Danielle Conway, dean and professor at the University of Maine School of Law, will present a talk at the University of Maine at Farmington on Monday, April 15, 2019, at 11:45 am. The event is free and open to the public, and will take place in Lincoln Auditorium in the UMF Roberts Learning Center.
Conway will be presenting “Developing Leaders for Service to Rural Communities,” a talk about leadership and the Law School’s Rural Lawyer Project. The program was created in response to the lack of access to lawyers by Mainers living in rural communities. According to the Maine Law Magazine, the program aims to pair students with rural lawyers who serve as mentors, provide students with direct exposure to rural practice and inspire them to consider pursuing careers in these communities.
“Adequate legal representation should not be found only in urban areas. It must exist in every corner of the state,” said Conway.
Conway has realized the goal of immersing Maine Law into the greater Maine Community by promoting access to affordable legal services in rural parts of the state, creating leadership opportunities for underrepresented students through Maine Law’s PLUS Program, and driving workforce development with new programs, one in Compliance and another in Information Privacy.
A leading expert in public procurement law, entrepreneurship, and intellectual property law, Conway was named dean of the University of Maine School of Law in 2015. She is the seventh dean at Maine Law since its founding in 1962. She also has over twenty-seven years of military service and recently retired in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
In order to help students interested in the legal field get into professional practice more quickly and with less debt, the University of Maine at Farmington partnered with the University of Maine School of Law in Portland to give students the opportunity to earn both their Bachelor’s degree and Juris Doctor (JD) law degree in only six years rather than seven.
UMF’s 3+3 Accelerated Pre-Law Program (APL) provides qualified UMF students with ready access to a path to a professional law degree a year early while also saving a year’s worth of tuition and fees. The program began in fall 2018 and currently has three students from Presque Isle, Farmington, and Portland enrolled.
For more information, visit the UMF website.
This presentation is sponsored by the UMF Office of the President.
