CLE: Perspectives on Mentoring and Supervising the Next Generation of Lawyers (while they are still law students)
Hosted by University of North Dakota School of Law Advance Externship Students
Friday, April 13th, 12:30 – 5:30 p.m.
UND Law School, Teaching Courtroom
The CLE is free to attend. Registration is encouraged but not required. Click on the "register here" button below to sign-up to attend. You can also attend online via Zoom. Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/230386312 (Note: Zoom requires device to have camera, microphone and speakers.)
4.5 hours of ND CLE approved /NDCJE preliminarily approved and MN CLE pending
Scheduled Speakers
12:30 – 12:55 p.m. Brad Myers, Associate Dean
Welcome and brief overview of the curricular mission established by the faculty
PowerPoint presentation
1:00 – 1:20 p.m. Trish Hodny, Externship Program Director
Introduction to UND’s Externship Program at UND (Statistics, Participants, and ABA/UND
Guidelines/Requirement) externship handbook
Fall 2016-17 placement, Hours in placement, students by year, total students and credit, change in total credits
1:25 – 1:55 p.m. Michael McGinniss, Associate Professor
Professional Identity Formation Throughout the Three Years - discussing how the externship
program fits into the progressively-structured curriculum from 1L (Professional Foundations)
through the 2L/3L years (Professional Responsibility and the externship programs).
Discussion on the critically important role that externship supervisors play in forming
law students in their professional development and impact their futures as lawyers.
PowerPoint presentation
2:00 – 2:30 p.m. Donna Smith, Attorney
Title IV and Understanding Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
Powerpoint presentation
2:35 – 3:05 p.m. Brad Parrish, Assistant Dean
How the Field Placement Experience Can Directly Improve Student Success on the Multi-state
Performance Test.
3:10 – 3:40 p.m. Monty Mertz, Attorney
The role of effective feedback in the student learning process, and how I prepared
a second year law student to argue in front of the ND Supreme Court.
Presentation handout
3:45 – 4:25 p.m. Site Supervisor Panel
Insights and tips for managing your everyday practice and successfully supervise and
mentor student externs or interns (Sam Gereszek, Jessica Ahrendt, Tara Vavrosky Iversen
and Tamara Yon, Moderated by Monty Mertz)
4:30 – 4:55 p.m. Sam Gereszek, Attorney
The benefit of an externship in the path from law student to attorney to externship
site supervisor – a personal perspective.
5:00 – 5:30 p.m. Externship III Student Panel
What the experiential learning meant for me, and suggestions for supervising attorneys
from the law student view.
Speaker Information:
***IMAGE REMOVED***Bradley Myers, Associate Dean, Academic Affairs & Research; Randy
H. Lee Professor of Law
Professor Myers received both a B.S. and a M.S. from the University of California,
Los Angeles, a J.D. from the University of Oregon and an LL.M. in Taxation from New
York University. While in law school Professor Myers served on the editorial staff
of the Oregon law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. After law school
Professor Myers practiced for three years with Hale Lane Peek Dennison and Howard
in Reno, Nevada and for three years with Weiss, Jensen, Ellis and Howard in Portland,
Oregon. His practice focused primarily in business and estate planning with a special
focus on the issues surrounding the development of low-income housing. Professor Myers
is admitted to the State Bar of North Dakota, the State Bar of Nevada and the State
Bar of California and is an inactive member of the Oregon State Bar. Professor Myers
serves as one of North Dakota’s commissioners to the National Conference of Commissioners
on Uniform States Laws and is also an Academic Fellow of the American College of Trust
& Estate Counsel. Professor Myers joined the faculty in 2001, became Associate Dean
in 2012, and teaches Trusts & Estates, Income Taxation, Business Planning, and Estate
Planning.
***IMAGE REMOVED***Bradley W. Parrish, Assistant Dean for Student Life
Originally from Stanwood, Washington, Mr. Parrish graduated from Washington State
University in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice/Sociology and from
Oklahoma State University in 1997 with a Master of Science in Counseling and Student
Personnel. Mr. Parrish earned his Juris Doctor, with distinction, from the University
of North Dakota School of Law in 2005. He was named to the Order of the Coif and the
Order of the Barristers. Additionally, Mr. Parrish served as a member of the University
of North Dakota School of Law Moot Court Board. Mr. Parrish is a member of North Dakota
Association for Justice, the Randy H. Lee American Inn of Court, North Dakota State
Bar Association and the Greater Grand Forks County Bar Association.
***IMAGE REMOVED***Sam Gereszek, Attorney at Law at Hammarback & Scheving, P.L.C.
Sam is an associate at Hammarback & Scheving, P.L.C. Sam graduated with distinction
from the University Of North Dakota School of Law. He was also a member of the Order
of the Barristers, Moot Court Board, and participated in many organizations within
the law school including President of the Criminal Law Association and Student Trial
Lawyers Association. Upon graduating from law school, Sam re-entered the military
via a full-time position with the North Dakota Army National Guard recruiting and
training future military officers through the Reserve Officer Training Course on the
University of North Dakota Campus. After serving a three year contracted tour, Sam
decided to forego the military way of life and pursue his passion, the law. Sam is
a member of the State Bar Association of North Dakota, a member of the Randy H. Lee
Inns of Court, and the Greater Grand Forks County Bar Association. Sam's primary field
of practice is criminal defense and appellate work.
***IMAGE REMOVED***Michael S. McGinniss, Associate Professor of Law
Michael S. McGinniss is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of North Dakota
School of Law, where he joined the faculty in 2010 and teaches courses on Professional
Responsibility, Evidence, Conflict of Laws, and Advanced Legal Ethics. He also served
for three years as a founding co-coordinator for the UND School of Law’s team-taught
first-year course, Professional Foundations. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English
(summa cum laude and first in his class) at Washington College. He received his legal education at
the College of William & Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law, where he graduated third
in his class and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. Upon graduation from law
school, he served as the law clerk for Honorable Randy J. Holland of the Supreme Court
of Delaware. He then was associated for four years with the Delaware law firm Potter
Anderson & Corroon LLP, where his practice focused on intellectual property litigation
in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. At the UND School
of Law, Professor McGinniss has been honored annually with the J. Philip Johnson Faculty
Fellow Award, given to promote professional responsibility, leadership and ethics,
both in the legal profession and in the community. In 2012, Chief Justice VandeWalle
of the North Dakota Supreme Court appointed him to serve a three-year term as a member
of the Joint Committee on Attorney Standards, and in 2015 re-appointed him to serve
a second three-year term. He currently serves as the President of the Randy H. Lee
American Inn of Court, and is a member of the Federalist Society for Law & Public
Policy Studies, including its Professional Responsibility, Religious Liberties, and
Free Speech and Election Law practice groups. He recently authored and published
A Tribute to Justice Antonin Scalia, 92 N.D. L. Rev. 1 (2016), based on his remarks originally presented at the School
of Law in April 2016. Additional bio information for Professor McGinniss[BROKEN LINK].
***IMAGE REMOVED***Monty Grant Mertz, Attorney at Law at Fargo Public Defender’s Office
Monty was born in Bismarck, graduated from high school in Park River, ND, and attended
UND. He graduated with a B.S. in Social Work, and was commissioned as an Army Officer.
Monty attended UND law on a delay from active duty. In law school, Monty worked for
Central Legal Research and was the Case Comment Editor on the Law Review Board of
Editors. Monty entered the Army JAGC after graduation in 1981. After school in Virginia,
he was stationed at Ft. Hood, Texas. While at Ft. Hood, Monty was a Trial Counsel
(prosecutor), Chief of the Legal Assistance Office, and Senior Defense Counsel. Monty
left active duty after four years and moved back to North Dakota, settling in Fargo
in 1985. He stayed in the Army Reserves, in the Trial Defense Service, until 1999.
From 1985 until 2008, Monty was in private practice, concentrating in civil litigation,
family law, and criminal law. Monty was also a Contract Public Defender from 1999
until becoming the Supervising Attorney in the Fargo Public Defender Office in November,
2008. Monty is widowed, has two married children and six grandchildren. Monty’s interests
include shooting, hunting, camping, hiking, canoeing, and historical re-enacting.
***IMAGE REMOVED***Jessica Johanna Ahrendt, Attorney at Law at the Grand Forks Public Defender’s Office
Jessica Ahrendt is currently an attorney with the Grand Forks Public Defender’s Office.
Prior to joining the North Dakota Commission on Legal Counsel for Indigents in 2012,
she worked for a small general practice law firm, was an adjunct professor with the
Turtle Mountain Community College, and clerked for Judges with the Turtle Mountain
Band of Chippewa Indians in Belcourt, ND, Cass County District Court in Fargo, ND,
and the Ninth Judicial District in Warren, MN. In law school, Jessica was in the externship
program and enjoys continuing to work with the program by supervising the student
externs at the public defender’s office.
***IMAGE REMOVED***Patricia Ann Hodny, Interim Director of Externship Program
Trish Hodny currently serves as the Interim Director of Externships and teaches the
externship class at the University of North Dakota School of Law. Prior to her recent
appointment as Interim Director, Trish served as the Director of Career Development
at the UND School of Law since January 2009. She received her law degree from the
University of San Diego School of Law. She has over twenty years of combined higher
education administrator experience. Trish is licensed to practice law by the State
Bar of North Dakota and the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and she was certified
to practice law in the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa’s Tribal Court. Besides the
number of years spent in higher education, Trish’s legal experience includes her previous
work as a Special Assistant Attorney General and Special Assistant State’s Attorney
with the Department of Human Services Child Support Enforcement Unit and Municipal
Court Judge for the City of Lakota. Prior to practicing law, Trish served as the Nelson
County Veteran Service Officer and as a United States Marine. Trish is active in
many legal and veteran organization to include her role as a council member (board
of director) for the International Legal Honor Society of Phi Delta Phi and member
of the North Dakota’s Administrative Committee on Veterans Affairs.
***IMAGE REMOVED***Tara Vavrosky Iversen, Assistant United States Attorney for District of North Dakota at United States Department
of Justice
Tara Vavrosky Iversen is an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of North
Dakota. She represents the United States, its agencies, and employees in all areas
of civil litigation involving the United States within the District of North Dakota.
Tara also serves as the Externship Coordinator and Civil Rights Coordinator for her
office. Before joining the United States Attorney’s Office, Tara practised with the
law firm of Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly in Minneapolis in the Business Litigation
and Labor & Employment departments. She graduated from the University of Minnesota
Law School and Concordia College. She is a fifth-generation North Dakotan, born and
raised in Grafton.
***IMAGE REMOVED***Donna Smith, Attorney at Law & Director, EEO Affirmative Action, University of North Dakota
Donna Smith is the Director of Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action at
the University of North Dakota. She also serves as the University’s Title IX Coordinator
and ADA/504 Coordinator. In these roles, Donna provides leadership to the University
on all equal opportunity and affirmative action compliance matters, and oversees the
University’s compliance with civil rights laws including Title IX, Title VII, and
the Americans with Disabilities Act. Donna is a graduate of the University of North
Dakota and the University of North Dakota School of Law. Prior to joining UND as
the Director of EEO/AA position at UND in 2014, she was an attorney in private practice
in Grand Forks.
***IMAGE REMOVED***Tamara L. Yon, Assistant Chief Judge of Polk County, Ninth Judicial District
Assistant Chief Judge Tamara Yon was appointed by Governor Tim Pawlenty on April 7,
2006 then was elected in 2008 and 2014. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Concordia
College in Moorhead then her J.D. from University of North Dakota Law School. Judge
Yon worked in private practice for 12 years at Johannson, Rust, Yon, Stock and Rasmussen
as well as being a Chapter 7 Trustee - U.S. Department of Justice from 2003 to 2006
before her appointment. She is a member of American Bar Association, Minnesota State
Bar Association, North Dakota State Bar Association, Minnesota Women Lawyers, President-
Fourteenth District Bar Association, 2004-2005, and Board of Directors- Northwest
Minnesota Legal Services, Inc. Judge Yon is also involved in the community. She
is a Volunteer Attorney for Crookston Area Habitat for Humanity, Sunday School Teacher,
Piano Accompanist at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Director for Crookston Education
Foundation, Treasurer for Friends of the Library, Inc., and Director for Sunrise Center.
Judge Yon has been an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota-Crookston since
1999.