Advanced Trial Advocacy Program – Hands-On Trial Skills

The Advanced Trial Advocacy Program is recommended for any lawyer wishing to improve skills with witnesses and courtroom argument whether in trial, deposition, or hearing. This is an intensive hands-on course offering techniques from jury selection to closing arguments. Topics for the 2018 course include Effective Jury Selection, Compelling Opening Statements, Courtroom Communication Techniques, Creating Dynamic Trial Visuals, and more! This year’s program takes place at the law school from Monday, May 21 to Friday, May 25. This one-week course offers approximately 30 CLE credits, including one ethics credit, pending approval. 

Study Indian Law This Summer in Missoula (or Online!)

Spend the summer in beautiful Missoula studying Indian Law! The School of Law invites you to participate in the 11th annual Summer American Indian and Indigenous Law Program, June 4 - August 3, 2018. This year we will be offering nine courses taught by a faculty comprised of expert Indian law scholars and practitioners from around the country. Participants in the program may choose from any of the nine courses or take them all. CLE credits will also be available pending application. Courses are also offered for law credit and cross-listed for graduate credit.

The curriculum changes each year for this program, and this year’s boasts another all-star lineup of Indian law experts. Professors and attorneys from Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Michigan and Montana will cover topics including American Indian Children, Designing Government Regulations, Alaska and Hawaii Native Laws, Water Law, International Law, and Public Policy. Can’t make the trip to Missoula? Indian Law Research, taking place June 4-8, is available ONLINE this summer.

More information at the Indian Law page, or contact Professor Monte Mills at monte.mills@umontana.edu. 

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Denise Juneau to Give 2018 Commencement Address

Montana’s former Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau will give the 2018 commencement address at the School of Law graduation and hooding ceremony on May 19, 2018. Juneau, a 2004 graduate of the law school, was selected in April as the next superintendent for Seattle Public Schools, the first Native American superintendent in the city’s history.

Blewett School of Law Welcomes New Faculty: Sandi Zellmer, Craig Cowie

We are proud to announce that Sandra (Sandi) Zellmer and Craig Cowie and will become the newest members of the UM Law community. Professor Zellmer, who has been a Distinguished Visiting Professor from the University of Nebraska College of Law for the 2017-2018 academic year, will continue with the law school full-time as a Professor of Law, teaching in the Natural Resources & Environmental Law Clinic and related courses. Cowie will join the faculty for the 2018 fall semester as an Assistant Professor of Law and the inaugural Director of the School of Law’s new Blewett Consumer Law & Protection Program. Working for the past six years at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and serving the last three years as Assistant Litigation Deputy, Cowie brings a wealth of experience in consumer protection and litigation to this exciting new initiative.

“These outstanding individuals will play key roles for UM in the years to come,” said School of Law Dean Paul Kirgis. “With her national profile, Professor Zellmer will help cement our existing strength in Natural Resources and Environmental Law, while Professor Cowie has the experience and energy to build a world-class program in the increasingly important field of Consumer Law. We are thrilled to have them.”

Blewett School of Law Makes Quarterfinals at National NALSA Moot Court Competition

Forty-four teams from across the country competed in the 28th Annual National Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) Moot Court Competition, held the first weekend in March at the Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law at Arizona State University in Phoenix. Blewett School of Law teams included 3L Rydel Peterson and 2L Jeremy Riser and 2Ls Summer Carmack and Hailey Forcella. Peterson and Riser showed very well in the preliminary rounds, including a perfect score from a judge for one of Jeremy’s arguments. Carmack and Forcella advanced into the last of sixteen as an eleven seed. In the round of sixteen, Carmack and Forcella out-argued and outscored the sixth seeded team and were the only lower seeded team to advance to the quarterfinal round. Carmack and Forcella then faced the third-seeded team from the University of Hawaii and nearly pulled off the upset. It is interesting to note that commentators during the championship argument noted that the round between Montana and Hawaii was both a better match-up and better argued. Congratulations to Peterson, Riser, Carmack and Forcella on an excellent showing on behalf of the law school and on the successful culmination of their hard work in moot court!

Montana Stream Access Law Symposium, March 16 – On Friday, March 16, more than 120 participants assembled to commemorate Montana’s extraordinary stream access case law and legislation. Jim Goetz, the attorney who brought the landmark cases that recognized the public’s right to access state waters for recreational use, opened the event, followed by a roundtable of the original Stream Access Bill drafters and stakeholders, who discussed the key lessons to their success. Later panels covered legal ethics, subsequent developments in the law, and issues on the horizon such as climate change, tribal rights and instream flow. Governor Steve Bullock delivered closing remarks. Missoula Community Access Television (MCAT) showed the event (in 3-parts) on MCAT Channel 189 on Wednesday, May 2, at 5:30 p.m. and again on Saturday, May 5, at 10:00 p.m. The event is available for viewing at MCAT's Video on Demand on MCAT's website. For an agenda of the event, including a photo gallery, visit the Montana Stream Access Law Symposium page.

Montana Law Week 2018 – This year’s Law Week took place Tuesday, April 3 through Friday, April 6, and proved to be an exciting week! The Montana State Bar kicked off the week with a legal careers panel for law school students, and the Student Bar Association hosted Trivia night later. The 2018 James R. Browning Distinguished Lecture in Law took place on Thursday, April 5, sponsored by the Montana Law Review, and featured Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Judge Sutton spoke about “51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law.” U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Missoula gave introductory remarks. On Friday, the Montana Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the matter of 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. Introductions to the oral argument were presented by Professors Pippa Browde and Anthony Johnstone. The argument was livestreamed on Facebook and can be seen on MCAT’s Facebook page. For an agenda of this year’s Law Week, including a photo gallery, visit the Montana Law Week page.

IP Day in Montana – On April 11 and 12, the Blewett School of Law and the IPL Section of the Montana Bar welcomed students, attorneys, patent and trademark officials, and members of the Missoula entrepreneurial community to IP DAY IN MONTANA: Protecting Your Innovations. Guest speakers included Mollybeth Kocialski, Director of the Denver Regional Office of the United States Patent & Trademark Office, Peter Becker, an in-house intellectual property attorney with a long career with Silicon Valley companies, Law Professor Pippa Browde, as well as leaders from IP-centric Montana businesses and Montana IP attorneys. Thanks to our generous sponsors for making the day possible: Platinum Sponsors Max S. Baucus Institute and Holland & Hart and Gold Sponsor Worden Thane; Silver Sponsors Blackfoot, Haffey Vap, PLLC, IP and Business Law Group at the Blewett School of Law, and the IPL Section of the Montana Bar; and Bronze Sponsor Jeana R. Lervick. For an agenda of the event, including speaker bios and a photo gallery, visit the IP Day page on our website.

NALSA’s Indian Law Week – The Native American Law Student Association (NALSA) at the Blewett School of Law hosted the 17th Indian Law Week from Monday, April 16 to Friday, April 20. Each day, NALSA organized and presented a number of continuing legal education (CLE) panels focusing on tribal treaty rights, health care, education, environmental, and membership issues. For the first time in the event’s history, Friday was designated Mary Frances Garrigus Day, a new tradition that will continue for future Indian Law Weeks. Ms. Garrigus, a member of the Crow Tribe/Apsaalooke Nation, graduated in 1918 and is the first known American Indian women to obtain her degree from this law school.

School of Law Welcomed Canadian Supreme Court Justice Brown

Supreme Court Justice Russell Brown visited the Blewett School of Law in April where he joined faculty, students and other members of UM community for several events. On Monday, April 9, Justice Brown presented “Indigenous Law at the Supreme Court of Canada” in the evening, meeting with attendees afterward for a reception. Tuesday, April 9, Justice Brown fielded questions from students and faculty during an informal lunchtime discussion; questions primarily focused on differences between Canadian and U.S. Supreme Court procedures and traditions. Later that day, he participated in Professor Johnstone’s Philosophy of Law class. Before his appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2015, Justice Brown was in private practice and was a member of the law faculty at the University of Alberta, both as a professor and an associate dean.