Amber Kennedy Madole

Law Librarian, Research Services, Indigenous Law and Policy, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law
Last Updated: July 2, 2025

Amber Kennedy Madole is the Law Librarian for Research Services and Indigenous Law and Policy and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law at the USC Gould School of Law. In these roles, she teaches legal research courses and assists faculty and students with their research endeavors.

At USC Law, Madole serves as the Faculty Advisor to the Native American Law Students Association (NALLSA), studies tribal law issues, and coordinates lectures on Indigenous Law and Policy with the Center for Law, History, and Culture (CHLC).

Madole earned both her J.D. and MLIS degrees from UCLA and her undergraduate degree from Georgetown University. While at UCLA School of Law, she served as an editor of the Indigenous Peoples’ Journal of Law, Culture & Resistance.

She is active in several national organizations, including AALL’s Native Peoples Law Caucus (NPLC), where she currently serves as chair, and AALL’s Spectrum Article of the Year Jury. She is also a member of the Southern California Association of Law Libraries (SCALL), where she has served on the executive board, chaired the Speakers Committee for the annual SCALL Institute, and currently chairs the Grants Committee.

Dedicated to the study of Indigenous law and policy issues, Madole is the author of California Tribal Law in Henke’s California Law Guide. Her joint proposal advocating for the inclusion of tribal codes in the Bluebook was adopted as Bluebook Rule 22, “The Law of Tribal Nations,” in the 22nd edition. This rule provides long-overdue guidance on citing tribal constitutions, cases, and codes, and U.S. treaties with Tribal Nations.

Madole’s article “Law Librarians for Indigenous-Inclusive Citation” received the 2024 AALL Spectrum Article of the Year Award.

In 2024, she co-authored “Integrating Tribal Law into the Legal Research and Writing Curriculum: Benefits, Challenges, and Strategies,” published in Perspectives. The piece received both the 2025 ALL-SIS Outstanding Article Award and the 2025 Paul Gatz RIPS-SIS Publication Award from AALL.

In 2025, Madole received the Early Career Teaching and Public Service Award from the AALS Indian Nations and Indigenous Peoples Section.

She is a citizen of the Fort Sill Chiricahua Warm Springs Apache Tribe and a member of the State Bar of California.