Dear Alumni and Friends,
It’s been a busy start to the spring semester for faculty and Ñý¼§Ö±²¥. We continue to return to our spring traditions – Law Week, Environmental Law Week, and Indian Law Week, which will include the Jestrab Lecture, Montana Supreme Court hearing, and a number of outstanding speakers. Students look forward to the Women’s Law Caucus Auction, the Smoker, and the Senior Luncheon.
The Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ holds its fourth annual day of giving on March 8 and 9, THE BIG GIVE. Please support our law Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ by designating a donation for the Alexander Blewett III School of Law. Your generosity will change the lives of our Ñý¼§Ö±²¥. All gifts of any size make a difference. The link to donate is included below under “One day. One UM.” We are so grateful for your support!
The law school is pleased to welcome three new faculty, Professor Melissa Hartigan, Professor Autumn Bernhardt, and Dr. Shannon Vaughan. Professor Hartigan will join the law faculty Fall Semester 2023 to teach Legal Writing and related courses. Professor Autumn Bernhardt will also join the law faculty in the fall to teach Indian Law and co-direct the Margery Hunter Brown Indian Law Clinic. Dr. Shannon Vaughan this past January joined the Department of Public Administration and Policy as its Chair and MPA Director. We are excited to have successfully completed each of the open law faculty and Department of Public Administration and Policy faculty searches for the Blewett School of Law.
As the legislative session began, the Law School co-sponsored with the State Bar of Montana the “2023 Law School for Legislators.” We thank the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ Law Alumni who presented – Montana Supreme Court Justice Beth Baker; Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen; United States Attorney for the District of Montana Jesse Laslovich; Montana Department of Agriculture Chief Legal Counsel Cort Jensen; Legal Counsel for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Melissa Schlichting; President of the State Bar of Montana David Steele, and Executive Director of the State Bar of Montana John Mudd. Professor Craig Cowie and I, with Code Commissioner Todd Everts, rounded out the presentations. We are so grateful to each of these presenters for giving of their time to make this event happen. Thank you to the State Bar of Montana for inviting the law school to collaborate on this event.
It is with sadness that I report the law school and the Montana legal community recently lost two outstanding attorneys and former law professors, Indian Law Professor Ray Cross and Jameson Law Library Director Stacey Gordon Sterling. Each left a remarkable legacy. We are thankful for their many contributions to the law school and its Ñý¼§Ö±²¥. The work each did as lawyers changed communities.
I invite you to read more about the contributions of our Ñý¼§Ö±²¥, staff, and faculty in the stories below.
With warm regards,
Elaine Gagliardi
Interim Law Dean
The Big Give | One Day. One UM.
When the UM family comes together, we champion student success, scholarships and access to higher education. We create opportunities and change lives.
Please consider making a donation to the law school on March 8-9 as part of The Big Give, UM’s fourth annual day of giving.
Every gift — of any amount — makes a difference. Because when we all give, we unite for One Day. One UM.
Can’t make it? Please donate an early-bird gift at and choose Alexander Blewett III School of Law in the ‘Designation Choices’ field.
For more information, email giving@supportum.org or call 800-443-2593.
UM Law School Students Free Innocent Man
As part of their studies at the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥, Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ in the Alexander Blewett III School of Law get hands-on experience working for clinics practicing law in a variety of fields. For most, these clinics provide valuable experience in the legal arena, but for some they become transformative, sparking a passion they will carry well into their future careers.
This year, Brandy Keesee a first-generation college student and first-year law student, and third-year law student Annabelle Smith were part of a cohort working with the to free Bernard Pease, a Billings man wrongly convicted 40 years ago for murder.
“I came to [UM Law] because of its smaller community where people care,” said Keesee. “Students at other schools will get to write papers about people like Bernard Pease; we get to actually help.” Read the rest of the article on the UM News website.
Professor Ray Cross
We are deeply saddened by the loss of former law school Professor Ray Cross. Ray taught at the Alexander Blewett III School of Law from 1993 to 2015.
Ray taught Federal Indian Law and Public Lands and Natural Resource Law. He worked extensively with Indian tribes, organizations and federal agencies on issues related to Indian education, tribal self-determination, and cultural and natural resource preservation.
Stacey Gordon Sterling
We held a Celebration of Life event for Stacey Gordon Sterling who recently passed. Friends gathered in the library and shared wonderful memories. She is greatly missed. Stacey served as Director of the Jameson Law Library and taught legal research and animal law. She devoted her career to advocating for animals.
Law School Class Most Diverse in UM History
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Alicia Miles packed up her car and moved to Montana. She had just been hired by the Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ as the new director of admissions. Part of her new job description included increasing diversity within the law school. As a Black woman from Southwest Louisiana, she was up for the challenge.
“When I moved to Montana, I wasn’t sure what to expect,” Miles said. “I did know I wanted to create opportunities for as many different people as possible. Diversity is more than just race. There are wide socioeconomic differences [in our Ñý¼§Ö±²¥] as well.”
Read more about Alicia on the News website.
UM Law Faculty Member Wins National Award
The Association of American Law Schools recently awarded Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ faculty member Anna Conley the 2023 Mark Tushnet Prize in Comparative Law. This prestigious award is given for the year’s best article on comparative law.
Conley is an assistant professor with UM’s Alexander Blewett III School of Law. She has litigated many large-scale complex cases, participated in several rule of law initiatives and published extensively in international and comparative law. Read more in UM News.
UM Law Student's Nike N7 Native Dance Celebrates Crow Traditions
This week’s Nike-inspired N7 basketball games at the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ will honor the state’s Indigenous tribes – from the jerseys worn by the players to the display of the state’s Tribal Nation flags during the National Anthem. Included in the tributes will be a moving , performing with her children in full regalia on center court of Dahlberg Arena.
“Crow style dancing is putting the tribe on the map,” said Old Crow, a second-year law student at UM’s Alexander Blewett III School of Law. “It’s such a visual part of our culture. But there is much more about the people behind the regalia.”
Old Crow’s story is an inspiration itself. Read more on the Law School website.
Rancher Goes to Law School to Protect Family Land
First-year Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ law student and sixth-generation rancher Erin Brush grew up at the base of the Tobacco Root mountain range in Norris, Montana. Her decision to pursue a law degree is deeply rooted in her love of agriculture and her drive to protect the land her family has been on for 150 years.
“Our own family was once taken advantage of by a company,” Brush said. “We didn’t have the funds or time to protect ourselves.
The Princeton Review Ranks UM Law #7 Most Chosen By Older Students
The Princeton Review ranking is based on institutional demographic data as well as law student reports on work experience between college and law school. See more on
UM Law Student Commits to Serving Country as Military Lawyer
Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ law student Paul Hutton grew up with two primary goals: to become a lawyer and to serve his country. When offered a 2022 summer internship in Germany with the U.S. Army JAG Corps, it was beyond a no-brainer.
“The opportunity to fulfill two lifelong aspirations of mine – serving my country and becoming a legal professional – has been a dream come true,” Read more on the Law School website.
UM Unveils New Online Resource Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ Montana Constitution
Scholars from the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center and Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ recently created a central location for materials related to the Montana Constitution. This project serves as an open resource to scholars, Ñý¼§Ö±²¥, lawyers, legislators and citizens.
“Many of these materials were out there already, but they were scattered around and weren’t easy to access,” said Robert Saldin, director of the Ethics and Public Affairs program at the Mansfield Center. “Now everything is connected in one easily accessible collection. It’s a real service to the state.”
Materials related to the current Constitution, and the 1972 Constitutional Convention that created it, are at the center of the collection. However, some materials date back to 1884, five years before Montana was incorporated as a state.
For the first time, the collection also publishes online the committee records of citizen testimony that generated most of the new ideas contained in the 1972 Constitution. The Montana Constitutional Collection consists of memos, proceedings, studies, papers and commentary surrounding the creation and adaptation of the Montana Constitution.
Court Watch is Back
Director of Career Development Katy Stack is offering Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ the chance to observe court proceedings in-person. This wildly popular program is a hit. Last week's signup filled up in under thirty seconds.
Hesburgh Lecture
In The News
Scholarship
Professor Browde published an article in the UC Hastings Law Journal.
Professor Conley published Comparing Essential Components of Transnational Jurisdiction: A Proposed Comparative Methodology, 31 Tulane J. of Int'l & Comp. L 1 (January 2023).
Presentations
Professor Cowie and Interim Dean Gagliardi presented at the Law School for Legislators during the first week of the 2023 Legislative Session. The Law School and the State Bar of Montana co-hosted a reception for legislators following the presentations.
Media - Articles, Interviews, and Quotes
Professor Cowie gave an interview to the Montana Free Press on “What More v. Harper Means to Montana,” Dec. 13, 2022
Professor Stark, in an interview posted to the Missoulian webpage, commented on a joint draft resolution in the Legislature which would study reservation systems, Jan. 9, 2023