With the current downturn of undergraduate enrollment, the University of Idaho College of Law has seen an enrollment increase of 10% from last year, making the 2026 1L class the largest first-year class in UI history.
Dean Brian Kane, in an Argonaut interview said, “The great thing about law students is their passion. They’re enthusiastic to learn the law, they believe in the system, they want to be a part of it, and have an impact with their lives. I love it, to me that’s what gets me into work every day.”
Kane, who was named the Dean of the UI College of Law in May of this year, previously worked as the chief deputy attorney general of the Idaho Office of the Attorney General, and has been an adjunct faculty member at the college since 2017.
When asked about how his experience at the Office of the Attorney General ties into his work at UI, Kane said, “We’ve got our Moscow location, we’ve got out Boise location, we’ve got a great group of faculty and staff, and our students. And to me, the thing I think most about is how do I come in every day and make us just a little bit better we were before, and support the folks that are trying to do their job, and trying to be successful.”
“Everything we do is in furtherance of our legal system, and our judicial system, so we are an institution of constant improvement,” said Kane.
With 219 new students in the college, Kane said, “If you think about it in terms of if you drove your car… pedal to the metal, the car won’t drive like that forever, at some point the engine is going to blowup, or something else is going to go wrong…The same thing performance wise…the organization can preform at this really high level, but you also have to make sure folks have the ability to recover and consistently show up at that level… Otherwise, you are just gonna burn everybody out.”
Kane continued, “In Boise, for example, we have a space issue…It’s a matter of, can we physically take these folks. There’s also a workload issue, now, you’re asking our faculty to do more, you’re asking our staff to do more,” Said Kane, “We’re having discussions of what’s our optimal size, how many [students] can we actually take? Do we need to find more classroom space? And it’s the same here in Moscow.”
To deal with space constraints, the UI college of Law Boise campus has been using the space in the UI Water Center, which is three blocks away from the Front Street building. First-year students have their classes there on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, First-year students have their classes in the main building.
“We have also made budget requests for additional faculty and continue to evaluate our needs in terms of people, space and technology,” Kane said. “We have been engaged in a year-long strategic planning exercise to ensure the college of law will be agile and resilient to nimbly adjust to our enrollment and resource needs.”
When asked about where he believes the increase in law students comes from, Kane said, “We are at a period of time where law school is seen as a professional upskilling, that’s really appealing to folks that are graduating and saying, ‘okay, how do I ensure I’m competitive in the job market, forever.’”
The UI college of law has two campuses, one in the Albert R. Menard Jr. Law Building, and one in the Front St. Building in Boise. The two campuses provide the same level of law education, except for some specific programs, such as the Native American Law program, that are campus dependent. For more information about the UI College of Law, see their webpage.
Josie Adjanohoun can be reached at [email protected]