In this year-end update, Dean Paul Kirgis offers a recap of 2020 and warm holiday wishes. |
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School of Law and DPAP Alumni and Former Faculty Elected to State Office
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Congratulations to the public servants affiliated with the Blewett School of Law and Max S. Baucus Institute’s Department of Public Administration and Policy who won in the statewide election this November: Kristen Juras was elected Lieutenant governor of Montana. She is a former faculty member (2000-20) in the School of Law who taught courses in property, business law and international law. She also helped create the School of Law’s successful Bar preparation program. Austin Knudsen (’08) is the attorney general-elect of Montana. Knudsen is a former Republican member of the Montana House of Representatives, representing District 34 from 2011 to 2019. Knudsen served as speaker of the House from 2015 to 2019. He previously served as speaker pro tempore. Justice Jim Shea (’91) is a judge of the Montana Supreme Court. He assumed office in 2014 and was retained for another term. Christi Jacobsen (’00) won the election for secretary of state. With nearly two decades of experience in leadership for state government, she is currently the deputy secretary of state. She holds a master’s in public administration from the University of Montana. |
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Law School Partners with Community to Help Survivors of Domestic Violence
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Third-year law student Taiyler Lindsey outside the YWCA's Broadway facility. |
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Years in the making, a partnership involving the School of Law, Missoula’s YWCA and the Ries Law Group received grant funding for the development of a new Relationship and Sexual Violence Legal Clinic. This clinic will be housed in The Meadowlark, the YWCA’s new family homeless and domestic violence shelter that is currently under construction. When it opens this spring, students in the Blewett School of Law’s Domestic Violence Clinic will hold office hours in The Meadowlark facility. The Relationship and Sexual Violence Legal Clinic will be staffed by law students and supervising attorneys from Ries Law Group, a private local law firm specializing in issues of intimate partner violence, sexual violence and family homelessness. As a team they will provide holistic legal services, assistance and advocacy to those affected by intimate partner violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking. “I really want to help individuals experiencing any and all forms domestic violence to navigate the legal system, which can be really complicated and scary, in a way that empowers them and allows them to feel safer,” said Taiyler Lindsey, a third-year law student in the law school’s Domestic Violence Clinic interning with Ries Law Group. |
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Q&A with Professor Andrew King-Ries
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Professor Andrew King-Ries graduated from Brown University in 1988 with a degree in history. He received his law degree from Washington University in St. Louis, where he was Order of the Coif and an editor on the Washington University Law Quarterly. Before becoming a faculty member at the Blewett School of Law, King-Ries was a speechwriter for Secretary of Education Lauro Cavazos and a clerk for the United States Court of Appeals of the Eighth Circuit. For eight years, King-Ries was a prosecutor, specializing in domestic violence cases, for the King County Prosecutor's Office in Seattle, Washington. |
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King-Ries currently teaches Criminal Procedure, Criminal Law, Domestic Violence, Juvenile Justice, Law & Literature, and White Collar Crime and has taught clinical and constitutional law in the past. Outside of the law school, King-Ries serves as a member of the Just Response Sexual Assault Resource Center Advisory Board. In addition, he is a member of the Montana Supreme Court Criminal Jury Instructions Committee and the chair of the University of Montana's Discrimination Grievance Committee. King-Ries is the chair of the American Bar Association's Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence. He was also recently appointed by American Bar Association President Judy Perry Martinez to the ABA Coronavirus Task Force. What drew you to the law, and to work in criminal law in particular? I studied American legal history in college and was fascinated with the role of the law in our country’s history. So much of the history of the United States is legal, given our tendency to resolve our societal disputes through the law. The law shapes society in profound ways. I was drawn to its potential as a way of changing how our society treats marginalized people and makes good — or doesn’t — on our shared commitment to equality and justice. |
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Akemi Nakagawa, Montana Legal Services Association Justice for Montanans member, speaks to Christopher Morigeau and Forrest Crowl during the 2019 Pro Bono Fair (the 2020 Pro Bono Fair was held virtually). |
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Students Provide Thousands of Pro Bono Hours to Underserved Communities
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Raising awareness of access to justice concerns and supporting pro bono service reflects a shared community value and is an institutional priority. Blewett School of Law graduates recognize the character, values and professionalism necessary to serve society as lawyers, including the importance of pro bono work, service and access to justice for underserved communities. To support this learning outcome, the law school maintains a voluntary Pro Bono Program. Over the course of their three years of law school, the Class of 2020 provided 2,032.66 hours of pro bono service. More than 2,300 pro bono hours have been provided by the Class of 2021 (as of September 2020). |
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Larry Riley (left) and Robert Driscroll “RD” Corette (right) |
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Law School Loses Two Class of '66 Alumni
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The University of Montana Law School Class of 1966 lost two of its members this October, both highly regarded members of the Bar with long service to Montana’s legal profession. Larry Riley passed away on Oct. 24, at the age of 79. He was a trial lawyer for 50 years and practiced with the Missoula law firm Garlington, Lohn and Robinson. He dedicated the years after his retirement to expanding pro bono legal guardianship statewide in an effort to provide the service to families across Montana at a free or reduced rate. Robert Driscoll “RD” Corette succumbed to cancer on Oct. 17, soon after his 80th birthday. He was a third-generation Butte lawyer and prominent mediator, who found a passion in mentoring young lawyers throughout his 43-year career. Among the associations to which he belonged were the International Association of Defense Counsel, Defense Research Institute, Montana Association of Defense Counsel, American Board of Trial Advocates, Best Lawyers in America and Fellow-American College of Trial Lawyers. |
In Memoriam: Jack Tuholske
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One of America’s most prominent environmental lawyers, Jack Tuholske, recently passed away after an 18-month bout with liver cancer. Jack graduated from the University of Montana School of Law with honors in 1985 and devoted his career to public interest environmental lawyering in state and federal courts in Montana and the West. Tuholske was lead counsel for over 50 published decisions, including over a dozen successful cases at the Montana Supreme Court in the fields of water law, land use, constitutional law and natural resource management. In recognition of his public interest work, Tuholske was awarded the William O. Douglas Award by the Sierra Club in 2002 and the Kerry Rydberg Award in 2010 by the University of Oregon Public Interest Environmental Law Conference. Tuholske ensured that his work for the environment would continue by teaching both at the University of Montana School of Law as an adjunct and then full-time at Vermont Law School from 2003 to 2018, although he maintained his Montana practice and residence throughout. At Vermont, Jack taught a wide variety of courses, including Constitutional Law and Civil Procedure, but was best known for his environmental courses, creating Vermont’s Public Lands Management: Montana Field Course, and directing the Water and Justice Program. |
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Updates from the Department of Public Administration and Policy
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UM's Department of Public Administration and Policy is the first of its kind in Montana. Located within the Alexander Blewett School of Law's Max S. Baucus Institute, DPAP's mission is to provide a cutting-edge public sector education and advance careers in public service. |
Baucus Institute Announces New Montana-based Fellowship Program
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The Max S. Baucus Institute's Department of Public Administration & Policy (DPAP) recently announced its new Baucus Leaders Montana program. DPAP selected seven University of Montana undergraduate, graduate and certificate students enrolled in DPAP programs to be part of the first class of Baucus Leaders Montana in the summer of 2021. Each Baucus Leaders Montana fellow will be placed in one of the following Montana-based offices for a project-oriented learning experience: | • | Montana Office of Commissioner of Higher Education (OCHE) | | • | City of Missoula | | • | Missoula County | | • | Montana Department of Justice: Motor Vehicle Division, Driver Services | | • | Montana Nonprofit Association | | • | Montana Legislative Research & Policy Office | | • | UM American Indian Governance Institute |
“We are incredibly fortunate to continue to provide strong educational pathways for students interested in careers in public and nonprofit organizations across our state,” said DPAP Chair Dr. Sara Rinfret. “Our placement within the School of Law’s Baucus Institute continues to provide an innovative education for students across the nation.” Read more |
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Alexander Blewett III School of Law University of Montana - 32 Campus Drive Missoula, MT 59812 406-243-4311 | www.umt.edu/law |
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