Irma Russell became Dean of The University of Montana School of Law on July 1, 2009. Prior to coming to Montana, Dean Russell served as the NELPI Professor and Director of the National Energy-Environment Law & Policy Institute at the University of Tulsa College of Law.
Among the courses she has taught are Environmental Law, International Environmental Law, Natural Resources Law, Professional Responsibility, Administrative Law, Contracts, Environmental Law Seminar, International Environmental Law Seminar, Environmental Justice Seminar, Appellate Practice and Procedure, Sales and Leasing, Commercial Transactions, Legal Research and Writing, Appellate Advocacy, International Human Rights, International Business Transactions, Agency & Partnership, and Remedies.
Her recent publications include: Streamlining NEPA to Combat Global Climate Change: Heresy or Necessity? in Lewis & Clark’s Law School Symposium, Greening the Grid: Building a Legal Framework for Carbon Neutrality (2009); Introduction: The Sustainability Principle, in Environmental & Energy Law & Policy Journal (2009); Issues of Legal Ethics in Environmental Justice Matters (co-author: Joanne Sum-Ping) in The Law of Environmental Justice (Michael B. Gerrard & Sheila R. Foster eds., 2nd ed., ABA 2008); Measure for Measure: Professor Sunstein’s Use of Cost Benefit Analysis for The Tulsa Law Review (2008); The Evolving Regulation of the Legal Profession: The Costs of Indeterminacy and Certainty in The Professional Lawyer: A Centennial Celebration of the ABA Legacy of Lawyer Ethics (2008); and The Power Structure: Energy, Politics, and the Public Interest in Environmental & Energy Law & Policy Journal (2007). Her publications also include two books, Mastering Contract Law with co-author Barbara Bucholtz (2011), and Issues of Legal Ethics in the Practice of Environmental Law (ABA 2003). Dean Russell's publications may be accessed on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) at http://ssrn.com/author=14559.
Dean Russell is Chair of the ABA Section of Environment, Energy and Resources. She is the chair of member of the AALS Natural Resources Section. Currently she is a member of the University of Montana’s Sustainability Committee. Dean Russell has served as the Chair of the AALS Section on Socio-Economics and the Chair of the AALS Section on Professional Responsibility. She has chaired the Professionalism Committee of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar and as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Professionalism and the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility. She served as a member of the Publications Committee of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility.
Dean Russell earned two undergraduate degrees (liberal arts and education), a master’s degree in English literature, and her law degree at the University of Kansas. She clerked for The Honorable James K. Logan, United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. She also engaged in private practice in Kansas, Missouri, and Tennessee before she began teaching .
In practice, Russell represented potentially responsible parties, government entities, lenders, and other clients on issues arising under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), wetlands designation, site mitigation, and other environmental issues. In her environmental practice, Dean Russell served as the Liaison of the ABA Environmental Section to the Association of American Law Schools and Chair of the Strategic Response Committee of the ABA Environmental Section. She also served as the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Ethics Committee, and as Section Liaison to the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility. Dean Russell was the founding Chair of the Memphis Bar Association Environmental Law Section and served as Chair of the Tennessee Bar Association Environmental Section. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute, the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, and The American College of Environmental Lawyers, the Judicial Conference for the Tenth Judicial Circuit, and the American Bar Association. |
