Dear Alumni and Friends,

As we conclude another academic year at the Alexander Blewett III School of Law, we find ourselves inspired by the stories of our students' achievements, dedication, and resilience.  I encourage you to read our students stories below and share in the pride we feel for our remarkable law community.

We want to thank three of our law faculty for their many years of service to our school and to wish them well in their future endeavors.  Congratulations to Professor Sam Panarella, who begins this July as Dean of UMass-Dartmouth Law School.  We are excited and honored that our colleague and faculty member Judge Anthony Johnstone became a United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judge this May.   We congratulate Professor Jordan Gross as she joins the law faculty at University of Idaho School of Law.  We are grateful that both Judge Johnstone and Professor Gross will continue to be affiliated with our law school as teachers and mentors for our students.

It has been an honor to serve as Interim Dean this past year and I am thrilled to begin as Dean of Montana’s law school.  This May we celebrated the accomplishments of the Class of 2023 at the 112^th graduation and hooding ceremony.  I look forward to supporting the law school’s long tradition of excellence in legal education and am committed to our mission of preparing Montana’s law students for the people-oriented practice of law.

Thank you for being part of our journey, and I look forward to sharing our students’ successes with you in the years ahead.

Warm regards,

Elaine Gagliardi
Dean of the Alexander Blewett III School of Law

A Montana First: UM's Indian Law Program to Host National Competition

The Native American Law Student Association recently won the bid to host the 32nd annual National NALSA Moot Court competition, a first for Montana. The competition will take place in February 2024 at the Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana.

The competition will feature over 40 teams from law schools around the country. In this two-day event, participants will compete by filing briefs and giving oral arguments in front of volunteer judges from the Montana legal community. The event allows [READ MORE]

UM Student Chases American Dream Through Law School

As a child, University of Montana law student Tom Kovari and his family moved from Hungary to the United States to escape communist rule. Growing up he lived in New York and Washington, D.C., and as a young adult all over the East Coast, chasing the American Dream.

Shaped back then by the Western novels of German author Karl May, Kovari knew even as a youngster that the American West, and its spirit of rugged individualism, would one day be his future. 

“Once you visit the Mountain West, the East Coast feels like a sardine can,” said Kovari. “I wanted to move somewhere with open spaces.”

His opportunity came with the oil fracking boom [READ MORE]

UM Champion Athlete Crosses Finish Line to Graduation

University of Montana law student Carly Smiedala was one of the fastest high school runners in Montana state history – ranked eighth in the nation in the 800 meters during her senior year at Helena High School.

When it came time to pick a university, then, her options were wide open.

For a time, she considered the University of Alabama, but family circumstances changed her plans and led to a decision to stay in state. 

“I didn’t apply to any Montana schools or talk to any of the Montana coaches because I always wanted to move out of state and pursue my dream of running in the SEC or the ACC,” said Smiedala, who soon worried her delay in applying might postpone starting college. “Most college athletes know the stress of signing day and the intensity that comes with the timing of scholarships.”

Not one to wait for events to unfold, Smiedala picked up the phone and [READ MORE]

UM Law Students Secure Legacy, Form Fly Fishing Society

One hot Saturday morning in early August, University of Montana law students Henry Charpentier and Lukas Vining cast out lines on the Missouri River to unwind from their respective summer internships. Without a cloud in the sky, they had a perfect view of the trico hatch on the water.

Unfortunately, trico are miniscule insects, and this meant that the fish could easily spot the anglers. Even under ideal circumstances, the fish don’t always rise.

“But bad fishing makes for good conversation,” said Charpentier, and what with their final year of law school approaching, they weren’t devoid of topics.

Floating in Vining’s drift boat from Wolf Creek Bridge to the Dearborn access point, they discussed their experience as [READ MORE]

Cal Christian Retirement

Professor Browde and Development Director Alex Rich presented longtime supporter Cal Christian with a plaque commemorating his retirement from practicing law after 61 years. Cal's support for the Alexander Blewett III School of Law has been tremendous. He is responsible for endowed scholarship awards, and has hired many graduates to his firm. 

In the News

Scholarship

In collaboration with Rob Saldin and the Mansfield Center and support from Wendy Walker at the Mansfield Library, Prof. Johnstone published the Montana Constitution Collection, a definitive online resource for students, scholars, and practitioners of Montana Constitutional Law. It’s a comprehensive and indexed repository of more than 400 original documents of Montana Constitution-making including several sources online for the first time.
Available here: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/montanaconstitution/.

Dr. Emidy has new publication -- coauthored with Gregory B. Lewis and Ximena Pizarro-Bore -- titled "The impact of telework on the satisfaction of U.S. federal workers," in Public Management Review, a top-five journal in public administration. 

Dr. Barsky’s project, Resident notions of community recovery and resiliency, was one of 19 projects across the University to be awarded UGP funding. The study is part of a larger undertaking Lauren McKeague, Josephine Hazelton-Boyle, M. Blake Emidy, and I are undertaking in the Yellowstone region. With our partners, our team is employing a model of community engaged participatory research (CEPR) to distill how communities conceptualize disaster recovery and how local knowledge can prepare communities for residency in the future. Specifically, this funding award supports the development and dissemination of a local resident survey in select rural communities impacted by the 2022 Yellowstone River flood.

Dr. Barsky also recently published "The Impacts of Politicization on Public Health Workers: The COVID-19 Pandemic in Oregon and Montana" in the Duke University Press (Journal of health Politics, Policy, and Law). Read the publication here: The Impacts of Politicization on Public Health Workers: The COVID-19 Pandemic in Oregon and Montana | Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law | Duke University Press (dukeupress.edu) 

Dr. Hazelton Boyle has had an article on policy implications of autonomous vehicles recently accepted for publication and forthcoming in Public Works Management & Policy.

Dr. Hazelton Boyle was also recently appointed by the Missoula County Commissioners to the Board of Directors of the Mountain Line bus system.

Dr. Lauren McKeague had a manuscript accepted for presentation at the upcoming Academy of Management Conference. The manuscript is entitled “Managing for the Ripples in the Pond: Brokering for Adaptability in Disaster Management.” This paper was peer-reviewed by multiple reviewers and will be published as part of the conference proceedings in August 2023.

Prof. Byington’s article on embezzling collateral and the bankruptcy discharge was recently published in the American Bankruptcy Law Journal. The journal is different than typical law journals because it has a blind, peer-review process in selecting articles to publish. Citation to the article is: Jonathon S. Byington, Debtor Embezzlement of Collateral, 97 Am. Bankr. L.J. 135 (2023) (peer reviewed).
Awards

Congratulations to Dr. Josey Hazelton-Boyle on receiving the Best Dissertation Award from ASPA's Section on Democracy and Social Justice!

Presentations

Dean Gross and Dr. Laura Kirsch (Psychology), along with three UM graduate students – Victoria Hill (Law), Tatiana Pugmire (Sociology) and Elizabeth Vincenzo (Law) - presented research and recommendations on jury selection reform to the Montana Bench and Bar at the State Bar CLE on April 14. The Jury Selection Project is an interdisciplinary inquiry conducted by the Rural Justice Initiative (RJI) @ the University of Montana. The RJI team expects to publish its findings in a written report this summer.

Prof. Conley presented a paper, Equity as a Legal Transplant – the History of Injunctions as a Principle-based Adaptable Judicial Power, at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law at the University of Heidelberg as part of the institute’s annual Masterclass in International Law. This year’s masterclass focuses on the development of rights under the U.S. constitution from founding to present.

Prof. Zellmer spoke about biodiversity conservation on federal public lands at Lewis and Clark’s Wildlife Symposium in Portland earlier this month.