Dear Alumni and Friends of the Law School,

The law school welcomed ninety 1L students in August.  Students in the Class of 2025 represent 22 states and 56 undergraduate institutions and have a median age of 24.  We also welcomed Professor Anna Conley to the law faculty.  Prior to joining the law faculty, Professor Conley received her J.D. from the George Washington Law School, and an LL.M. and Doctor of Civil Laws (D.C.L.) from the McGill University Faculty of Law and brings 19 years of civil litigation experience to the classroom.

We begin the year with several exciting events – the Browning Symposium on Montana’s Constitution:  The Next 50 Years, the Baucus Institute’s Conversation with Jeff Immelt and Max Baucus, and the 70^th Montana Tax Institute. 

We look forward to welcoming you to the law school on Saturday, November 5 for a pre-game tailgate. Our annual scholarship celebration will be the same weekend on Friday, November 4th. Scholarship donors will receive more information soon.

2022 Browning Symposium on Montana's Constitution

Montana's Constitution: The Next 50 Years will explore and celebrate the Montana Constitution as it turns fifty. This year’s Browning Symposium will be the official Constitution Day celebration of the University of Montana and will feature an outstanding lineup of academics, practitioners, judges, and experts on the Montana Constitution who will highlight how Montana is a model for the nation as state constitutions begin to take center stage.

The symposium takes place today and tomorrow and features expert panelists including Governor Mark Racicot, 21st Governor of the State of Montana, and Judge Jeffrey Sutton, Chief Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Baucus Institute: A Conversation with Jeff Immelt and Max Baucus

Jeff Immelt is the former CEO of General Electric. Max Baucus is a former U.S. Senator for Montana and U.S. Ambassador to China. On September 27, 2022, both will be in-person and in conversation at the University of Montana, as part of the Baucus Institute's Stockman Bank Speaker Series. The conversation will be moderated by Pardis Mahdavi, Provost of the University of Montana.

Join us Tuesday, September 27th from 7-8p.m at the ALI Auditorium.  This event is free and open to the public. For more information, registration or streaming, click here.

Blewett School of Law Ranked Fifth Nationally for Clerkship Placements

The Blewett School of Law places 30.4% of its graduates into clerkships after graduation, placing the program fifth nationally for placements, as reported in Princton Review's 2022 Best Law Schools for State and Local Clerkships. PreLaw Magazine's 2022 rankings placed the Alexander Blewett III School of Law in the top ten for Top Environmental Law Schools and also Best Schools for Practical Training.

Professor Jordan Gross Completes Fulbright Canada Research Chair

Professor Gross returned to Missoula in August after completing a six-month residency at the University of Guelph in Ontario, where she was the 2021-22 Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Public Policy and Criminal Justice. While in Canada, Professor Gross met with judges, academics, and policymakers; gave public lectures and interviews; and was a guest lecturer in the Political Science Department at the University of Guelph.

UM's Veterans Advocacy Clinic Wins Appeal

The Veterans Advocacy Clinic at the University of Montana’s Blewett School of Law won an appeal at the Board of Veterans Appeals for an Army veteran who was sexually assaulted by fellow service members during service.

The successful appeal was made possible through the effort of recent School of Law graduate, Elizabeth Webster, Class of 2020, who now clerks for Montana Supreme Court Justice Dirk Sandefur. Webster wrote a brief to the Board of Veterans Appeals while a third-year law student in the Veterans Advocacy Clinic, under the supervision of UM Professor Hillary Wandler.

Wandler praised Webster’s work on the appeal, describing it as “above and beyond.“

Elizabeth gathered extensive facts and records through Read more.

Professor Zellmer Completes Fullbright Specialist Award

Sandra B. Zellmer (ABIII School of Law) received a Fulbright Specialist award from the U.S. Department of State and Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board to engage in a Transboundary Environmental Law Research & Education Project at the University of Calgary in Spring 2022.  While in residence, Zellmer gave a presentation on transboundary conservation to the Alberta Law Foundation and the Canadian Institute of Resources Law, taught an interdisciplinary graduate class on Energy and the Environment at the University of Calgary, and gave a colloquium on federal climate and biodiversity conservation initiatives to the Calgary law faculty. She also engaged with the executive director of the leading NGO operating in this space, Yellowstone to Yukon.

Zellmer reports that her interactions with the Calgary faculty and with Yellowstone to Yukon provided her with a deeper understanding of the complexities of transboundary resource management at the federal, provincial, state, and tribal levels. The faculty colloquium, in particular, generated an excellent exchange of insights and ideas. She plans to stay in touch with the environmental law faculty, the Canadian Institute of Resources Law, and Yellowstone to Yukon, by collaborating on future research as well as visiting them again in Alberta and hosting them in Montana. Two related articles have already been slated for publication: Charting a Course to Conserve 30% of Freshwaters by 2030, 64 William & Mary L. Rev. (f.2022), and A Critical 21^st Century Role for Public Land Management: Conserving 30% of the Nation’s Lands and Waters Beyond 2030 (with Robert Glicksman), publication offers pending (f.2023).

Dr. Christina Barsky Awarded a First-Ever Scholars Strategy Network Election Protection and Enhancement Program Grant. 

Dr. Christina Barsky, with collaborators Amanda Clark (FIU) and Monica Bustinza, a Ph.D. candidate, were awarded a first-ever Scholars Strategy Network Election Protection and Enhancement Program grant. The project is designed to meet the challenge of bolstering the decentralized U.S. election system, and, more specifically, develop and share best practices across multiple states and localities. Read more about the project on scholars.og.

UM Public Administration Student Connects Residents With City

Engaging with city government can be difficult for residents if they don’t feel they have a meaningful voice. This is where University of Montana student Ashley Brittner Wells comes in. Brittner Wells is the new community engagement specialist for the City of Missoula’s Office of Community Planning, Development and Innovation. Her role in this position is to help the government interface with Missoula’s residents.

“I get to focus on helping people engage with city government,” said Brittner Wells, a student in the Department of Public Administration and Policy of UM’s Baucus Institute. “This opens up conversations between the city and people who may feel they don’t have the ability to reach out on their own.”

She has worked a variety of different jobs, all within the public and nonprofit sectors.

“I have always liked working with read more.

Professor Bryan's Article Addresses the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes Water Compact

Professor Michelle Bryan’s article The Power of Reciprocity: How the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Water Compact Illuminates a Path Toward Natural Resources Reconciliation, 25 Water L. Rev. 227 (2022), was recently published in the Water Law Review. The article chronicles the negotiation and passage of the Confederated Salish & Kooenai Tribes water compact ratified in 2020.