Former law dean a visionary for new law center
Don Burnett always had big plans for the old Ada County Courthouse.
“Every time I went down to Boise I’d walk past that building and I’d thought ‘Boy, that is strategically located. Could you imagine having a law program right next door to the state capital?'” said Burnett, former interim UI president and former dean of the College of Law.
Andrew Jenson | Argonaut
UI law professor Don Burnett in his office in the College of Law Menard Building. Burnett was a visionary behind the College’s expansion to Boise.
The old courthouse will undergo renovation and become the new Law and Justice Learning Center for the UI Boise law program and act as a venue for civic education programs, among other uses.
For more than a decade, the law school lobbied and raised money toward expanding its presence in Boise — and Burnett has been at the center of the effort.
“He’s been the ‘visionary,'” said Lee Dillion, associate dean for the Boise law program. “It takes someone with a real vision to continually press the issue and push it forward — Don’s led that effort.”
Burnett said it has been humbling to work on the project and gratifying to see it come to fruition through the Law and Justice Learning Center. He said much of the credit should go to faculty members and past administrators who gave their support to a UI law program in Boise.
Burnett said the idea for a UI law presence in Boise started in 1999, when he was invited to serve on a special panel and write a report on the future of law education in Idaho. He said by the time the report concluded it was only a matter of time before there was a law school in Boise, due to the growing population and expanding economy in the Treasure Valley.
After serving as dean of a Kentucky law school, Burnett said he heard “the Siren song of Idaho,” in 2002 and returned to his home state to become dean of UI’s law school. It was then when he, with the help of faculty, began to create a strategic plan for a branch campus in Boise.
Initially, Burnett said there was a good deal of skepticism around the expansion and a considerable amount of anti-Boise sentiment in the law building. He said some wanted to relocate the entire law school, while others did not want to expand to Boise at all.
“There were many two steps forward, 1 1/2 steps back intervals during this entire process,” he said.
Burnett said he came to the conclusion that the law school had to have a presence in Boise, but at the same time could not leave Moscow.
“If you accepted both of those fundamental truths, then the pathway forward was pretty clear, we had to build a branch campus in Boise,” he said.
In 2006, Burnett found out the Idaho State Law Library was stationed in a commercial building and needed a permanent home, so he contacted the Idaho Supreme Court about starting a collaborative project stationed in the old Ada County Courthouse. He said the concept gained support easily because UI had the personnel to manage and run the library.
Burnett said he continued to gather support for the center from chief justices, multiple UI presidents, influential alumni and legislators. He said the opportunity to help students have a greater educational experience was the unifying factor among the supporters.
“My role was to invite everybody to this opportunity,” he said.
To make the courthouse operational for students, Burnett said UI raised $1.5 million for tenant specific improvements along with funding from the Idaho Legislature.
As for his future involvement in the center, Burnett said he plans to help create public outreach programs focused on civic education. He said he is proud of the civic education component of the center and hopes UI can play an important role in increasing public knowledge about history, law and politics.
After stepping down as interim president in March 2014, Burnett said he keeps busy by teaching a few classes at the law school, along with organizing a new colloquium series to feature nationally known UI faculty members.
Burnett said he plans to retire summer of 2016 and hasn’t given much thought to his plans afterward.
“The family will have something to say about that,” he said.
Regardless of retirement, Burnett said he doesn’t see his involvement or “love affair” with UI ending any time soon.
“This place is a beacon for the mountain of the Northwest and the plains of the great West,” Burnett said. “And it’s truly quite a privilege to help the university reach its full potential.”
Ryan Tarinelli can be reached at [email protected]