First Monday - September 6, 2005

In this issue:

• Quality of Entering Class Rises Again
• Professionalism Marks First Day of Law School for New Students
• College of Law Renews Help to Small Business

Quality of Entering Class Rises Again

This August saw another exceptional class enter the College of Law. Continuing a trend of increasingly competitive admissions, this year's enrolled class of 104 students came from a pool of more than 825 completed applications. The “Class of 2008” equaled last year's all-time high median LSAT score of 156 (66th percentile nationally) and median undergraduate grade point average of 3.39, while increasing the 75th percentile LSAT score to 159 (78th percentile nationally). The 90th percentile LSAT score also rose to its highest level in ten years (162, 87th percentile nationally). For the third year in a row, the entering class is 40% women, reflecting continued efforts by the College of Law to reach out to female applicants. The entering class also includes 12% minorities. Achieving this level of excellence and diversity was aided by a competitive Idaho applicant pool; approximately 70% of the admitted and enrolled students will qualify as Idaho residents (up from an average of approximately 60% in recent years).

Credentials tell only part of the admissions story

The “Class of 2008” also reflects a wide range of backgrounds. The students bring experiences gained from living in 32 countries and acquiring proficiency in languages that include Thai and Czech. There are entrepreneurs, whose enterprises have ranged from white water rafting to farming, as well as servicemembers from each branch of the military, firefighters, and a former police officer who served on the bomb squad. The class includes actors, musicians, and writers, as well as engineers, a mechanic, and a website developer. The incoming students have shown a commitment to serving the community through active memberships in organizations ranging from the Boy Scouts of America and the Boys and Girls Club to the March of Dimes and the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program. These dimensions of the student body enhance the richness and quality of education at the College of Law, and they contribute to the College’s ability to continue attracting the best and brightest from Idaho and the West.

Further information about the incoming class and about the admissions process is available from Admissions and Student Services.

Professionalism Marks First Day of Law School for New Students

The College of Law opened its 2005-06 academic year with a program emphasizing professionalism and ethics on the 1L students’ first day of orientation. Now in its third year, this program (“Professionalism: First Step in Law School, Foundation of a Career”) is designed to show students how professional success and professional values go together. Conducted in collaboration with the Idaho State Bar Section on Ethics & Professionalism, the program has become a distinctive “signature” of the College of Law. The program features small-group discussions of professionalism/ethics scenarios, each group consisting of five or six students and one or two selected mentors from the bench and bar. The mentors this year included two Idaho Supreme Court justices, two Idaho Court of Appeals judges, two federal judges from Washington and Idaho, two state trial judges, nine current or past Presidents and Commissioners of the Idaho State Bar, and other respected lawyers from a variety of public and private practice settings around the state.

The College of Law extends its gratitude to each of the following leaders of the bench and bar (listed alphabetically), who generously donated their time to this year’s program: Brad Andrews, John Bailey, Hon. Larry Boyle, Hon. Roger Burdick, Hon. Rick Carnaroli, Theodore Creason, James Dickinson, Lee Dillion, Anne Dwelle, Joan Fisher, Hon. Sergio Gutierrez, Richard Hall, Matthew Hedberg, Thomas High, Larry Hunter, Hon. James Jones, Sharyl Kammerzell, Russell Kvanvig, Hon. Karen Lansing, Bill McCann, Jack McMahon, Sonyalee Nutsch, Ausey (“Rusty”) Robnett, Hon. John Stegner, Trapper Stewart, Jay Sturgill, and Hon. Lonny Suko.

Further information about the professionalism program is available from Dean Burnett at dburnett@uidaho.edu.

College of Law Renews Help to Small Businesses

The Small Business Legal Clinic, an important part of the clinical education program at the College of Law, has “opened its doors” for a second year of operation. A collaborative effort of the College and the Idaho Small Business Development Center, the clinic provides an opportunity for third-year UI law students in Moscow to work with new businesses statewide under the supervision of Lee Dillion, law instructor and outreach director for the College of Law at Boise. The clinic to date has aided more than twenty new businesses with services that include business formation, preparation and review of employment agreements, and review of commercial leases. For non-profit organizations, the UI law students prepare and handle applications for tax-exempt status. The clinic benefits students by giving them first-hand, supervised experience in transactional problem-solving, legal analysis, negotiation, reasoning, communication, resolution of ethical issues and counseling.

Further information about the Small Business Legal Clinic can be obtained from Lee Dillion at dillion@uidaho.edu. Information about other clinical offerings is available at the College of Law website.