First Monday - April 5, 2004

In this issue:

• International Law Symposium Brings Spotlight to Idaho
• Law Review Symposium Attracts First Amendment Experts
• College of Law Receives Landmark Grant

International Law Symposium Brings Spotlight to Idaho

Through the efforts of Professor Russell Miller, aided by former UI law faculty colleague Rebecca Bratspies, the College of Law presented the Second Annual International Law Symposium, entitled "Post-Conflict Justice: From Malmedy to Halabja," March 18-20, at Coeur d'Alene. The program, funded in part by the Idaho Humanities Council, focused on models for restoring or achieving justice after armed conflict. Specific topics ranged from the World War II prosecution for war crimes committed at Malmedy to special tribunals later established to try cases of genocide and crimes against humanity in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and the former Yugoslavia. Receiving special attention -- and noted in an Iraqi press story on the Idaho symposium -- were the unfolding efforts to compose an Iraqi tribunal for cases arising from the Saddam Hussein regime, including the mass killings of Kurds at Halabja. The symposium also featured presentations by President Bush’s appointed Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues; by the Director of Transitional Justice for the Coalition Provisional Authority of Iraq; by the Minister for Human Rights of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq; by special tribunal prosecutors; and by an interdisciplinary array of scholars from universities or law schools in Brazil, Germany, Canada and throughout the United States. In a feature unique to Idaho’s international symposia, selected UI law students (Brady Hall, Alycia Feindel, and Angela Kircher) also made scholarly presentations to the distinguished gathering.

Law Review Symposium Attracts First Amendment Experts

A diverse, interdisciplinary group of constitutional scholars, journalists and practitioners assembled in Boise on April 2 to discuss papers addressing the “First Amendment and the Media: Exploring Contemporary Problems Facing America.” The event, sponsored by the Board of Editors of the Idaho Law Review, reflected the work of student symposium coordinators Sarah Capelli and Rob Perucca. Presenters included law and journalism faculty from the University of Idaho, University of Arizona, Washington State University, and Lewis and Clark College, as well as Idaho media law practitioners. The presentations, as well as other papers submitted by faculty from the University of Western Australia and students from the University of Idaho College of Law, have been published in Volume 40, Number 2, of the Idaho Law Review.

College of Law Receives Landmark Grant

The University of Idaho College of Law has been awarded a grant from the Indian Land Tenure Foundation to develop and implement an Indian Estate Planning Project on Indian Reservations in Idaho, Washington and Oregon. The grant, in the amount of $653,026.00, is for a two-year term. The award was based upon a proposal developed by Professors Doug Nash and Dennis Colson at the College of Law in response to a request for proposals published by the Foundation. The project will have two components. First, a program describing estate planning and how that process can be of value in managing property generally and real property in particular will be developed, along with training materials, and will be available for presentation to Indian tribes, groups and organizations. The second component will utilize externs from the law schools in the three-state area to travel to reservation communities, meet with individual tribal members, provide them with information about estate planning and, upon request, draft wills for them. The externs will work under the direct supervision of legal services attorneys.