School of Law

Irma S. Russell, Dean

Andrew King-Ries, Associate Dean

The Law School is accredited by the American Bar Association and the Association of American Law Schools, and offers the degree of Juris Doctor (J.D.). Prerequisites for admission to the Law School are a baccalaureate degree and Law School Admission Test.

For detailed information concerning the Law School’s admission criteria, application procedures, facilities, and official course descriptions, consult the Law School Catalog, which may be obtained by calling (406)243-6169 or visiting the Law School website.

The Law School’s administrative regulations are contained in the Law School Student Handbook, which is on the website. The Law School conforms in most instances to the calendar established for the entire University. There are some differences, however, because the Law School operates on a different (and longer) semester system than the rest of the University.

Academic Year Calendar

Access the Law School Academic Calendar on the Law School calendar weg page.

Required Curriculum

First Year Credits
500 Civil Procedure I 3
501 Civil Procedure II 2
502 Contracts I 3
503 Contracts II 2
504 Pretrial Advocacy I 2
505 Pretrial Advocacy II 1
506 Legal Research 2
508 Legal Analysis 1
509 Legal Writing I 3
510 Criminal Law & Proc I 2
511 Criminal Law & Proc II 3
512 Torts I 2
513 Torts II 3
Second Year Credits
550 Property I 2
551 Property II 3
552 Federal Tax(may be taken third year) 3
554 Business Organizations 3
555 Professional Responsibility 3
556 Business Transactions 2
557 Trial Practice 2
558 Constitutional Law 4
560 Evidence 3
Electives (see below)
Third Year Credits
(minimum of 4 credits required)
599 Clinical Training II 1-8
600 Clinical Training III 1-6
601 Clinical Training IV 1-6
Electives (see below)

Elective Courses

(Elective offerings vary from year to year)
  • Advanced Criminal Procedure (Law 690, 2 credits)
  • Advanced Environmental Law (Law 649, 3 credits)
  • Advanced Legal Research (Law 615, 2 credits)
  • Advanced Legal Issues in Education (Law 686, 3 credits)
  • Advanced Legislation (Law 652, 2 credits)
  • Advanced Federal Indian Law (Law 617, 2 credits)
  • Advanced Public Land and Resources Law (Law 619, 2 credits)
  • Advanced Trial Advocacy (Law 685, 1 credit)
  • Agricultural Law (Law 656, 2 credits)
  • Alternative Dispute Resolution (Law 614, 3 credits)
  • American Indian Natural Resources (Law 619, 2credits)
  • Appellate Advocacy (Law 616, 3 credits)
  • Bankruptcy (Law 621, 2 credits)
  • Child Advocacy (Law 670, 2 credits)
  • Client Counseling Team (Law 638, 2 credits)
  • Conflict of Laws (Law 653, 2 credits)
  • Consumer Transactions (Law 645, 3 credits)
  • Copyright Law (Law 682, 3 credits)
  • Cyber Law (Law 676, 2 credits)
  • Disability Law (Law 668, 2 credits)
  • Elder Law (Law 620, 3 credits)
  • Employment Law (Law 622, 3 credits)
  • Environmental Law (Law 650, 3 credits)
  • Estate Planning (Law 659, 3 credits)
  • Family Law (Law 669, 3 credits)
  • Family Law Mediation (Law 672, 2 credits)
  • Federal Courts (Law 671, 2 credits)
  • Federal Indian Law (Law 648, 3 credits)
  • First Amendment Seminar (Law 675, 2 credits)
  • Foundations of Natural Resources Conflict Resolution (Law 613, 3 credits)
  • Gender and the Law (Law 625, 3 credits)
  • Health Care Law (Law 637, 3 credits)
  • Independent Study (Law 660/1, 1-2 credits)
  • Insurance Law (Law 624, 3 credits)
  • International Business & Trade (Law 629, 2 credits)
  • Introduction to Environmental Law (Law 650, 3 credits)
  • Land Use Planning (Law 687, 3 credits)
  • Law & Literature (Law 607, 1 credit)
  • Law & Technology (Law 693, 2 credits)
  • Law Practice (Law 631, 1 credit)
  • Law Reviews I, II, III, IV (Law 564/5, Law 602/3, 1-2 credits)
  • Lawyers’ Values (Law 630, 2 credits)
  • Legal History (Law 626, 2 credits)
  • Local Government (Law 646, 3 credits)
  • Moot Courts (Law 666, 2 credits)
  • Montana Constitutional Law (Law 618, 2 credits)
  • Natural Resource Development (Law 633, 3 credits)
  • Negotiations (Law 641, 2 credits)
  • Negotiation Team (Law 642, 2 credits)
  • Non-profit Organizations (Law 674, 2 credits)
  • Patent Law (Law 627, 2 credits)
  • Philosophy of Law (Law 664, 3 credits)
  • Practicum in Natural Resources Conflict Resolution
  • Product Liability (Law 657, 2 credits)
  • Public Interest Lawyering (Law 673, 3 credits)
  • Public International Law (Law 634, 3 credits)
  • Public Land and Resources Law (Law 654, 3 credits)
  • Public Regulation of Business (Law 632, 3 credits)
  • Real Estate Transactions (Law 658, 2 credits)
  • Remedies (Law 628, 3 credits)
  • Sales & Leases (Law 692, 3 credits)
  • Secured Transactions (Law 636, 2 credits)
  • Special Topics in Criminal Law (Law 667, 2 credits)
  • Taxation of Business Organizations (Law 639, 4 credits)
  • Taxation of Estates & Gifts (Law 655, 3 credits)
  • Taxation of Property Transactions (Law 640, 2 credits)
  • Trademark Law (Law 693, 2 credits)
  • Tribal Courts/Tribal Law (Law 688, 3 credits)
  • Tribal/State Relations (Law 694, 2 credits)
  • UCC Articles 203 (Law 609, 3 credits)
  • Water Law (Law 663, 2 credits)
  • White Collar Crime (Law 644, 2 credits)
  • Workers' Compensation (Law 662, 3 credits)

Cynthia Ford

Professor

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Cynthia Ford

Personal Summary

Cynthia Ford teaches Civil Procedure, Evidence, Family Law, and Remedies.  She coached UMLS Trial Team for 20 years, and regularly serves on the faculty of the Advanced Trial School at UMLS.

Professor Ford grew up in Connecticut where she learned to sail, which served her in good stead as a member of the sailing team at Dartmouth College where she was in the first class of women. She did a foreign study semester at the University of Edinburgh, where she also studied philosophy (and sailed). At the end of three years of college, having completed her undergraduate degree in English and Philosophy, she could not imagine that she would be the first philosopher to definitively determine the reason for life. Thus, she applied to law school and spent another three years avoiding the issue. Imagine her surprise when, after graduation from Cornell Law School in 1978, she actually enjoyed earning a living as a trial lawyer.

Prior to coming to UMLS, Professor Ford practiced in Billings as the first woman at Crowley, Haughey, Hanson, Toole & Dietrich from 1978 to 1983. She was fortunate to have wonderful trial lawyers as her mentors and to make several arguments to the Montana Supreme Court in her time there.  Beginning in 1983, she practiced in the litigation department of Davis Wright and Miller (now Davis Wright Tremaine) and later had a solo practice on Bainbridge Island. She also served as the Chief Judge of the Suquamish Tribal Court on the Port Madison Reservation, and since returning to Montana, served a term as an Associate Justice on the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Court of Appeals on the Flathead Reservation.

In 1990, Professor Ford accepted a tenure-track position at The University of Montana School of Law and has been full-time there ever since. During the summers, she also teaches Evidence at  Golden Gate Law School in San Francisco.

She has written articles on “Including Indian Law in the Traditional Civil Procedure Course,” on “Civil Procedure in Montana's Courts of Limited Jurisdiction,” on “Rule 41e of the Montana Rules of Civil Procedure.” In 2011, the State Bar of Montana published Professor Ford’s book “The Montana Civil Procedure Formbook.”  Professor Ford also speaks frequently at continuing legal education seminars.  She volunteers regularly at the Missoula County Family Law Self-Help Center.  Professor Ford also serves as an expert witness on civil procedure and consults with Montana lawyers on evidence and civil procedure issues.

Professor Ford has two children, Meghann (a Montana lawyer) and Spencer (an international marine geologist). Now that they are grown, she has far more time to devote to her parrot, Scarlet O'Feather, and her Irish wolfhound, Fiona, and Westie, Holly.  Professor Ford’s husband, Daniel Gallacher, is a professional historian who frequently serves as an expert witness in courts around the country.

Professor Ford also spends time on all manner of sports, and is always among the top three women at the Montana State Squash Championship. (There never are more than 3.)  She is eternally in quest of elk and deer, and is hoping to become a birdhunter in the near future.

Courses Taught

Publications

Treatises/Books/Casebooks

  • Montana Evidence Handbook (forthcoming, State Bar of Montana)
  • Montana Civil Pleading and Practice Formbook (State Bar of Montana, 2012)
  • Montana Judges Deskbook, The University of Montana School of Law (2000) (with Melissa Harrison and Gregory S. Munro)

Articles

  • Including Indian Law in a Traditional Civil Procedure Course: A Reprise Five Years Later, 37 Tulsa L. Rev. 485 (2001-2002).
  • Does It Have to be this Hard? Rule 41(e) in Montana, 60 Mont. L. Rev. 285 (1999).
  • Civil Practice in Montana’s “People’s Courts:” The Proposed Montana Justice and City Court Rules of Civil Procedure, 58 Mont. L. Rev. 197 (1997). 
  • Part 1 of a Series: Unraveling Rule 11, 18 Mont. Law. 3 (Jan. 1996). 
  • Integrating Indian Law into a Traditional Civil Procedure Course, 46 Syracuse L. Rev. 1243 (1995-1996).