Tribal Law Clinic
The Tribal Law Clinic provides free legal services to Tribal Citizens, Tribal Governments and Tribal Agencies, and non-profits led by Tribal Citizens. In its first year, the Clinic will primarily serve individuals through established referral partnerships. We will also partner with Tribal agencies. Students participating in the clinic will collaboratively build lawyering skills and engage in community lawyering and collaborative lawyering. Students will interview clients, develop legal strategies, develop case theories and negotiate with others. They will also research and develop policies and recommendations to governments, agencies and nonprofits.
Students in the Tribal Law Clinic will practice with limited licenses under the supervision of the Tribal Law Clinic Director.
Jessica Millward, Tribal Clinic Director
Jessica (Jess) Millward joined the University of Idaho College of Law’s faculty in 2023 as the Director of the Tribal Law Clinic and Assistant Professor of Law. She earned her J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law and her B.A. in English and Political Science from Trinity College, Hartford. Professor Millward was selected as an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow and worked at Montana Legal Services Association, serving for two years. During that time, she served clients through a Medical-Legal Partnership and worked on public benefits, housing, and other matters. After her term as an AmeriCorps Legal Fellow ended, she transitioned to a staff attorney position at Montana Legal Services, practicing in the area of public benefits and reinvigorating the firm’s Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker program. In her last year at Montana Legal Services, she served as an interim managing attorney.
Professor Millward’s research interests include clinical pedagogy, health law, poverty law, rurality, tribal law and administrative law.
At Idaho, Professor Millward teaches the Tribal Law Clinic, Poverty Law, and Rural Law.
Jessica Millward
Assistant Professor of Law
Menard 13
Location: Moscow
Courses Taught: Poverty Law
Information for Students
The clinic is based out of the College of Law’s Moscow Campus. Initially, all clinical students will be in Moscow, but this may change over time. One of the clinic’s major learning goals is for students to engage in client-centered learning and to engage in-person with their clients as much as practicable.
The type of representation will vary based on client needs and existing clinic caseloads. Students may represent governments and organizations, individual clients, and may also engage in providing know-your-rights or other training to client groups and service providers. TLC’s goal is to listen to our client population about what their needs are and flex our representation strategy to meet that need.
Yes, you will travel locally on a regular basis. This is key to our clinic’s learning goals, as students will be engaging in-person with their clients as much as possible. The clinical program reimburses gas expenditures.
Ideally, students will dedicate five credits in both the fall and the spring. Depending on caseload there may be flexibility in this requirement.
You will engage in a lot of learning in your clinic year. You will learn how to represent clients using client-centered practices. You will learn how to interview, counsel, and advocate for your clients. You will draft legal documents and policy recommendations. You will learn how to navigate tricky problems and find a multitude of solutions both within and outside of the usual legal framework. You will engage in group learning and share your wins, losses, and problems. You will do all this working under close supervision with a caseload intentionally developed to ensure that you have the time to develop an attorney-client relationship and engage in intentional, quality legal representation.
Clinical students will meet at least weekly with their supervisors. Depending on case allocation, meetings may be individual or in teams. Students will develop a meeting agenda, listing their priorities for the meeting and reporting the work they have accomplished on their cases and the time it took them. Supervision meetings are dynamic, often turning to the whiteboard for brainstorming or problem-solving.
We will often “moot” or role-play major case events like difficult conversations with clients, trials, or meetings. My goal for students is that they are going into their work as well-prepared as possible and with tools to navigate unexpected situations.
The clinic seminar is a companion to your client representation. Topics will include lawyering skills like interviewing, counseling, writing, and trial preparation. We will also cover legal topics as they come up in our cases. Other topics will include narrative theory and storytelling, creative problem-solving, and developing legal theories. At times, we will have role-plays or simulations so that students have the chance to practice, assess, and reflect on key skills so that they master them.
We will also turn to community experts for our learning, as well as clinic students who will select topics for and lead classes in the second semester. Finally, we will engage in case rounds, which are discussing cases among peers to support each other and engage in creative problem-solving.
No. Students are encouraged to take Native American Law and/or Native American Legal Research.
Information for Potential Clients
Initially, the Tribal Law Clinic is working directly with tribal and community partners for client intake and project development. For individual clients, we may expand at a later point to intake clients directly. For Tribal Governments, Agencies, and Organizations, as we grow we hope to issue Requests for Proposals regionally.