Episode 17 - First Lady of Lawyering

Details

DescriptionDiana Schutte Dowling served the Constitutional Convention as Legal Counsel, Research Coordinator and Assistant to the Style and Drafting Committee. She is a Greybull, Wyoming native, graduate of Carroll College, and long-time Helena resident.

Diana was one of Montana’s trail-blazing female lawyers and began her public service as legislative drafting attorney for Governor Forrest Anderson in 1969, and staff attorney for Anderson’s Executive Reorganization Commission, where she helped draft the 1971 legislation that established the executive branch structure that is substantially in place today.

Diana worked for the Montana Legislative Council for 20 years, including serving as: Director of Legal Services, Montana Code Commissioner (where she supervised the complete recodification of the 1947 Revised Codes of Montana into the new Montana Code Annotated and as Executive Director from 1978 to 1986.

Diana also was Executive Director of the Montana Bar Association (1972 – 1974), the first Director of the Montana Lottery, commissioner on the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (12 years), member of the Montana Board of Bar Examiners (7 years), and first Secretary-treasurer of the unified State Bar of Montana. Diana also has been adjunct professor at both Carroll College and the UM Law School, and an administrative officer for Falcon Press Publishing Co.

As counsel to the Style and Drafting Committee for Montana’s 1972 Constitutional Convention she prepared and directed publication of the official explanation of the new Constitution that was mailed to all Montana voters so that they could cast an informed vote on the ratification of the new Constitution.

In this episode Diana discusses her wide range of governmental experience, how she ended up working for the Convention, the language shaping of the Style and Drafting Committee, the process by which Articles were considered and passed by the Convention, and the preparation of the Voter Information Pamphlet for the June 1972 Ratification Election. TypeMoving ImageCreatorHelena Civic Television and Orphan Girl ProductionIntervieweeDiana DowlingInterviewerBarrett, EvanGenredigital videoLanguageengDate2022SubjectConstitutionConstitutional ConventionsGovernmentLegislative bodies--CommitteesContributing InstitutionOrphan Girl ProductionsGeographic CoverageMontanaTime Period Represented1971-2005Digital CollectionLast Best Constitution - Montana's 1972 Constitutional Convention & Constitution: a Video RetrospectiveDigital Formatvideo/mp4Digitization SpecificationsIntegrated Studio:
Three camera system designed around the Panasonic AW HE130 p PTZ camera platform. Kino Flo set lighting. Sony ECM 44B lapel microphones. Mackie audio mixer. Ross Carbonite source A/V switcher with Expression CG package. Blackmagic Designs Hyper deck A/V recorder set to capture the Apple ProRes codec.

Postproduction:
Audio and video edits, Final Cut Pro Studio package deployed in the iMac system. Graphics designs and editing, Adobe Photoshop. Open animation and closing credit creation, Adobe After Effects. Transcoding, Adobe Media Encoder and Final Cut Pro.

Zoom interface capture:
Blackmagic Designs ATEM mini switcher Date Digitized2022

CollectionLast Best Constitution - Montana's 1972 Constitutional Convention & Constitution: a Video RetrospectiveRelated Exhibit1972 Montana Constitutional Convention

Last Best Constitution_17_First Lady of Lawyering_1.mp4

MONTANA HISTORY PORTAL

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Episode 17 - First Lady of Lawyering

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