Defender’s office, which he said “made me
appreciate the uniqueness and small size
of the Williston legal community. . . and
enhanced my ability to have a successful
career in Williston after law school.”
The Rural Justice Program encountered
its first setback in 2016, when budget cuts
forced the state courts to forgo offering
summer stipends for rural clerkships.
SBAND stepped in, however, and
graciously funded two clerkship positions
in summer 2016, allowing students to work
with Judge Hovey in New Rockford and
with Judge Narum in LaMoure. As more
state budget cuts loom, SBAND’s support
of the Rural Justice Program is critical to
its continuing success.
Not only are these awards highly beneficial
and highly incentivizing to students,
they also encourage employers to create
opportunities for students. These awards
make it more likely that students will have
job opportunities in rural areas during
law school, and also make it more likely
students will pursue career opportunities
in rural North Dakota after graduation.
We sometimes hear from employers
in rural areas that graduates aren’t
interested in these jobs, but the Rural
Justice Program awards make these
summer opportunities less financially
risky from the student’s perspective,
leading more students to “try out” a
rural opportunity and to discover, as did
Wolfe and Erickson, that legal jobs in
rural and western North Dakota are both
professionally and personally rewarding.
As Trish Hodny, UND School of Law’s
director of career development, explained,
“When law students experience full-time
legal work during the summer months
in western North Dakota or another
rural community, they are much more
likely to seek out a similar position after
graduation because they have met the
people who make up that community
and have seen firsthand the advantages
of living and practicing in rural North
Dakota. The financial support provided
through the Rural Justice Program has
allowed our law students to afford to spend
the entire summer experiencing legal
work in an underserved North Dakota
community and be in a financial position
to continue serving by practicing law in
communities outside of Fargo, Grand
Forks, Bismarck, and Minot because they
were able keep their student loans debt to
a minimum. In fact, two of our summer
2016 recipients have already accepted fulltime positions with the firms they spent
the summer working for–one in Mayville
and the other in Cavalier.”
The Rural Justice Program helps law
students, legal employers outside the
state’s “Big 4” cities, and western and rural
communities in North Dakota. It would
not be possible without the partnership
among SBAND, the state courts, and the
Larson Foundation. Our job at the law
school is to continue the success of the
Rural Justice Program even in the face of
budget cuts–our state and our students
need it more than ever.
Wick Corwin
A uniquely qualified neutral:
•
•
•
•
•
Former trial judge and civil litigator
40 years of experience
Persistent, empathetic and insightful
Extensive ADR training
Specializing in the mediation
and arbitration of civil disputes
“Superb job . . . a great service to the parties.”
Steve Rufer - Fergus Falls, MN
“Fine work.”
Tom Traynor - Devils Lake, ND
701-541-0965
[email protected]
FALL 2016
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