First Monday - January 3, 2012

In this issue:

• Economic Development Clinic Moves Forward
• College Expands Job Placement Service for Students
• Classrooms in Moscow Feature New Technology
• Scholar Joins Law Library Faculty

Economic Development Clinic Moves Forward

Holders of a Juris Doctor degree have an exceptionally wide range of career opportunities. Those who become transactional lawyers, public officials, or business executives and investors play key roles in strengthening the long-term economic foundations of American communities. To prepare students for careers as enablers of sustainable economic development, and in order to help Idaho communities realize their potential, the College of Law launched an Economic Development Clinic at Boise in the fall of 2011. Under the direction of Professor Stephen Miller, students in the clinic engage in research and outreach that will provide models for sustainable development in urban and rural Idaho.

In the Clinic, students learn about -- and gain practical experience with -- land use law, administrative law, state and local government law, and environmental law. Projects already undertaken in 2011-12 have included:

• Advising an urban city on potential resources for development funding, including the New Markets Tax Credit – a mechanism underutilized in Idaho;
• Advising a rural county on administrative enforcement procedures, and drafting an administrative enforcement ordinance for potential adoption by the county;
• Advising a rural county on development agreements related to a legacy of half-built foreclosed subdivisions; and
• Assisting an urban city and local business attorneys, along with data provided by the Brookings Institute, in drafting an “exports initiative.”

Clinic clients thus far have typically been local governments. In the future, clients may also include non-profit or business organizations involved in economic development.

The new Economic Development Clinic complements the existing Small Business Legal Clinic, directed by Associate Dean Lee Dillion, in which students assist entrepreneurs in the formation and start-up of job-creating enterprises.

Further information about the Economic Development Clinic may be obtained from Professor Stephen Miller.

College Expands Job Placement Service for Students

Over the course of three years in the study of law, students at the University of Idaho can combine the intimate learning environment and quality of life in Moscow with the metropolitan opportunities provided in Boise.  In order to enhance career planning and assistance for all students, in both Moscow and Boise, the College of Law is adding a career development coordinator to its student support staff in Boise.

Effective January 9, 2012, W. V. “Bill” Rauer will start work in this position, bringing to the job a unique background of career development and networking expertise.  After nearly two decades in management in the Albertson’s supermarket system, where he conducted and supervised special projects including “change leadership” training and education programs, Bill established Developing Solutions Group LLC, a consulting service to individuals, and to teams within organizations, for assessment and improvement of effective working relationships.

As the College of Law’s career development coordinator, Bill will work with Career Development Director Anne-Marie Fulfer to promote employment opportunities for all University of Idaho law students.  He will assist Moscow and Boise students in exploring career options, and will utilize his base in Boise to expand the College’s outreach, statewide and beyond, to employers in the legal profession as well as to employers in allied professions, business organizations, non-profits, and public service entities.

Further information about the College’s career development program and activities can be obtained from Ms. Anne-Marie Fulfer.

Classrooms in Moscow Feature New Technology

The College of Law, which already utilizes state-of-the-art technology in its courtroom and largest classroom (Room 104) at the Menard Law Building in Moscow, has added technological enhancements to its smaller Menard classrooms (Rooms 103 and 105) and to the Menard seminar rooms (Rooms 107 and 108). At the outset of the fall 2011 semester, the College installed SMARTBoards in each of these additional rooms, thereby allowing programs, including Internet links, to be broadcast from faculty laptops to large-screen images in the classrooms. The technology also enables faculty in the classroom to color-highlight the images with electronic markers in order to provide a visual emphasis of selected information during lectures or interactive class discussion. The technology further allows DVD and VHS programs to be projected directly to the SMARTBoards.

As the spring semester of 2012 begins, evidence displayers will be installed in these classrooms. The equipment will make it possible to project documents and physical objects with the SMARTBoard displays, enhancing the range of visual supplements to classroom presentations.

These additions of technology to the classroom experience exemplify current trends in legal pedagogy. They reinforce student learning, and they enhance student readiness for careers in the technology-rich workplaces and venues of the future. . Further information about instructional technology at the College of Law may be obtained from Professor John Hasko, Director of the Law Library.

Scholar Joins Law Library Faculty

The University of Idaho is pleased to welcome a noted reference scholar and library services expert, Diana Gleason, to the Law Library faculty. Professor Gleason comes to the University of Idaho from Oregon, where she served as Reference Librarian at the State of Oregon Law Library in Salem. Previously she served as Head of Reference for the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada/Las Vegas, and as Public Services Librarian at Valparaiso University School of Law. She fills the position in Moscow vacated by Professor Michael Greenlee, who moved to Boise in order to administer the newly integrated University of Idaho/State of Idaho Law Library.

Professor Gleason's scholarship and focus areas include distance education, government documents, and advanced legal research. She holds a J.D. degree from the University of Oregon as well as a Master of Library and Information Science (with specialty in Law Librarianship) from the University of Washington. For further information, contact Diana Gleason.