Weissbrodt, I. S. (1910-) | Sealaska Heritage Institute Archives

Name: Weissbrodt, I. S. (1910-)

Historical Note: I. S. ‘Lefty’ Weissbrodt (1910-    ) was born in New York City, the son of Austrian immigrants. He graduated from Columbia University Law School in 1935 and stayed at Columbia as faculty assistant for two years after his graduation. In 1935 he entered into employment with the federal government, serving in a number of New Deal agencies. In 1947 he left government service and opened a law office with David Cobb. In 1949 he and Cobb were invited by James E. Curry to assist in the prosecution of claims of the Tlingit and Haida Indian tribes of Alaska. Curry was claims attorney for a large number of Indian tribes, and beginning in the 1950s he asked Cobb and Weissbrodt to undertake major responsibilities in those endeavors. While Weissbrodt’s earliest work in Native American claims was with the Tlingit and Haida, he later served as claims attorney for more than 30 tribes, and his work in connection with Native Americans composed the majority of the firm’s work. In 1982, at the age of 72, Mr. Weissbrodt was still working as a full time Native American claims law suits and issues based out of Washington, DC.

Records or Manuscript Collections Created by Weissbrodt, I. S.