Virjinya Torrez

Virjinya Torrez, TICA’s Secretary, is an Assistant Attorney General for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. Prior to joining the Pascua Yaqui Tribe’s Office of Attorney General in 2017, she served 5 years as an Assistant Attorney General for the Tohono O’odham Nation. She began her career as a general practitioner in private practice taking on a range of both trial and appellate civil transactional and litigation matters as well as criminal defense cases, and she continues to serve as a general practitioner for the Tribe. She is experienced in health and behavioral health law, contract law, construction law, procurement regulatory matters, tax law, employment law and regulatory matters, gaming regulatory matters, education law, administrative law, SORNA, TAP, VAWA, TLOA, ICRA, constitutional law, ICWA and child dependency, state and federal grant regulatory matters, trust land law and regulatory matters, habeas corpus defense, self-governance, domestic relations law, real estate law, probate law, personal injury law, landlord-tenant law, business/commercial law, and bankruptcy law. Her work for Tribes has covered almost all areas of Tribal government representation, across departments and programs such as Public Safety, Emergency Management, and Law Enforcement; Human Resources; Education; Enrollment; Tribal Gaming; Veteran’s Affairs; Finance; Grants and Contracts; WIOA; Facilities Management; Social Services; Health; Information Technology; and Economic and Community Development. She also handles a variety of Federal Indian law and policy matters. Ms. Torrez also serves as an appellate judge for the Southwest Intertribal Court of Appeals, and is a Judge Pro Tem for Pima County Justice Court.

Ms. Torrez is a 2016 graduate of the State Bar of Arizona's Bar Leadership Institute, and currently serves on the Bar Leadership Institute’s Selection Panel. She is in her second term as a State Bar representative on the DNA - People’s Legal Services, Inc. Board of Directors, and serves as Vice-President of the Board. She is also in her second term serving as the State Bar's representative to the Arizona Supreme Court’s State, Tribal & Federal Court Forum. She also serves as a Matriarch for the H.O.N.O.R Collective, a network within Southern Arizona and surrounding regions providing healing in indigenous communities utilizing the 4 Rs of Respect, Relationship, Reciprocity, and Responsibility.

Ms. Torrez earned both her J.D. and her M.A. in American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona, and she earned her B.A. in Political Science (specializing in International Relations) and East Asian Studies at the University of Iowa, with certificates in International Business and American Indian and Native Studies. She is admitted to practice in both the federal and state courts of Arizona, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Tohono O’odham Judicial Court, and the Pascua Yaqui Tribal Court. She is also an accredited VA attorney.

Ms. Torrez is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and is “mom” to 3 boys.