First Monday - June 7, 2010

In this issue:

• Commencement 2010: Law Graduates Exhorted to "Bring Wisdom to Human Affairs"
• Northwest Institute Provides Statewide Mediation Training
• College Announces Faculty and Professional Staff in Boise

Commencement 2010: Graduates Exhorted to “Bring Wisdom into Human Affairs.”

On May 15, the first graduating class of the College’s second century received accolades for their achievements and were challenged – in the words of the late British essayist and poet laureate, John Maesfield – to “bring wisdom into human affairs.” During a commencement ceremony held specifically for the College of Law, University Provost Douglas Baker presented 94 Juris Doctor candidates, and the degrees were conferred by University President Duane Nellis. The ceremony, conducted in the ASUI Kibbie Dome in Moscow, featured a tribute to retiring Professor James Macdonald as well as a special faculty resolution, read into the record by Professor Benjamin Beard, honoring the late Dean and Professor Emeritus Sheldon Vincenti in whose name a future award has been established for individuals who render extraordinary service to the College of Law.

As noted in last April’s edition of “First Monday,” the Class of 2010 has the distinction of performing approximately 10,000 hours of service pro bono publico. The graduates were congratulated on this demonstrated commitment to the public interest by the commencement speaker, Nancy Morris (UI Law ’83), Executive Vice President and Senior Regulatory Counsel at Allianz Global Investors of America in New York City. Ms. Morris, a former editor-in-chief of the Idaho Law Review, had been inducted into the University of Idaho Alumni Hall of Fame before the commencement ceremony, in recognition of a remarkable career that has included serving as Secretary of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. Her work, in the words of the SEC’s then-chairman, “set an exemplary standard for public service on behalf of America’s investors and capital markets.” Ms. Morris told the commencement audience that she had seen the “best” and the “worst” of corporate behavior during her tenure at the SEC, and she challenged graduates to ponder the behavior for which they would be remembered someday. Connecting core values of the legal profession with timeless “virtues” espoused by Benjamin Franklin, she reminded the graduates that both exceptional power and sobering responsibility would await them in their careers.

Continuing a tradition of more than three decades, the College of Law faculty announced its annual Legal Merit Award for outstanding contributions to the legal profession, the administration of justice, and philanthropic causes. The 2010 award was bestowed upon Michael E. McNichols (UI Law ’63), a partner in the Lewiston firm of Clements, Brown & McNichols, who had earned a place on the Idaho Law Review as a student, and later established a statewide reputation as a formidable, and scrupulously ethical, trial advocate. He served as Commissioner and President of the Idaho State Bar, was a founding member of the philanthropic Idaho Law Foundation, and, in 2005, was named Distinguished Lawyer of Idaho by the State Bar. He has served on the Idaho Judicial Council, as president of the Idaho Association of Defense Counsel, and as community director of the Lewis-Clark State College Foundation. Mr. McNichols was unable to attend the commencement ceremony, but his former colleague in practice, the Honorable John Stegner (District Judge of Idaho’s Second Judicial District) accepted the award for him, warmly acknowledging the value of mentoring he had received from Mr. McNichols.

The 2009-10 Student Bar Association president, Aaron Calkins, delivered the class remarks, noting how the intimacy of the law school community had fostered close professional relationships among many faculty and students, and had nurtured long-lasting personal friendships among members of the Class of 2010. The law faculty bestowed its Award of Legal Achievement upon Megan O’Dowd, the graduating student with the highest cumulative grade point average in the most recently graded academic term. The graduating class then conferred the Peter E. Heiser Award for Excellence in Teaching upon Professor Richard Seamon. As noted in the March edition of “First Monday,” other awards had been announced during the graduating class celebration banquet. Further information about the 2010 banquet and commencement ceremony may be obtained from Anne-Marie Fulfer (amfulfer@uidaho.edu), Director of Career Services.

Northwest Institute Provides Statewide Mediation Training

The Northwest Institute for Dispute Resolution, now in its fourteenth year under the leadership of UI law professor (and founding director) Maureen Laflin, has become a nationally recognized source of mediation training. In May, 2010, the Northwest Institute provided a statewide array of mediation programs – two at Moscow and two at Boise. The Moscow offerings consisted of “Basic Family Mediation,” taught by Bob Collins, and “Basic Civil Mediation,” team-taught by Lela Love and Joseph (“Josh”) Stulberg. Professor Collins, the Director of the Mediation Clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York City, has been mediating family cases since 1982. Professor Love, the Director of the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution at the Cardozo School of Law, is immediate past chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution. Professor Stulberg, the John W. Bricker Professor of Law at the Ohio State University College of Law, is a Distinguished Fellow of the American College of Civil Trial Mediators and a former Vice President of the American Arbitration Association. Professors Love and Stulberg are co-authors of The Middle Voice, Mediating Conflict Successfully (Carolina Academic Press, 2009).

In Boise, the Northwest Institute partnered with the United States District Court for the District of Idaho in offering short courses entitled “The Litigator’s Guide to Effective Performance in Mediation” and “The Dual Role of the Judicial Mediator: Walking the Tightrope in Judicial Mediation.” The Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the Idaho State Bar helped sponsor the Judicial Mediation course. Two experienced mediator/practitioners -- Tracy Allen from Detroit, Michigan, and Eric Galton, from Austin, Texas – collaboratively taught the two Boise courses. Together, Allen and Galton have mediated nearly 10,000 cases and have trained more than 6,000 mediators.

Further information about the Northwest Institute may be obtained from Professor Laflin (mlaflin@uidaho.edu).

College Announces Faculty and Professional Staff in Boise:

• Associate Dean for Boise Programs Named. The College of Law is pleased to announce that Lee B. Dillion has been named Associate Dean for Boise Programs. Lee, a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, was engaged in a business-oriented private practice in Boise before becoming the College’s first instructor and outreach director in 2001. He has supervised the College’s externship program, supervised the “semester in practice” program, and provided classroom instruction in Boise, while also serving on committees of the Idaho State Bar and Law Foundation. He will be responsible for on-site administration of the College’s growing programs in Boise. His office remains located at the University of Idaho Boise Center (Water Center) Building. He can be contacted at dillion@uidaho.edu.
• Tax Specialist Joins Law Faculty in Boise. The College of Law is also pleased to announce that Barbara Z. Lock has agreed to become the College’s Low Income Taxpayer Clinic instructor – a contract position (approximately .625 FTE) supported by annual grants from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. She joined the law faculty at Boise in May. Barbara (“Barb”) received her J.D. degree from the UCLA School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review, and she later earned an LL.M. degree in Taxation from the University of Washington School of Law. She served as a law clerk for former Chief Justice Fred Dore of the Washington State Supreme Court and subsequently practiced law in corporate and private firm settings in the Seattle area. Her practice recently has focused on federal income and estate tax, state excise tax, and general business matters. She has represented clients before the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Tax Court. She is licensed in California and Washington, and will qualify for reciprocal admission to the Idaho State Bar. Her office, like that of Lee Dillion, is located in the University of Idaho Boise Center (Water Center) Building. She can be contacted at block@uidaho.edu.
• New Director of Development Has Collegial Ties to Idaho Bench and Bar. Finally, the College of Law is pleased to announce that Terri L. Muse has become Director of Development for the College in Boise. She will work with Dean Don Burnett and with Chris Murray, University of Idaho Vice President for Advancement. She will collaborate with Stephen Perez, Development Coordinator for the College of Law in Moscow. Terri received her J.D. degree from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles, and she also holds a Master’s degree in Psychology from the California State University/Long Beach. She practiced law in California and Idaho before joining the staff of the Idaho State Bar in 2000. Since that time she has become well known to Idaho lawyers and judges through her service at the State Bar as staff attorney for the Idaho Volunteer Lawyers Program, as Assistant Bar Counsel, as Legal Education Director, and, since 2008, as the Deputy Executive Director of the Idaho State Bar and Law Foundation. Terri began her work for the University of Idaho and the College of Law in May. Her office, like the others, is located at the University of Idaho Boise Center (Water Center) Building. She can be contacted at tmuse@uidaho.edu.