Barrister eBrief - February 2018
Student Team Competitions
The Regional Trial Team Competition sponsored by the American College of Trial Lawyers and the Texas Young Lawyers Association was held February 8, 9 and 10 at the county courthouse in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Trial team competitors are drawn from 14 regions and over 150 law schools; the Blewett School of Law was represented by two teams - the 3L team of Jake Schwaller and Jenna Lyons and the 2L team of Caitlin Creighton and Will Casey. While neither team advanced to the national finals, both performed exceptionally well. The 3L team had trials against the University of Colorado, the University of Utah and BYU, and only narrowly failed to advance to the semifinals. The trial teams are coached by Randy Bishop, Tim Dailey and Randy Cox. The team also consisted of four witnesses, Zach Hixson, Lindsay Love, Jasmine Morton and Dylan Berget, who each devoted dozens of hours to helping the teams prepare. Many other students, faculty and alumni also volunteered for practice trials. The trial team coaches wish to thank all the volunteers for their support and congratulate the team on another successful season.
The 17th Annual ABA Tax Section’s Law Student Tax Challenge took place on Friday, February 9 in San Diego, Californian, where Blewett School of Law 3Ls Kerry Heard and Amber VanDyke took second place. Kerry and Amber first competed in the semi-final rounds in the morning and progressed to the final rounds that afternoon. Both received very complimentary feedback from two panels of distinguished tax practitioners, academics, and a U.S. Tax Court Judge. This year was the first time the Blewett School of Law competed in this event.
The Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition was held on February 22-23 at Pace University in White Plains, NY. The team of Nathan Burke and Lowell Chandler, both second-year law students, competed at the 2018 event and received the Fossil Creek Watchers Best Brief for the environmental side. Facing the Universities of Colorado and North Carolina in the first round, Nathan was selected as best oralist. In round two, they faced UC Davis and Emory University. In the final preliminary round against the Universities of Maryland and Pittsburgh, Lowell was selected as best oralist. On the strength of their exceptional brief and outstanding oral presentations, they advanced to the quarterfinal round. Much of the team’s success is owed to the many attorneys in Missoula who volunteered their time and expertise in helping prepare Nathan and Lowell for this competition. Thanks to all involved for your dedication and help.
UM's Vision Magazine Highlights Montana Justice Initiative
In an article titled,“Making Montana More Just: The Montana Justice Initiative mobilizes campus to examine and improve Montana’s criminal justice system,” readers learn about the formation of the Montana Justice Initiative and the efforts made by UM graduate Jake Coolidge and Montana state Senator Dan Weinberg to bring the project to fruition. Currently, the initiative is funding four research projects at the University of Montana. The first is research by Laurie Walker, an associate professor in the School of Social Work, who is looking into the dramatic overrepresentation of Native American women in Montana’s prisons. The second initiative is a pilot program by Christina Yoshimura, an associate professor of communication studies, to use family-based counseling in lieu of adjudication for first-time juvenile offenders. The initiative is funding Tobin Miller Shearer, director of UM’s African-American Studies program, to study primary documents that reveal the role of race in the development of Montana’s criminal justice system. Finally, Coolidge is teaming up with the ACLU to author a report detailing the conditions of Montana’s tribal jails.
Law v Forestry: The Tradition Continues
This year marked the 101st year of the Foresters’ Ball, and the age-old traditions of stealing Bertha the Moose, kidnapping the SBA president and negotiating Bertha’s return, cowpie tossing and locking up the law dean continued! No animals were harmed during the shenanigans, however a few trees lived their final days in various locations around the law school.
IP DAY IN MONTANA: Protecting Your Innovations
For the second year, the Blewett School of Law is partnering with the IPL Section of the Montana Bar to present IP DAY IN MONTANA: Protecting Your Innovations on April 12, 2018 at the law school. Guest speakers include Mollybeth Kocialski, Peter Becker, and Professor Pippa Browde. Mollybeth Kocialski is Director of the Rocky Mountain Regional Office of the United States Patent & Trademark Office and will cover important IP considerations for businesses. Peter Becker, an in-house intellectual property attorney with a long career with companies including Microsoft and Amazon, will give a talk on the leveling nature of the Internet for innovation. Professor Browde’s presentation will cover tax issues for patents in the new tax bill. We will have additional panels of leaders from IP-centric Montana businesses and Montana IP attorneys, followed by breakout sessions for deeper dives into the three big IP topics for new businesses. Bonus event: join us for a pre-IP Day fireside chat the evening prior to discuss a hot topic in IP. Visit the IP Day in Montana page for more information and to register. Sponsorship opportunities are also available.
Montana Law Week Set For April 3–6
The School of Law's annual law week will be held April 3-6, 2018. Tuesday, April 3 will feature a Lunch Hour Panel sponsored by the Montana State Bar and a Movie Night co-sponsored by the law school's Student Bar Association and Race, Racism, and American Law Class. On Thursday, April 5 at 5:00 p.m., the James R. Browning Distinguished Lecture in Law returns for 2018 and welcomes Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, sponsored by The Montana Law Review. The Montana Supreme Court Oral Argument takes place on Friday, April 6 at 9:00 a.m.; the argued case will be KENDRA ESPINOZA, JERI ELLEN ANDERSON and JAIME SCHAEFER, Plaintiffs and Appellees, v. MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE and MIKE KADAS, in his official capacity as DIRECTOR of the MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, Defendants and Appellants. Mark your calendars and join us!