Rima Idzelis, a Senior Lecturing Fellow, directs and teaches teaches U.S. Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing, Advanced Legal Writing for International Students and directs the Summer Institute for Law, Language & Culture. Professor Idzelis also assists with admissions and has taught Legal Writing, Research, and Oral Advocacy at the University of Maryland School.
Idzelis was a member of the Vermont Law Review and served as the Symposium Editor. During law school, Idzelis assisted with setting up the first legal clinic at Petrozavodsk University in Karelia. After graduation, she practiced as an Associate with the Washington, DC, law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in their Nuclear Energy section. At Morgan Lewis, she researched and drafted memoranda, briefs, international contracts, and other agency-specific pleadings. She represented clients that included multinational corporations and international businesses seeking counsel in the U.S. Moving on to join a federal agency, she served as a Staff Attorney for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Administrative Law Judges where she drafted decisions, memoranda, as well as correspondence with the parties and assisted with party conferences and alternative dispute resolution.
After leaving the federal agency, Idzelis worked as a Consultant for the World Resources Institute in Washington, DC, where she researched natural resource distribution laws and policies worldwide. She then worked as Regulatory Counsel for Stateside Associates in Arlington, Virginia, where she addressed environmental, energy, and health care regulatory and policy issues. Idzelis holds membership with the District of Columbia bar as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.