First Monday - September 6, 2011

Note: Because the "First Monday" of September is Labor Day, this edition of "First Monday" is being distributed later.

In this Issue:

• ABA President, Constitutional Scholars to be Featured in Bellwood Lecture and Celebration of the Bill of Rights
• College of Law Receives High National Ranking for Clinical Education Opportunities

ABA President, Constitutional Scholars to be Featured in Bellwood Lecture and Celebration of the Bill of Rights

On September 13-14, 2011, in Moscow and Boise, the College of Law will present a Bellwood Memorial Lecture Program of unprecedented scope. The anchor of the program, of course, will be the Bellwood Lecture itself, to be delivered on September 13 at 3:30 p.m. in the University Administration Auditorium by Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson, III, President of the American Bar Association. Robinson, who has made support of the state and federal courts one of his presidential priorities, will speak on "The American Judiciary: Underfunded, Misunderstood, and More Important Than Ever." The lecture will be free and open to the public. The next day, September 14, in Boise, Robinson will deliver keynote remarks during a luncheon at the Boise Centre on the Grove. Taking note of the 220th anniversary of the Bill of Rights, his remarks will be titled, "Against Any Winds That Blow … The Special Role of the Judiciary in Protecting Rights and Securing the Rule of Law." Attendance at the luncheon event is by invitation.

The broadened Bellwood program also will feature presentations in Moscow and Boise by constitutional scholars, practitioners, and commentators on topics illuminating the Bill of Rights. Presentations are open to the public. Attorneys who wish to receive continuing legal education credits may register on-line and pay an MCLE fee.

Here is the Moscow program line-up. On-line registration for Moscow is available at UIdaho Marketplace.
These programs will be presented on September 13 in the College of Law courtroom.

• 9:30 a.m. "The Great American Experiment: Limited Government and Enumerated Rights"
  UI Law Professor Shaakirrah Sanders
  Frank LoMonte, Student Law Press Center
  Charles A. Brown, Attorney at Law
• 11:00 a.m. [Program for law students: ABA President Robinson: "Facing the Future: Challenges, Opportunities, and Careers in a Changing Legal Profession"]
• 2:00 p.m. "Does the Bill of Rights Protect States, Too?"
  UI Law Professor Richard Seamon
  UI Professor of Political Science and Law David Adler (Director, McClure Center for Public Policy Research)
  Wayne Hoffman, Idaho Freedom Foundation
• 3:30 p.m. [Bellwood Memorial Lecture by President Robinson]

Here is the Boise program line-up. On-line registration for Boise is available at UIdaho Marketplace.
These programs will be presented on September 14 at the Boise Centre on the Grove.

• 8:15 a.m. "Media Liberties and Media Responsibilities under the First Amendment"
  Hon. Candy Wagahoff Dale, United States Magistrate Judge, District of Idaho
  Betsy Russell, Reporter and Columnist, The Spokesman-Review
  Jay Shelledy, retired journalist (Lewiston Tribune, Salt Lake Tribune) and professional-in-residence, Louisiana State University
• 9:15 a.m. "When Wrongs Overtake Rights: Lessons from History"
  UI Law Professor Shaakirrah Sanders
  Hon. Wallace Tashima, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  Hon. Mikel H. Williams, United States Magistrate Judge (Recall Status), District of Idaho
  Hon. Ronald E. Bush, United States Magistrate, District of Idaho
• 10:30 a.m. "The Bill of Rights and the Rule of Law: America's Greatest Export?"
  Hon. Lawrence Wasden, Attorney General of Idaho
  Professor Jonathan Miller, Southwestern Law School, Los Angeles
  Hon. Larry Boyle, United States Magistrate Judge (Recall Status), District of Idaho
  John J. ("Jack") McMahon, retired Chief Deputy Attorney General of Idaho and former Director, UI College of Law Pro Bono Service Program
• 12:15 p.m. [Luncheon Program with Keynote Remarks by President Robinson
  (Introduction by C. Timothy Hopkins, Esq., Idaho Falls)]
• 1:30 p.m. "Limited Government: An Unlimited Opportunity"
  Hon. Stephen Trott, Judge (Senior Status), U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  (Introduction by Hon. Sergio Gutierrez, Judge, Idaho Court of Appeals.)
• 2:45 p.m. "Due Process, the Eighth Amendment, and the Accuracy of Judgments in Capital Cases"
  UI Law Professor Alan F. Williams
  Professor Greg Hampikian, Boise State University, The Innocence Project
  Professor James Burnett, Sociology and Criminology, Idaho State University
  Fred Hoopes, Esq., Idaho Falls, with exonerated client Charles Fain, Boise
• 4:00 p.m. "Competing Philosophies on Judicial Interpretation of the Bill of Rights"
  UI Law Professor and Dean Don Burnett
  Hon. Daniel T. Eismann, Justice, Idaho Supreme Court
  Hon. B. Lynn Winmill, Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, District of Idaho

Further information about these programs and registration procedures may be obtained from College of Law Associate Dean Helen Albertson (208-885-4977).

College of Law Receives High National Ranking for Clinical Education Opportunities

National Jurist magazine has just published a ranking of "top law schools for clinical opportunities." The magazine used objective data reported to the American Bar Association in order to gauge student access to clinical learning experiences in full-credit courses. The magazine article, which appears at pages 24-25 of the September, 2011, issue, notes the rising importance of such learning experiences, in which students acquire lawyering skills and deepen their doctrinal expertise through service to real people with real problems in a variety of practice settings, under the supervision of faculty members licensed to practice law. The article identifies the nation's top 20 law schools (out of 200 ABA-approved law schools), based on number of clinic positions available for students in relation to the size of the student enrollment at each school.

The "top 20" list contains the University of Idaho at #13. Other "top 20" schools include Yale (#1), Wisconsin (#5), Minnesota (#12), Stanford (#14), Northwestern (#15), and Harvard (#20). Further information about clinical opportunities at the College of Law may be obtained from Professor Maureen Laflin, Director of Clinical Programs.

University of Idaho law students also acquire practical experience in the College's externship and semester-in-practice programs, in which more than 120 students have participated on a full-time or part-time basis during the current calendar year. Further information about externships may be obtained from program coordinators Katherine (Katie) Ball in Boise and Trapper Stewart in Moscow. Stewart also administers the College's pro bono service program, which encompasses all law students and provides additional real-world preparation, as well as ethical grounding, for the practice of law.