grant for the School of Law, to be applied
on a one-to-two basis (i.e., one dollar in
state grant funding for every two dollars
raised via the UND Alumni Association &
Foundation). The two areas eligible for the
state grant are (1) faculty recruitment and
retention; and (2) clinical legal education,
including indigent legal services.
In the first category, we have been focusing
our efforts on fundraising in support of
faculty recruitment and retention in the area
of energy law. North Dakota is a national
leader in energy production from a variety
of sources, including fossil fuels (oil, gas,
and coal) and renewables, such as wind,
solar, geothermal, and hydropower. With the
expansion of production from these natural
resources has come an increased need for
lawyers with knowledge in the field of energy
law, which includes administrative regulations,
transactional work, and negotiation and
litigation to resolve disputes. One of my key
leadership goals as the new dean is to expand
our curriculum on topics relating to energy
law and to provide the benefits of additional
faculty expertise for educating our students
(who are our future lawyers), conducting
research, and serving the needs of our state
and region in this critically important area.
Using the challenge grant opportunity as a
launching point, my goal is to create new
endowments to financially support a full-time
faculty member whose teaching and research
interests are focused on energy law.
our field placement/externship programs,
with the invaluable assistance of members
of our bench and bar who have served as
supervisors. However we decide to proceed
in structuring the clinical legal education
program of the future, the financial support
provided by contributions from our alumni
and friends will help to make our program
strong and sustainable for the benefit of our
students and the public.
Finally, we are also prioritizing continued
private fundraising for merit-based student
scholarships, which we are eager to expand
in order to enhance our ability to recruit
and retain the best law students and lay the
groundwork for consistency in enrollment
for the long term.
The UND School of Law is indeed “bristling
with energy” this year, and we’re both excited
and grateful for all of the support SBAND
and its members continue to provide us as
we strive to make even greater strides in
maintaining and growing in excellence as
North Dakota’s law school.
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The UND School of Law is also seeking to
revitalize, re-envision, and expand the reach
and impact of our clinical legal education
program. This academic year, we will be
exploring different models and options for
providing our students with the benefits
of clinical legal education, such as (1)
reinstituting a traditional in-house clinic
on one or more concentrated areas of law
(e.g., family law); or (2) a hybrid clinical
model, including possible innovations such
as having a full-time faculty member in-
house at the School of Law using distance
technology to provide instructional support
for practicing lawyers as affiliated faculty
teaching and working with law students in
locations across North Dakota. We are also
very pleased by the progress we have made
in recent years in expanding and enhancing
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