First Monday - September 5, 2006

In this issue:

• Entering Class Combines Quality and Diversity
• Lawyers and Judges Bring Professionalism Message to New Law Students
• Allan G. Shepard Professor Names for 2006-07

Entering Class Combines Quality and Diversity

This August, at the conclusion of another highly competitive admissions process, the College of Law enrolled 108 students from a pool of 782 applicants, compared to 828 in 2005. The decline of 5.6% in the applicant pool was less than the national average decline (6.3%) or average decline in the Mountain West (6.7%). The UI Law “Class of 2009,” whose graduation year will correspond to the College’s centennial anniversary, has a median undergraduate grade point average of 3.44 (up from 3.39 a year ago). The median LSAT score of 155 is down a point from last year, but Idaho’s median is equal to the 62nd national percentile. The entering class is 47% women, and it includes 17% minorities. Approximately 58% of the entering students are already Idaho residents, and many others have chosen the College of Law because of Idaho connections.

Credentials, of course, are just one lens through which to view the incoming class. Fully half of our new students speak a second language; taken together, they speak 25 different languages, ranging from Spanish to Okanagen Salish. Seven were born in a foreign country; 29 had double majors in college, ten have graduate degrees. They represent 52 different colleges and universities. They have perused academic interests that range from a Ph.D. in electrical engineering to an M.F.A. in film production. There are entrepreneurs, whose enterprises have included white water rafting and farming, as well as those who have served the public good as military service members, firefighters, nurses, and educators. The incoming students have shown a commitment to serving the community through active memberships in organizations ranging from the Boy Scouts of America to the Peace Corps to Court Appointed Special Advocates.

These dimensions of the student body enhance the richness and quality of education at the College of Law, and they reflect the College's ability to continue attracting the best and brightest from Idaho and the West. Further information about the incoming class and the admissions process is available from the Director of Admissions.

Lawyers and Judges Bring Professionalism Message to New Law Students

The first day of orientation for lL students at the University of Idaho is dedicated primarily to professionalism and ethics. The College’s distinctive 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 of Professionalism & Ethics, the program features small-group discussions of scenarios posing issues of professionalism and ethics. Each group consists of five or six students and one or two selected mentors from the bench and bar.

The mentors this year included Idaho Supreme Court Justice Daniel Eismann; Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill; Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden; Idaho bankruptcy judge Terry Myers; federal magistrates Larry Boyle and Mikel Williams; Idaho district judges Deborah Bail, Darla Williamson, and Kathryn Sticklen; Washington superior court judge Linda Tompkins; Idaho magistrates Barbara Buchanan and Cathleen MacGregory-Irby; Idaho federal district court staff attorney Dave Metcalf; Idaho State Bar president Jay Sturgell; ISB bar counsel Brad Andrews and associate bar counsel Julia Crossland; Volunteer Lawyers Program lawyer-administrators Mary Hobson and Terri Muse; College of Law instructor/outreach director Lee Dillion (chair of the ISB Section of Professionalism & Ethics);University of Idaho associate general counsel Danielle Hess; private practitioners Craig Meadows, Tom High, Linda Judd, Trapper Stewart, and Cynthia Yee-Wallace; and public sector practitioners Jim Dickinson, Roger Bourne, Sunil Ramalingam, Jan Bennetts, and Fafa Alidjani.

The College extends its appreciation to all of these members of the bench and bar for their unselfish volunteer efforts on behalf of legal education and the profession. Further information about the “first day of law school” professionalism program may be obtained from Dean Burnett at dburnett@uidaho.edu.

Allan G. Shepard Professor Named for 2006-07

Professor Richard Seamon, Associate Dean for Administration and Students, has been named the Allan G. Shepard Professor of Law for the 2006-07 academic year. The Shepard Professorship honors the late Allan Shepard, former Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court. It is supported by the Allan Shepard Endowment, funded by the Estate of Muriel Kirk under administration of Donna Shepard (Justice Shepard’s surviving spouse), and by other gifts from friends and admirers of Justice Shepard. The professorship is awarded annually by the Dean to a faculty member with a record of "distinguished service to legal education, or to his or her area of expertise."

Professor Seamon is a nationally recognized expert in administrative and constitutional law. He is the co-author of an administrative law text published by the West Publishing Company, has authored numerous works on national security and the legal system, including an article recently published by the “Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy”. He recently testified before Congress on extension and revision of the USA PATRIOT Act. Other recent holders of the Shepard Professorship have included Professors Russell Miller, Maureen Laflin, Elizabeth Brandt, Dennis Colson, and faculty emeriti Joann Henderson, Art Smith, and Sheldon Vincenti. Further information is available from Dean Burnett (dburnett@uidaho.edu).