Faculty

Sam Panarella Assistant Professor of Law 406.243.6623 samuel.panarella@umontana.edu Law 304
Professor Sam Panarella teaches Contracts I & II, Business Transactions, Business Organizations and Renewable Energy Law. Before joining the law school faculty, Professor Panarella was the CEO of Crux Consulting, LLC, a legal process and management consulting firm whose clients include the legal departments of several Fortune 500 companies.  Prior to that, Professor Panarella was a partner at Stoel Rives LLP, a leading western law firm, where he focused his legal practice on energy law, with a specialty in renewable energy development, and representing public and private companies in large-scale industrial and commercial project development. Professor Panarella clerked for United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Otto R. Skopil, Jr. before entering private practice.  Professor Panarella was selected for inclusion in the 2007 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.  His most recent publication is a book on legal process in the corporate environment, Litigation Readiness: A Practical Approach to Electronic Discovery, published by Oxford University Press in April 2011. Professor Panarella earned a B.A. degree, with honors, in Liberal Studies from the University of Montana in 1995. He earned his J.D. degree, cum laude, from Lewis & Clark Law School in 1998, where he was a member of the law review.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS Book: “Litigation Readiness: A Practical Approach to Electronic Discovery” Oxford University Press (2011) Treatise: “eDiscovery for Corporate Counsel,” West Publications, Thomson Reuters Company (2008) Article: Not in My Backyard: The Clash between Native Hawaiian Gathering Rights and Western Concepts of Property in Hawaii, Environmental Law (Winter 1998) Article: Creating Landowner Value with Lease Agreements: The Finer Points Explained for a Document that Could be Valid for Years, North American Windpower (2004) Article: Effectively Managing Legal Holds During e-Discovery, The Electronic Discovery Counselor (2007) Article: The FRCP Clock Has Rung. Now What?, e-Discovery Law & Strategy (2007)  Article: Just Starting Out: Leasing, Siting, and Permitting Geothermal Projects, Lava Law: Legal Issues in Geothermal Energy Development (2004) Article: Wind Energy Lease Agreements, The Law of Wind: A Guide to Business and Legal Issues (2004)