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)

Elaine Gagliardi

Associate Dean of Students & Professor

Contact

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Elaine Gagliardi

Personal Summary

Professor Gagliardi teaches Business Organizations, Business Transactions, Estate Planning,: Wills and Trusts, Taxation of Estates and Gifts, and Tax Exempt Organizations. She also serves as the faculty supervisor to two clinics, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and United States Department of Agriculture General Counsel.  Gagliardi served as Associate Dean from 2007 to 2010.  Beginning in 2012, she  serves as the Director of the law school’s Tax Institute.

Prior to teaching Professor Gagliardi practiced in the areas of estate planning, business planning and tax with the law firms of Perkins Coie, Seattle, Washington, and Day, Berry & Howard, Hartford, Connecticut. She clerked for The Honorable William J. Jameson, Senior Judge, United States District Court for Montana, and for the Honorable James R. Browning, then Chief Judge, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She is an Academic Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Attorneys, and is past chair of Business, Estates, Trust, Tax and Real Estate Section of the Montana State Bar Association.

Professor Gagliardi earned her LL.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law, where she received the Harry J. Ruddick award for distinction in the graduate tax program and served on the New York Tax Law Review as a graduate editor. 

Education

She earned her J.D. from The University of Montana School of Law, and her B.A. from Yale University.

Courses Taught

Publications

TREATISES AND BOOKS

How to Save Time and Taxes Handling Estates (LexisNexis)(current author).

Modern Estate Planning (2d ed., LexisNexis 2003) (with J. Martin Burke & Michael Friel).

Question and Answers Federal Estate and Gift Taxation,2d Ed. (LexisNexis 2012)

ARTICLES

Professor Gagliardi’s most recent articles include:

Treasury Transforms the Portability Election:  Making the DSUE Amount a Reliable Planning Tool,  Lexis Federal Tax Journal Quarterly, Section 4 (September 2012) 

The Deceased Spousal Unused Exclusion Amount:  Now You See It, Now You Don’t, Lexis Federal Tax Journal Quarterly, Section 2 (June 2012).

Remembering the Creditor at Death: Aligning Probate and Nonprobate Transfers, 41 Real Property, Probate and Trust Journal 819 (2007).

Use of Marital Deduction Trusts Achieves Planning Goals, 104 Tax Notes 1043 (Aug. 27, 2004).

New Guidance on Annual Exclusion Gifts of Entity Interests, 2003 Tax Notes 156-24 (Aug. 13, 2003).

Strangi III: Right Answer Wrong Reason? Or, Just Plain Wrong?, 2003 Tax Notes 135-17 (July 14, 2003).

Economic Substance in the Context of Federal Estate and Gift Tax: The Internal Revenue Service Has It Wrong, 64 Mont. L. Rev. 389 (2003).