The University of New Mexico School of Law has initiated a new Economic Development Program to expand its business law curriculum and increase economic activity in the state.
UNM Dean Suellyn Scarnecchia formed a working group in 2004, led by her predecessor Robert Desiderio, to provide advice on improving business curriculum. As a result, more courses will be offered on a range of topics including secured lending, sales, business associations/small businesses, employment law, securities regulations, antitrust and international business transactions, and business ethics. Tax course offerings will also expand.
A small business and economic development clinic will be designed to provide affordable legal assistance to start-up and existing companies and economic development organizations.
UNM Dickason Professor of Law Nathalie Martin has been named director of the Economic Development Program, which begins this summer. Martin joined the law school in 1998 after 10 years in private practice as a bankruptcy attorney. This fall, she will also serve as scholar-in-residence for the American Bankruptcy Institute, a Washington D.C.-based organization that provides advice and consultation to the media and to Congress about changes in bankruptcy law.
“The new curriculum emphasizes the practical aspects of the existing curriculum and creates new practice-based courses such as contract design and drafting," Martin said.
Nationally recognized bankruptcy expert Judge Keith Lundin of the Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Tennessee will teach basic and advanced courses at UNM in the spring of 2006.
"Judge Lundin also plans to host a number of conferences in Albuquerque while visiting the law school,” Martin said.
“We hope to augment our national reputation in Indian law, natural resources, and clinical legal education with a nationally-recognized program for training small business lawyers. In the process, we will also serve businesses badly in need of legal services who can boost the state's tax base,” she said.
The clinical aspect of UNM's new program “is perhaps the most exciting development,” she said. UNM's nationally recognized Clinical Law Program, mandatory for third year law students, had offered a business law clinic but only sporadically.
“The clinic now plans to regularly offer services to clients who cannot afford a private attorney, serving small businesses, start-ups, non-profit organizations and economic development programs. Services could include forming a business entity, doing basic tax analysis, addressing employment issues, handling real property needs, drafting and reviewing loan documents and existing contacts and more,” Martin said.
“We hope to partner with UNM business and architecture programs and community groups such as ACCION New Mexico and the City of Albuquerque's Economic Development Initiatives, and other groups,” she said.
“This program is exciting for the businesses that will use these services and for UNM students who will have an opportunity to receive more intensive business law training,” Martin said.
UNM law faculty helping to institute the program include Paul Nathanson, Alfred Mathewson, Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, Sherry Burr, Marsha Baum and Sergio Pareja.
Contact: Laurie Mellas Ramirez, (505) 277-5915
Posted by scarr at February 28, 2005 08:24 AM