWARDS

Certificate of Commendation, Department of Justice, 2016

Gold Medal for Exceptional Service, Environmental Protection Agency, 2016

Solicitor’s Excellence Individual Award, Department of the Interior, 2016

Star Award, Secretary’s Indian Water Rights Office, Department of the Interior