Spring 2020 Gavel 268650 SBAND Gavel Magazine_web | Page 25

original plan for this mentorship program,
spearheaded by Associate Dean and
ProfFound Course Coordinator Julia Ernst,
was for these mentors from all walks of
the legal profession to visit our campus on
Wednesday, April 1, for an afternoon of
interviews with our students, discussing their
resumes, and providing them with advice for
their future professional development.
When UND made the decision in March to
move all courses for the remainder of Spring
2020 to remote instruction, Associate Dean
Ernst did amazing work on an expedited
basis to adapt the mentorship program so
lawyers and judges could meet and engage
with the students using the online video
and audio technology called “Zoom.” We
have heard highly enthusiastic feedback
from numerous students about the great
value these mentorship meetings had for
them, and from the mentors, we have heard
very positive feedback on how impressed
they were with the professionalism of our
students and their thoughtfulness about
their goals for the future and their plans for
achieving them.

III. How We Can Work Together to
Help Our Students and Graduates
This Summer and Beyond
As a result of our current unprecedented
circumstances, many of our UND Law
students are anticipating disruptions to their
summer and post-graduate employment
plans. At this writing, the timing of the
Uniform Bar Exam in North Dakota is still
uncertain. Our Board of Law Examiners
has been continuing to closely monitor the
COVID-19 situation, remaining in close
contact with the National Conference of
Bar Examiners and other jurisdictions in
considering all possible options for the
bar exam. The landscape will no doubt
continue to change in the weeks and months
ahead, hopefully for the better in every
possible respect. But there is little doubt
that significant professional challenges will
remain for our North Dakota bench and bar
and our UND Law students and graduates:
the impacts on court dockets, client matters,
practice opportunities, and the personal
and economic health of the members of
our respective intertwined communities
will persist in a variety of ways even after
this present crisis has abated. These realities
make it all the more critical that SBAND
and the UND School of Law continue to
band together in support of each other in
the times ahead, just as we have done when
overcoming adversities in so many times
past.
I urge you to continue supporting our
UND Law students and graduates in their
professional development to the best of your
ability, whether this be through a short-term
practice placement under Limited Practice
of Law by Law Students Rule VII, while
a graduate is preparing for and awaiting
the results of the bar exam; an externship
placement that provides the flexibility to work
remotely; or a more permanent position that
is made available to a talented entry-level
lawyer even with economic uncertainties lying
before us.
I am truly proud to be a member of our North
Dakota legal community, both as the Dean of
its Law School and as a member of its Bar. I
know SBAND and the UND School of Law
will continue to face our challenges together,
and our bonds of loyalty and fellowship will
remain as unbreakable through these difficult
times as they always have been.
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