First Monday - August 1, 2011

In this issue:

• Bellwood Lecture Program to Feature ABA President, Celebration of Bill of Rights
• College of Law Launches “Business Law Gems”
• New Director of Admissions Combines Professional and Academic Perspectives

Bellwood Lecture Program to Feature ABA President, Celebration of Bill of Rights

When Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III becomes President of the American Bar Association at the ABA’s annual meeting in Toronto this month, his presidential calendar will already include a trip to Idaho.  Robinson will deliver the 2011-12 Sherman J. Bellwood Memorial Lecture at the University of Idaho in Moscow on Tuesday, September 13, 2011.  In addition, while in Moscow, he will meet with faculty, student leaders, University leaders, and guests, and will speak to law students on opportunities and challenges in the legal profession.  The next day, September 14, 2011, he will deliver keynote remarks as part of an extended Bellwood program in Boise.

Robinson is a senior partner of Frost Brown Todd -- a regional law firm encompassing more than 475 attorneys in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and West Virginia.  He has devoted his career to civil litigation and appellate practice, with emphases in class actions, environmental law, product liability, governmental affairs, and medical malpractice defense.  A Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, he has been recognized each year from 1997 to 2011 by Best Lawyers in America.  He has served as the ABA’s Treasurer, as a Director of the American Bar Foundation, as a member of the ABA Board of Governors and House of Delegates, as a member of the Diversity Law Institute, and as president of the Kentucky Bar Association.  In 2010 the U.S. Legal Services Corporation awarded him a Certificate of Appreciation for Lifetime Pro Bono Services/Support.

The 2011-12 Bellwood program will combine President Robinson’s appearance with a celebration of the 220th anniversary of the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution. The program in Moscow will include panel discussions on limited government and enumerated rights; community values and the First Amendment; and the rights and powers of states in our federal system.  In Boise the program will include panel discussions on the worldwide impact of the U.S. Bill of Rights; lessons from history when rights have been subjugated; due process and the accuracy of judgments in capital criminal cases; and competing philosophies on judicial interpretation of the Bill of Rights.

The Bill of Rights component of the Bellwood program is a civic education outreach effort by the College of Law in collaboration with generous sponsors and volunteers from the Idaho State Bar, including the Diversity and Family Law sections.  Members of the legal profession can attend lectures and panel discussions for CLE credits at modest cost.  Selected programs also will be available free of charge to the public, to undergraduate students in Moscow-Pullman and Boise, and to high school teachers and students at both locations.  The Bellwood Lecture in Moscow on September 13 will be free and open to all.

Further information about the Bellwood events will appear in “save the date” notices to be mailed in a few days, and will soon be posted on the College of Law website.  Information also may be obtained directly from Helen Albertson, Associate Dean for Students and Administration.  

College of Law Launches “Business Law Gems”

Under the guidance of Professor Wendy Gerwick Couture, students at the College of Law have launched a website, www.businesslawgems.com, containing summaries of business law opinions issued by the federal and state courts of the gem state.  The mission of the website is to provide a service to Idaho lawyers and business leaders by informing them of newly issued business law opinions affecting their practices or enterprises.  The website also has the academic purpose of enhancing the education of University of Idaho business law students about the importance of staying abreast of relevant case law and about how to summarize opinions concisely and clearly.

Topics covered by the initial postings to the website include contracts, employment, insurance, real estate, property security, statutes relating to business and commerce, and business-related torts.  The cases are synopsized and searchable by subject or author.

Professor Couture, a former business law practitioner in Dallas who joined our full-time law faculty at Boise in 2010, will serve as the website’s editor-in-chief.  She teaches Securities Regulation, Property Security, Negotiable Instruments, and Business Associations.  She received her B.A. degree summa cum laude at Duke, and her J.D. degree summa cum laude (first in class) at Southern Methodist University.  The 2L and 3L students who will serve as the founding board of contributing editors in 2011-12 are Jeff Butler, Jane Gordon, Aaron Hooper, Luke Howarth, Renee Karel, Scott Lindstrom, Van Lityouvong, Ky M. Papke, Brian Schlect, Nolan Sorensen, Jeff Street, and Brad Sweat.  The Business & Corporate Law Section of the Idaho State Bar has donated funds for a law student to assist Professor Couture in her editing duties.  Professor Couture herself donated start-up funds for the project. 

Further information is available from Professor Couture.

New Director of Admissions Combines Professional and Academic Perspectives

A lawyer with experience in law practice and clinical teaching has assumed the position of Director of Admissions at the College of Law.  Carole Wells (UI Law ’03) brings the perspectives of a lawyer who has engaged in a civil and criminal defense practice in Moscow, served as a case manager for the drug court in Idaho’s Second Judicial District, and supervised students in a Victims’ Rights Clinic funded at the College of Law by the U.S. Department of Justice. The clinic grant expired just as former Admissions Director Jenifer Finney departed to accept an administrative post at Louisiana State University.

Ms. Wells will direct the admissions office -- with responsibility for recruiting students, managing the admissions process, and advising prospective students on financial aid and other issues, at least through the 2011-12 admissions cycle.  Her professional background will enable her to discharge these responsibilities with both “inside” knowledge of the law school and “outside” knowledge of the courts and the practice of law.  She can be contacted directly at cwells@uidaho.edu.  General inquiries regarding admissions may be submitted to lawadmit@uidaho.edu, telephone 208-885-2300.