Alexander Blewett III School of Law
The Alexander Blewett III School of Law is the only law school in Montana and one of the oldest law schools in the West. Since our founding in 1911, we have provided a hands-on approach to legal education, propelling our graduates to serve as leaders in legal, political and business communities throughout Montana and beyond. With the partnership of dedicated alumni and friends, we are enhancing our integration of theory and practice and further empowering the next generation of lawyers.Dean Paul Kirgis
Scholarships
Throughout Campaign Montana, over 675 donors collectively supported 100 separate law school scholarships, enabling the Blewett School of Law to award more than 130 scholarships each year. Robust scholarship offerings ensure the Blewett School of Law recruits and retains a bright and diverse cohort of students, while providing those students financial security and encouragement during law school.
Clinical and Experiential Learning
Throughout Campaign Montana, private support has enhanced the law school’s commitment to hands-on learning and has made meaningful out-of-the-classroom experiences more accessible. An endowed gift from the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation enabled the Baucus Institute to annually place 10 students in Congressional internships in Washington, D.C., giving students direct experience in policymaking and service to constituents. Donor gifts also have enabled students to participate in a clerkship with the Blackfeet Tribal Court, study environmental law from the back of a canoe on the Missouri River, travel to China to study comparative law and policy, and advance to the International Negotiation Competition in Oslo, Norway.
Public Service
Our students come to law school not only to have a successful career, but to make a meaningful difference in the world. Our long-standing commitment to public service has grown significantly because of private support.
As part of Zander and Andy Blewett’s transformative naming gift, the law school began an access to justice and pro bono program, giving students practical training while providing over 1,900 hours of volunteer legal services to community members per year. A donation from former state senator Dan Weinberg jump-started an interdisciplinary initiative for students to research and address rural criminal justice reform, while a gift from the Montana Justice Foundation empowered students to provide legal clinics at pow-wows across Montana. Collectively, these gifts created meaningful student experiences while enabling the law school and our students to give back to our communities.
As part of Zander and Andy Blewett’s transformative naming gift, the law school began an access to justice and pro bono program, giving students practical training while providing over 1,900 hours of volunteer legal services to community members per year. A donation from former state senator Dan Weinberg jump-started an interdisciplinary initiative for students to research and address rural criminal justice reform, while a gift from the Montana Justice Foundation empowered students to provide legal clinics at pow-wows across Montana. Collectively, these gifts created meaningful student experiences while enabling the law school and our students to give back to our communities.
TOGETHER, WE CAN CHANGE MORE LIVES
We’ve achieved so much during Campaign Montana.
We will continue the momentum with these fundraising priorities.
Scholarships
Scholarships enable the Blewett School of Law to recruit a well-qualified and diverse student body who will contribute to our vibrant legal community. Scholarships also help our students focus and succeed in school while enabling our graduates to pursue meaningful legal careers such as those in public service or in small, rural firms without the burden of student debt. Your gift to a scholarship directly supports law students and their educational experience.
Clinical and Experiential Learning
For more than four decades, the Blewett School of Law has been a leader in practical legal education. Whether in our Veterans’ Advocacy Clinic, which provides pro bono legal support to veterans across Montana, or training for and competing with UM’s trial, appellate advocacy or negotiation teams, our students benefit from multiple experiential opportunities. Your support allows us to provide these invaluable experiences that shape our students’ values and career trajectories.
Baucus Institute
The Max S. Baucus Institute inspires and trains future public servants who carry the values of grit, collaboration and integrity for which Montana is known. Each year, the Baucus Institute sends 10 Montana students to Washington, D.C., for Congressional internships on both sides of the aisle. Its Department of Public Administration prepares students for government and nonprofit leadership roles across our state and beyond. The Baucus Institute annually sends two dozen law students on a month-long immersion in China to study comparative law and promote person-to-person diplomacy. While the program was put on hold in the summer of 2020 due to the pandemic, the Baucus Institute aims to re-start the program in 2021. Private support fuels the Baucus Institute’s public service experiences and training that will create tomorrow’s leaders.
Impact Fund
Impact Funds across campus help ensure UM’s excellence by providing discretionary support where and when it is needed most. Your support allows Blewett School of Law leadership to direct resources to critical areas of need, including student access to clinical and experiential learning opportunities, emergency scholarships for students with financial need and immediate support of students and faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Make no small plans.
Donate
At the Alexander Blewett III School of Law, we train lawyers to solve real-world problems. Our emphasis on both theory and practice allows our graduates to enter the profession with the knowledge and skills to do meaningful legal work from day one. As Montana’s only law school, we take our responsibility as servants of the state seriously. Through our commitment to developing national, state and tribal law, we address the most critical issues facing our state and the Rocky Mountain West.
The Law School was founded over 100 years ago with a private donation that started our law library. Since then, the partnership of dedicated alumni and friends has been vital to our success. We thank the UM giving community for supporting our students today while strengthening the future of the legal profession and justice system throughout Montana and beyond.