First Monday - August 2, 2004

In this issue:

• Named Professorships Recognize Outstanding Faculty Performance
• New Faculty Enrich the College of Law

Named Professorships Recognize Outstanding Faculty Performance

The College of Law is pleased to announce the awards of three named professorships to outstanding members of the faculty.

John A. (“Jack”) Miller will receive the Weldon Schimke Distinguished Professorship, a position funded by the James E. Wilson Memorial Endowment that was created by the late Weldon Schimke. This named professorship, originally bestowed upon Professor Craig Lewis, has become available for re-designation under the terms of Professor Lewis’s phased retirement contract. (Fortunately for the College of Law, Professor Lewis will continue in half-time faculty service through academic year 2006-07.) The endowment agreement provides that a Schimke professor shall be a “highly qualified person, one with a record of distinguished service to legal education or to his or her area of expertise.” Professor Miller is a graduate of the University of Kentucky (Phi Beta Kappa) and the University of Kentucky College of Law, with an LL.M. degree in tax law from the University of Florida. He is an acclaimed classroom teacher – having earned several teaching awards -- and he served with distinction as former dean of the College of Law. His scholarly works have appeared in such publications as the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, the Virginia Tax Review, and the Washington Law Review. He also has written monographs published by Commerce Clearing House, and he is currently co-authoring a major textbook, Fundamentals of Federal Taxation, to be published by Carolina Academic Press. Professor Miller serves on the American Bar Association’s law school accreditation Standards Review Committee. He has received outstanding service awards from the Idaho State Bar and the Idaho Law Foundation.

Elizabeth Barker Brandt will receive the newly established James E. Rogers Distinguished Professorship in Law. This annually funded, renewable professorship was created by famed philanthropist Jim Rogers for the purpose of recognizing a tenured full professor with “an exceptional record of teaching, scholarship, and service.” Professor Brandt is a graduate (with honors) of the College of Wooster (Ohio) and of the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where she earned membership in the Order of the Coif. She also holds a Ph.D. in history from Case Western. Like Professor Miller she is an acclaimed classroom teacher, having won several teaching awards. Her scholarly works have appeared in such publications as the B.Y.U. Law Review, the Idaho Law Review, and the American Bar Association Family Law Quarterly (of which she is a national editorial board member). She also has published numerous handbooks and practice manuals for family law judges and practitioners. Professor Brandt manages the official listserv of the Section on Family and Juvenile law of the Association of American Law Schools. She has chaired or served on many committees of the Idaho State Bar and Idaho Supreme Court related to family law. She is a founding member of the ACLU of Idaho and for many years has served on the organization’s national board.

Maureen E. Laflin will receive the Allan G. Shepard Professorship for academic year 2004-05. This endowed professorship, named for the late Chief Justice of Idaho, and funded in part by the estate of Muriel Kirk, was established by Donna Shepard to recognize a professor who enhances the mission and the reputation of the College through “distinguished service to legal education, or to his or her area of expertise.” The professorship traditionally has been awarded on a yearly basis. Professor Laflin is a graduate (with honors) of the University of Dayton and of the St. Louis University School of Law. She teaches in, and is the director of, the clinical legal education program at the University of Idaho. Under her direction the clinic provides appellate and trial advocacy, legal aid, tax law assistance, representation in the Nez Perce tribal court system, and federal immigration law. Professor Laflin is the founding director of the Northwest Institute for Dispute Resolution. Her scholarly works appear in such publications as the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy and the Idaho Law Review, as well as the Idaho Appellate Handbook. She has served as a federal and state court civil mediator and as a member of numerous court-appointed committees on alternative dispute resolution.

New Faculty Enrich the College of Law

The College of Law is pleased to welcome two full-time permanent faculty members who will advance the College’s strategic directions in natural resources/environmental law and advocacy/dispute resolution.

Barbara A. Cosens (pronounced “cousins”) comes to Idaho from the interdisciplinary Environmental Studies Program at San Francisco State University. She earned her baccalaureate degree in geology from the University of California, Davis; a masters degree in geology from the University of Washington, her J.D. degree from the University of California, Hastings; and an LL.M. degree in natural resources and environmental law from the Lewis & Clark Law School. Professor Cosens is a prolific author in water and natural resources law, as well as an experienced mediator of complex water rights disputes in the Western states.

Richard H. Seamon comes to Idaho from the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he earned tenure, compiled an exceptional record of scholarship, and received numerous teaching awards. He received his baccalaureate degree and a masters degree in English (writing seminars program) at Johns Hopkins University. Professor Seamon earned his J.D. degree (with high honors) from the Duke University School of Law, where he was the articles editor of the law review. He then served as a judicial clerk to the Hon. Kenneth Starr (then a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit), later becoming an assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States. He then entered private practice as an associate in the Washington, D.C., firm of Covington & Burling. He taught as a visiting professor at the Washington & Lee University School of Law before going to South Carolina, and, now, joining the Idaho law school community.