Congratulations to our Bellow Scholars!

Congratulations to Professors Fatma Marouf & Mike Kagan and Elizabeth MacDowell & Criminal Justice Prof Emily Troshonsky for being named Bellow Scholars!  The Bellow is awarded to clinicians whose projects promise to improve justice for underserved communities.

Professor McAffee Publishes Op-Ed in Review-Journal

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Professor Tom McAffee recently published an Op-Ed in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

As background, on November 26, 2012, a federal district court ruled against a legal challenge brought on behalf of eight same-sex couples seeking the freedom to marry in Nevada. In the case, the plaintiffs argued that Nevada's current law, which excludes same-sex couples from marriage, while relegating them to the second-class status of domestic partnership, violates their right to equal treatment under the U.S. Constitution.

In a December 4, 2012, editorial, the Review-Journal defended the decision of Judge Robert Jones rejecting this challenge, adopting his assertion that the question "is not the wisdom of providing for or recognize same-sex marriage as a matter of policy." According to Professor McAffee in his December 16 editorial, the December 4 editorial "sets up a straw man argument that is easily rejected." Click here to read more of Professor McAffee's December 16 editorial.

Professor McAffee has published numerous articles in law journals including the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Columbia Law Review, Brigham Young University Law Review, and Temple Law Review and was awarded the Faculty Achievement Award for Scholarship in 1997. His book, Inherent Rights, the Written Constitution, and Popular Sovereignty: The Founders’ Understanding, was published in 2000. At Boyd, Professor McAffee teaches American Legal History, First Amendment Rights, and Constitutional Law.

Congratulations, Tom!

Professor Lipman Featured in ABA Taxation Section Member Newsletter

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Professor Francine Lipman has been featured on the front page in the 'Member Spotlight' column of the December 2012 issue of the ABA Taxation Section Member Newsletter.

Professor Lipman joined the faculty in July 2012, bringing an exceptional record as an accountant, a lawyer, a teacher, and a scholar. Professor Lipman is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a chair and editor for the Tax Section of the American Bar Association. She has written extensively on tax and accounting issues for legal journals, including the Wisconsin Law Review, Florida Tax Review, Virginia Tax Review, Nevada Law Journal, American University Law Review, Harvard Environmental Law Review, Harvard Latino Law Review, Harvard Journal on Legislation, The Tax Lawyer, The Practical Tax Lawyer, and Taxes and Tax Notes. Professor Lipman is a frequent speaker on tax subjects to law and business groups.

Congratulations, Francine!

Boyd to Host ACLU President Susan Herman

The Boyd School of Law is pleased to announce that it will host ACLU President Susan N. Herman for a talk entitled, "Myths and Missions: The ACLU's Agenda for the Obama Second Term and Beyond," on Friday, January 25, 2013, at 12:30 p.m.

In addition to her ACLU service, Herman also serves as the Centennial Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, where she teaches Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure, Law and Literature, and Terrorism and Civil Liberties. A highly regarded authority in constitutional and criminal procedure topics, Herman is a prolific author in these areas. Her extensive writings have been published in scholarly and other publications, ranging from law reviews and books to periodicals and on-line publications. Herman's most recent book, Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy (Oxford 2011) was awarded the 2012 Roy C. Palmer Civil Liberties Prize from the Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law. She is also author of The Right to a Speedy and Public Trial: A Reference Guide to the United States Constitution (Praeger Publishers 2006) and co-author of Terrorism, Government, and Law: National Authority and Local Autonomy in the War on Terror (Praeger Publishers 2008).

Boyd Representation at AALS Annual Meeting

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce significant representation at the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, January 4 through 8, 2013.

On Friday, January 4, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., Professor Sylvia Lazos will participate in panel 4096 ("Hot Topic Workshop on Democracy and the Public Trust: Equality, Integrity, and Suppression in the 2012 Election"). At the same time, Professor Ann McGinley will participate in panel 4140 ("Workers After the Ascendancy of Global Financial Capital"). Later that day, Professor McGinley will participate in a second panel ("The End of Men? A Socio-Economic Examination of Women’s Advances in Education, Employment and Family").

On Saturday, January 5, from 8:30 to 10:15 a.m., Professor Jeff Stempel will participate in panel 5200 ("American Exceptionalism, Health Reform and the Persistence of Employer-Based Benefits"). Later that day, between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m., DeShun Harris, Assistant Director of Boyd's Academic Success Program, will display her poster, "Unraveling Hidden Clues: How Using Cues Helps Student Learning." Between 1:30 and 3:15 p.m., Associate Dean Ngai Pindell will participate in panel 5390 ("Cities in Recession"). Finally, Professor Sylvia Lazos will participate in panel 5460 ("Beyond 'Diversity': Negotiating Racial and Gender Identities on the Path to Tenure").

On Sunday, January 6, from 2:00 to 3:45 p.m., Professor Linda Edwards will participate in panel 6370 ("The Past, Present, and Future of Appellate Briefs"). At the same time, UNLV Executive Vice President and Provost John Valey White and Professor Stacey Tovino will participate in panel 6420 ("Tort and Compensation Principles in Related Fields"). That evening, from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., Professor Ruben Garcia and Associate Dean Ngai Pindell will chair and host the Annual Dinner of the Society of American Law Teachers.

Congratulations, Boyd faculty members!

Legal Writing Prof Blog Named to 'ABA Journal Blawg 100 Hall of Fame'

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to highlight Professor Lori Johnson's continuing service as Contributing Editor of the Legal Writing Prof Blog, which was recently named to the 'ABA Journal Blawg 100 Hall of Fame,' a list of the top 100 law blogs.

According to the ABA Journal, "The law professors who edit this blog offer the latest news from academia, whether it's a study about word usage, a YouTube video about case citations or a professorial job opening. The blog is updated almost daily and pulls from contributors with universities and law schools around the country. It's an excellent aggregator of legal writing news."

Congratulations to Lori and the other editors of the Legal Writing Prof Blog!

Professor Pollman Receives AALS Section Award

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research (Section) named Professor Terry Pollman as one of two recipients of this year's Section Award.

Identified as an outstanding leader in her field who has made significant contributions in the areas of teaching, scholarship, and service, Professor Pollman received the award together with University of Hawaii Professor Jill Ramsfield. Professors Pollman and Ramsfield will be honored at the Section lunch on Saturday, January 5, 2013, at the AALS Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

Professor Pollman serves as Director of Boyd's nationally-ranked Lawyering Process Program. A founding faculty member, Professor Pollman teaches in the areas of Lawyering Process, Persuasion, Negotiation, and Leadership and Law. A past president of the Association of Legal Writing Directors (ALWD) and editor of several journals, Professor Pollman's scholarship focuses on legal writing, pedagogy and rhetoric.

Congratulations, Terry!

Dean Rapoport Submits Comment to ABA Task Force on the Future of Legal Education

The Boyd School of Law is proud to announce that Interim Dean and Professor Nancy Rapoport has submitted an article that serves as a comment to the American Bar Association Task Force on the Future of Legal Education.

Entitled, "Rethinking U.S. Legal Education: No More 'Same Old, Same Old,'" Dean Rapoport's article argues that law schools should take a good, hard look at creating deliberate building blocks of skill sets. The article is forthcoming in a symposium issue ("Are Law Schools Passing the Bar: Examining the Demands and Limitations of the Legal Education Market") of the Connecticut Law Review.

Congratulations, Nancy!

November Issue of Boyd Briefs Released

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce the release of Volume 1, Issue 4, of Boyd Briefs.

Issued on a monthly basis, Boyd Briefs provides information about the scholarly and other activities of Boyd faculty members during the previous month. Illustrative entries announce new faculty publications, the drafting of briefs and uniform legislation, submission to administrative agencies of comments on proposed regulations, Clinic victories, the organization and hosting of academic conferences, appointments and elections of Boyd faculty members to local, national, and international boards, offices, and societies, and other honors and awards.

The November 2012 issue of Boyd Briefs announces several new law review articles, panel presentations, and other faculty honors and awards. Congratulations, Boyd faculty members!

The Boyd Briefs archives may be accessed here.

Free Havana (Club) – and Santiago de Cuba, Too!

By Jeffrey W. Stempel and Ann C. McGinley

As readers of last week's New York Times (see Damien Cave, Easing in Cuba Renews Debate on U.S. Embargo, N.Y. Times, Nov. 20, 2012, at A1, col. 2) have been reminded, the United States government's embargo of Cuba, long subject to question, has increasingly become viewed as wasteful and foolish, a relic of the Cold War era – and probably an unwise overreaction to Castro even then.¹ But supporters of the embargo (described as a "blockade" by the Cubans themselves) remain sufficiently numerous and politically powerful that change seems unlikely, notwithstanding changes in the Cuban government’s attitude toward private enterprise and the looming exit of the Castro brothers from political leadership.²

Based on what we saw during a recent visit to Cuba with a group of American lawyers and law professors, the continuing U.S. support for the embargo is indeed unfortunate, unwise, and unnecessary. We are old enough to remember a time when a U.S. "hard line" toward Cuba may have made sense in light of the risks posed to the U.S. by an aggressive Soviet Union looking for satellite states during the Cold War. But the Soviet Union has been "dead" for more than 20 years and the time for either worrying about Soviet/Cuba military aggression or thinking that economic sanctions will bring a massive shift in Cuban government is long past.

We have no illusions regarding the Realpolitik of the Cuban Revolution or the occasional (perhaps even frequent) ruthlessness of the post-Revolution government. Too many alleged "counter-revolutionaries" died at the hands of firing squads to hold such illusions. But however blameworthy some of its methods may have been, the Revolution appears to remain strongly popular with the populace, even as that populace seeks greater economic prosperity, making now the ideal time for U.S. business to have greater access to Cuba (more on that in a minute). The Revolution appears to have delivered on its promises of providing universal education and health care to a country previously ignored and exploited by the elite. Although Cuba is poor, the vast majority of Cubans seems to see itself as better off than in the pre-Castro days when there was rampant corruption and wealth at the top of the socioeconomic scale but only a subsistence level existence for the bulk of the people.

Boyd Alum Publishes Article in ABI Journal

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Matthew L. Knepper, a May 2012 Boyd graduate, published an article in the December/January 2013 issue of the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal. The article is entitled, "Lipstick on a Pig: Disallowing Make-Whole Clauses on Unmatured Interest."

The ABI Journal is the flagship publication of the American Bankruptcy Institute. Established in 1982 and published ten times a year, the journal covers the entire range of insolvency issues, featuring timely articles written by some of the most knowledgeable professionals in the field.

Congratulations, Matthew!

Professor Kagan Featured on UNLV News Center

Professor Michael Kagan is featured on the UNLV News Center in an article titled "Out of the Lion's Den," focusing on how he explores the complicated issues behind the lives of refugees. The article is available here.

Professor Nathanson on KNPR's State of Nevada

Professor Rebecca Nathanson on Nov. 19 spoke on KNPR's State of Nevada about the Kids' Court School, which recently earned a Bright Idea Award from Harvard University. The podcast is available here.

Boyd Students Selected to Present at SAHMS Annual Meeting in Charleston, South Carolina

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that two students have been selected to make presentations at the Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Science (SAHMS) Fifteenth Annual Meeting in Charleston, South Carolina, on February 21 through 23, 2013. The annual SAHMS meeting brings together scholars across the United States with expertise in fields that touch on the history of medicine and science.

John Niman, a third-year law student at Boyd, will present his paper, "Prosthetic Technology: From the Peg Leg to Human Enhancement." In his talk, Niman will survey past, present, and future prosthetic technology. While technology has advanced significantly from the peg leg of pirate lore, Niman will argue that we are now on the cusp of truly advanced prosthetics that will offer functionality superior to biological limbs.

Bryn Esplin, a second-year law student at Boyd, will present her paper entitled, "The Mind is the Final Frontier: Re-conceptualizing Mental Illness Through Science Fiction, Legislation and the Future of Neuroscience." During her talk, Esplin will explore conceptions of psychiatry and mental illness in the literary genre of Science Fiction from past to present, both antiquated and emergent legislation regarding health care and parity, and the promise of reconciling the persistent stigma of Cartesian Dualism through breakthroughs in neuroscience and technology.

Niman and Esplin will be accompanied to Charleston by Professor Stacey Tovino, who is also presenting at the conference. Tovino will present her paper entitled, "An American History of Health Privacy and Health Information Confidentiality Laws: 1880 to Present." During her talk, Tovino will explore the history of federal and state health information confidentiality laws from 1880 to the present. Although few pre-1880 laws identified a right of privacy distinct from the rights associated with private property, dozens of federal and state laws began identifying clear rights of health privacy and health information confidentiality in the medical and scientific contexts.

Congratulations, John and Bryn!

Professor Marouf in Stanford Law Review Online

Professor Marouf has published a timely essay, The Hunt for Noncitizen Voters, in Stanford Law Review Online (here).

The Nevada Copyright Litigation Landscape (Part 2)

In an effort to map the copyright litigation landscape in Nevada an earlier post on this blog provided the statistics for copyright cases filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada in 2010, 2011, and 2012 (from January 1 to September 24, 2012). The two charts in the post show the landscape with and without the Righthaven cases - cases that were filed by a single plaintiff and that might be viewed as an anomaly in the copyright case filings for the District of Nevada.

The following two charts continue the mapping of the Nevada copyright litigation landscape by providing breakdowns for the data on copyright cases filed in the District, excluding Righthaven. The first chart shows the number of copyright cases by protected subject matter and covers calendar years 2010 and 2011 and the period between January 1 and September 19, 2012.

[Click on the chart to view a larger version.]

Among the cases are cases with ties to the local entertainment and casino industry; for example, the one case filed in 2012 that involves a dramatic work concerns the magic of Mr. Raymond Teller (of Penn & Teller; Teller v. Dogge, 2:12-cv-00591). However, cases do arise from outside the entertainment and casino industry; for example, the sculpture at issue in the two sculpture cases filed in 2010 and 2011 is the "High Scaler" sculpture - a memorial to some of the workers who built the Hoover Dam (Liguori et al v. Hansen et al., 2:10-cv-00384 and 2:11-cv-00492).

The following chart shows the statistics for copyright cases per law firm for law firms representing plaintiffs, and documents the variety of plaintiffs' attorneys filing copyright cases in the District. Most of the cases were filed by Lewis and Roca LLP (nine cases), Greenberg Traurig LLP (six cases), and Randazza Legal Group (five cases). The 24 cases filed by "other firms" are cases filed by firms that each filed only one copyright case in the District Court in the given period of time.

[The above charts were prepared based on data provided by Lex Machina, Inc.]

October Issue of Boyd Briefs Released

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce the release of Volume 1, Issue 3, of Boyd Briefs.

Issued on a monthly basis, Boyd Briefs provides information about the scholarly and other activities of Boyd faculty members during the previous month. Illustrative entries announce new faculty publications, the drafting of briefs and uniform legislation, submission to administrative agencies of comments on proposed regulations, Clinic victories, the organization and hosting of academic conferences, appointments and elections of Boyd faculty members to local, national, and international boards, offices, and societies, and other honors and awards.

The October 2012 issue of Boyd Briefs announces several new law review articles, panel presentations, and other faculty honors and awards. Congratulations, Boyd faculty members!

The Boyd Briefs archives may be accessed here.

Professor Trimble Guest Blogs about a Copyright Case to Be Heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on October 29, 2012

Professor Marketa Trimble's recent guest blog post at Eric Goldman's Technology & Marketing Law Blog concerns a copyright case that the U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled for oral arguments on October 29, 2012.

Professor Trimble explains that "although the focus of the controversy [in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons] has been on distinguishing between foreign-made and U.S.-made copies, the key policy question in the decision should rather be which principle of copyright exhaustion the United States should adopt for all copies: the principle of international exhaustion or the principle of national exhaustion. ... The question is, whether the Supreme Court could both 1) abandon the distinction between copies based on their place of manufacture, and 2) make a conscious policy choice between the principles of national and international exhaustion. It might seem that the constraints of the language of the Copyright Act would preclude an interpretation that would lead to taking the two steps simultaneously."

The post is available here.

Boyd Bar Pass Results for July 2012

Our overall pass rate, 76%, is the second highest July bar pass rate!  It exceeds the statewide overall pass rate of 69%.  We continue to exceed the statewide overall pass rates for both first timers and repeaters.

Overall Pass Rate:
The Nevada overall pass rate was 69% and includes both attorneys and students.  In comparison, in July 2011, the NV overall pass rate was 63%, while in February 2012, the Nevada overall pass rate was 63%.
The Boyd overall pass rate was 76% (94/124) and includes both first-timers and repeaters.  In comparison, in July 2011, Boyd's overall pass rate was 81% (87/108), while in February 2012, Boyd's overall pass rate was 67% (30/45).

First time Student Takers: 
The Nevada pass rate for first-time takers: 77%  In comparison, in July 2011, the Nevada pass rate for first-time student takers was 79%, while in February 2012 the Nevada pass rate for first-time student takers was 67%.
The Boyd pass rate for first-time takers was 79% (89/113).   In comparison, in July 2011, Boyd's pass rate for first-time takers was 87%, while in February 2012 Boyd's pass rate for first-time takers was 78%.

Repeat Takers: 
The Nevada pass rate for repeating student takers was 40%.  In comparison, in July 2011, the Nevada Pass rate for repeating student takers was 22% and in February 2012, the Nevada pass rate for repeating student takers was 34%.
The Boyd pass rate for repeating student takers was 45% (5/11).  In comparison, in July 2011, the Boyd pass rate for repeating student takers was 50% and in February 2012, Boyd's pass rate for repeating student takers was 50%.

Many thanks to Stacy Shiroma, Pramate Churchville, and DeShun Harris for helping me crunch these numbers.

Jennifer Carr, Director, Academic Success Program

Professor Lazos Publishes Latest Book Chapter in Presumed Incompetent

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Professor Sylvia Lazos published her latest book chapter, "Are Student Teaching Evaluations
Holding Back Women and Minorities: The Perils of Doing Gender and Race in the Classroom," in Presumed Incompetent: The Intersections of Race and Class for Women in Academia (Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs et al. eds., Utah State University Press).

Presumed Incompetent is a pathbreaking account of the intersecting roles of race, gender, and class in the working lives of women faculty of color. Through personal narratives and qualitative empirical studies, more than 40 authors expose the daunting challenges faced by academic women of color as they navigate the often hostile terrain of higher education, including hiring, promotion, tenure, and relations with students, colleagues, and administrators. The narratives are filled with wit, wisdom, and concrete recommendations, and provide a window into the struggles of professional women in a racially stratified but increasingly multicultural America.

At Boyd, Professor Lazos serves as the Justice Myron Leavitt Professor of Law. A constitutional law and critical race scholar, Professor Lazos has written exhaustively on how constitutional norms can accommodate a new American reality that is increasingly multicultural, multiracial, and multiethnic. These articles have appeared in respected journals such as the Indiana Law Journal, Maryland Law Review, Ohio State Law Journal, Oregon Law Review, and Tulane Law Review.

Professor McGinley Places Latest Law Review Article in the Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Professor Ann McGinley placed her latest law review article, "Beyond the Water Cooler: Speech and the Workplace in an Era of Social Media" (with Ryan P. McGinley-Stempel), in volume 60 of the Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal.

"Beyond the Water Cooler" analyzes the multitude of issues concerning employees' use of social media outside of work and the clash between employers' interests in maintaining effective management control and the employees' interests in free speech. The article makes recommendations about how to interpret the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to protect employee speech that furthers democracy in the workplace, and proposes a new federal statute that protects employee speech that goes beyond the concerted activity protected by the NLRA. "Beyond the Water Cooler" also considers the right of individuals to be protected from illegal harassment at work and the role that employers play in this protection. Finally, the article recognizes employers' interests in maintaining efficiency, good relations among workers and consumer respect for their products.

Professor McGinley currently serves as William S. Boyd Professor of Law at Boyd School of Law. Among dozens of other articles, book chapters, and forthcoming works, Professor McGinley is author of Masculinities and the Law: A Multidimensional Approach (with Frank Rudy Cooper), published by NYU Press in 2012, and Disability Law: Cases, Materials, Problems (with Laura Rothstein), the fifth edition of which was published by LexisNexis in 2010.

At Boyd, Professor McGinley teaches Torts, Employment Discrimination, Employment Law, and Disability Law, and publishes articles on gender, employment discrimination, and employment law.

Professor Blakesley Publishes Latest Article in the Criminal Law Bulletin

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Professor Chris Blakesley placed one of his new articles, "Law, Language, Crime, and Culture: The Value and Risks of Comparative Law," in volume 49 of the Criminal Law Bulletin (forthcoming 2013). The Criminal Law Bulletin is the number two ranked peer-reviewed journal in the area of comparative and international criminal law according to the Washington and Lee University School of Law Journal Rankings.

Professor Blakesley holds The Cobeaga Law Firm Professorship at Boyd School of Law. He received his J.D. from the University of Utah and his Master of Laws and his Doctorate (Doctor of the Science of Law) from Columbia University. He also received his M.A. in International Law & Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and his B.A. from the University of Utah.

Professor Blakesley has written many books, including Terrorism And Anti-terrorism: A Normative And Practical Assessment (2006); Global Issues In Criminal Law (co-authored, Thomson West, 2007); The International Legal System: Cases and Materials (co-authored, Foundation Press 5th Ed. 2001 and earlier editions); Terrorism, Drugs, International Law And The Protection Of Human Liberty (1992) (Part of the Innovations In International Law Series, Developed and Run by Richard Falk, Princeton University); Louisiana And Comparative Family Law (a treatise, 1997); and Contemporary Family Law (co-authored three volume treatise of family law throughout the United States, 1988). Professor Blakesley's work has been cited by state supreme courts, federal courts and many nationally and internationally renowned scholars.

At Boyd, Professor Blakesley teaches courses in International Law, Comparative Law, Comparative Criminal Law, International Criminal Law, International Humanitarian Law, International Human Rights Law, Family Law, and Terrorism.

Professors Gross and McClure Represent Boyd at WestPac Annual Meeting

The Boyd School of Law is proud to announce representation by Professor Jennifer Gross and Professor David McClure at the Western Pacific Chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries (WestPac) Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 18 through 20.

Professor Gross, who currently serves as Vice President and President-Elect of WestPac, as well as Chair of the Education Committee, arranged the program for the annual meeting. A founding member of the Law Library Faculty at Boyd, Professor Gross also serves as Reference and Collection Management Librarian at the Wiener-Rogers Law Library.

Professor McClure serves as Co-Editor of the WestPac newsletter (WestPac News) and as an ex-officio member of the WestPac Executive Board. Professor McClure joined Boyd's Law Library Faculty in 2009 and currently serves as Head of Research and Curriculum Services.

Professor Garcia to Be Featured in Friday Law Talk

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that it will host a Friday Law Talk on Friday, November 16, 2012, featuring Professor Ruben Garcia and his recently published book, Marginal Workers: How Legal Fault Lines Divide Workers and Leave them Without Protection.

In Marginal Workers, published by NYU Press in early 2012, Professor Garcia argues that the increase of private sector workplace protections over the last century has resulted in a paradox -- workers today are more vulnerable than they have been in decades. This is even more true of workers who are especially at risk in the workplace, such as undocumented workers, temporary workers, noncitizens, workers of color, and women. Worse still, the groups who fall into these cracks in the legal system often do not have the political power necessary to change the laws for better protection.

In his Friday Law Talk, Professor Garcia will describe his theory of Marginal Workers and explain why human rights dialogue might be able to change attitudes about worker protections and provide better protection for marginal workers, and all workers, in the process.

Professor Garcia will be joined in his talk by two leading advocates of workplace justice in the Las Vegas area: D. Taylor, Secretary-Treasurer of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, UNITE-HERE, AFL-CIO, and Africa Sanchez, Esq. Mr. Taylor will address the themes of the book in the context of his experience in the leadership of the largest private sector union in the hospitality industry for two decades. Ms. Sanchez, former general counsel of the Clark County Education Association, will apply some of the insights of the book to current controversies about the proper level of workplace protections for teachers and other government workers.

The Friday Law Talk, which will offer one continuing legal education (CLE) credit, will run from 4:00 to 5:15 p.m. on Friday, November 16, 2012, in Room 105 at Boyd School of Law. Registration and additional information is available here.

Now seeking nominations and applications for the position of Dean of Boyd Law.

See here for ad.  If you want to read about why the current interim dean is not (and won't be) a candidate for the position, see here.  We're looking forward to seeing lots of good candidates.

Professor Tovino Places New Articles in the Oregon Law Review and the Penn State Law Review

Professor Stacey Tovino has placed two new law review articles for publication. The first article, "Gone Too Far: Federal Regulation of Health Care Attorneys," will appear in volume 91 of the Oregon Law Review in spring 2013. The second article, "Conflicts of Interest in Health Care and Health Law," will appear in volume 117 of the Penn State Law Review also in spring 2013.

"Gone Too Far: Federal Regulation of Health Care Attorneys" examines the propriety of Congress's decision to extend the application of the HIPAA Privacy Rule to outside counsel who represent health industry clients. As background, outside health care counsel frequently obtain medical records, billing records, health insurance claims records, and other records containing individually identifiable health information in the course of representing health industry clients in medical malpractice, licensure, certification, accreditation, fraud and abuse, peer review, and other civil, criminal, and administrative health law matters. "Gone Too Far" is the first to argue that state rules of professional conduct, not federal health information confidentiality regulations, should govern outside health care counsel’s use and disclosure of confidential client information.

"Conflicts of Interest in Health Care and Health Law" compares and contrasts illustrative conflicts of interest that arise in the contexts of clinical medicine, human subjects research, and the practice of health law. After identifying strengths and weaknesses in state and federal provisions designed to manage such conflicts, the article proposes revisions to federal regulations governing human subjects research and State Rules of Professional Conduct.

Professor Main Places His Latest Article in the Cornell International Law Journal

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Professor Thom Main placed his latest law review article, "The Word Commons and Foreign Laws," in a forthcoming issue of the Cornell International Law Journal.

As background, dual trends are colliding in U.S. courts. The first trend is a tidal wave of cases requiring courts to engage the domestic laws of foreign legal systems; globalization is the principal driver of this escalation. The second trend is a profound and ever-increasing skepticism of our ability to understand foreign law; the literature of pluralism and postmodernism has illuminated the uniquely local, language-dependent, and culturally embedded nature of law. Courts cope with this dissonance by finding some way to avoid the application of foreign law. But these outcomes are problematic because parties are denied access to court or have their rights and responsibilities determined pursuant to the wrong law.

Professor Main's new article offers an exposition of lexical meaning to explain the source of these oppositional trends and to illuminate possible solutions. Legal words and ideas transcend geographic, social, and cultural boundaries. For this reason, the words of another legal system look familiar and, thus, appear knowable to an outsider. Yet autonomous national legal systems tend to tailor the meanings of these shared words for idiosyncratic purposes. Thus ironically — even paradoxically — the more commonly a word is used, the less predictable is its meaning. This differentiation of meanings makes actual knowledge of the foreign law difficult to achieve.

As a framework for examining this phenomenon, Professor Main's article demonstrates that the common meaning of a word is a limited resource. The common meaning of a word erodes when legal systems assign a new meaning to a shared word. Idiosyncratic meanings are useful and generative, but they also introduce an important negative externality because the common meaning of a word is essentially the starting point for measuring the meaning of that word in a foreign system. The more robust the common meaning, the lower the measurement costs. The prototypical solutions to common-pool problems — privatization and regulation — are infeasible here. And ubiquitous efforts to unify, approximate, or harmonize laws tend to exacerbate the problem rather than help solve it. According to Professor Main, "We could drop the pretense that we are able to understand foreign law and eliminate the demand for it. Or, if the doctrines are going to presume familiarity with foreign law, we must address the supply-side and ensure that courts are, in fact, better able to ascertain foreign law."

Professor Main, who joined the faculty in 2012 and serves as William S. Boyd Professor of Law, is a leading figure in the field of civil procedure. His books have been published by Aspen, West, and Oxford University Press. One of these books, Civil Procedure: Doctrine, Practice, and Context, is now in its fourth edition, and is one of the most popular casebooks in the field.

Professor Main’s scholarship has also been published in the Washington University Law Review, the University of Washington Law Review, the Notre Dame Law Review, and other respected journals. Most of his scholarship explores dynamics at the intersection of topics in procedure, globalization, and language.

Professor Berger Places Her Latest Article in Legal Communication & Rhetoric

Congratulations to Professor Linda Berger on the placement of her latest law review article, "A Revised View of the Judicial Hunch: Intuitive Decision Making and Judicial Problem Solving," in volume 10 of Legal Communication & Rhetoric: J. ALWD.

As background, cognitive psychology has given judicial intuition a bad reputation. Most recent studies conclude that judges allow their intuitions to mislead them when they make judgments about character, credibility, or the future. Judicial hunches are thought to rely on biases, flashes of insight to be blind to unconscious influences.

Applying a neglected branch of decision-making research, Professor Berger argues that judicial intuition has been misunderstood and its real value under-appreciated. Although intuition may lead our judgments astray, intuition is key to the very different process of problem solving: it unlocks doors and opens up pathways. In her article, Professor Berger reconciles claims from the heuristics and biases branch of cognitive psychology (intuition leads to mistakes and overconfidence) with findings from more naturalistic decision-making studies (intuition is the way that real-world experts identify options for testing).

According to Professor Berger, "When judges are solving problems - and they are doing so when they are finding, interpreting, applying, and making law - both the lawyers seeking to persuade them and the judges themselves should apply the lessons learned by psychologists who have studied expert decision making in the field. Like problem solving itself, persuasion is rooted in intuition: visual and verbal cues prompt decision makers to recognize parallel or alternative patterns and paths. Once begun, persuasion continues through visualization: information guides decision makers to imagine the outcome of fitting pieces into patterns and moving events along paths. Analogy, metaphor, and storytelling are the sources of power that generate both parts of this problem solving process: intuition and visualization."

Professor Berger joined the faculty in 2011, bringing expertise in Legal Writing, Law and Rhetoric, and First Amendment. Prior to joining UNLV, Professor Berger taught at Mercer University School of Law in Macon, GA; the University of San Diego; and Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego.

Professor Trimble Places Her Latest Article in the Emory International Law Review

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Professor Marketa Trimble placed her latest law review article ("GAT, Solvay, and the Centralization of Patent Litigation in Europe") in volume 26 of the Emory International Law Review. The article discusses the recent judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Solvay v. Honeywell and its potential impact on the possibility of concentrating the litigation of multiple countries’ patents in a single national court.

As background, concentrating patent litigation that involves parallel patents in a single national court would improve the enforcement of patent rights by lowering litigation costs and enhancing the consistency of judgments concerning patents covering the same invention in multiple countries. However, any concentration of patent litigation is difficult because of the rule mandating that only courts in the country where a patent was granted may adjudicate the validity of the patent. In the European Union, the 2006 judgment in GAT v. LuK appeared to solidify this notion by holding that the exclusive jurisdiction rule, now in Article 22.4 of the Brussels I Regulation, applies to any decision on patent validity. However, the recent decision in Solvay opens the interesting possibility that preliminary assessments of patent validity could be made even by courts outside the country of the patent grant. Professor Trimble's article thus discusses whether Solvay could be extended to cover the assessments of validity that German courts conduct in infringement proceedings. If Solvay were to apply to these assessments, German courts could become the natural centers of litigation of infringements of multiple countries’ patents in Europe.

The full text of Professor Trimble's article may be downloaded from SSRN.

Professor Trimble joined Boyd's full-time faculty in 2010, bringing expertise in Conflict of Laws, Patent Law, Cyberlaw, International Intellectual Property Law, Private International Law, Intellectual Property, Copyright Law, European Union Law, and Comparative Law. She is a graduate of Stanford Law School (J.S.D., 2010; J.S.M., 2006) and the Law School of Charles University in Prague (Ph.D., 2002; JUDr., 2001; and Mgr., 1997).

Uncensored Voices: Celebrating Literary Freedom

By Jeanne Price

On Saturday, October 6, the ACLU of Nevada, together with the Las Vegas Clark County Library District, UNLV’s Black Mountain Institute, Nevada Humanities, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and the American Institute for Graphic Arts, hosted "Uncensored Voices: Celebrating Literary Freedom." The event marked the celebration of Banned Books Week in Las Vegas and focused on censorship's past, present, and future. The event, held at the Clark County Library, opened with remarks by Jeanne Goodrich, Director of the Las Vegas Clark County Library District, and Dane Clausen, Executive Director of ACLU of Nevada.

Discussions were moderated by Steve Sebelius, political columnist at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Panelists included Tony Diaz, author and founder of the Librotraficante Movement, Professor Jeanne Price, Director of the Wiener-Rogers Law Library at the William S. Boyd School of Law, Dr. Auggie Romero, Director of Student Equity at the Tucson Unified School District, and Trevor Timm, an activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Much of the discussions centered on recent state and federal legislative initiatives focused on, in the case of state legislation, public school curriculum, and, at the federal level, national security and restrictions on access to information.

On Friday, the panelists spoke on KNPR’s State of Nevada about censorship issues in the news today.

The Banned Books program anticipates the opening of the Vegas Valley Book Festival on November 1, 2012.

Professor Berkheiser Named to List of Top Lawyers

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Professor Mary Berkheiser was named to Desert Companion's List of Top Lawyers in 2012. Named as a Top Appellate Practice Attorney, Professor Berkheiser was nominated by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell following a request for a list of local lawyers who had reached the highest levels of ethical standards and professional excellence.

Berkheiser serves as Professor of Law, Director of Clinical Programs, and Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic at Boyd School of Law. A founding faculty member, Professor Berkheiser's areas of expertise include clinical legal education and teaching, criminal procedure, juvenile law, criminal law, and appellate law.

Congratulations, Mary!

Professor Bartrum's Latest Essay Published in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law

Congratulations to Professor Ian Bartrum on the publication of his latest essay ("Originalist Ideology and the Rule of Law") in volume 15 of the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law.

Professor Bartrum's essay contends that "one of the basic tenets of the 'New Originalism' -- the so-called 'contribution thesis' -- compromises our underlying commitment to the rule of law. By locating some binding substantive content of constitutional language in a historical record beyond the text itself, originalism undermines the fundamental concepts of formal legality and public accessibility. With these issues in mind, th[is] essay concludes that originalism is not a philosophical account of how the Constitution has meaning in our legal system, but is instead a judicial ideology intended to promote the constitutional policy judgments of an earlier generation."

The full text of Professor Bartrum's essay may be downloaded from SSRN.

Professor Bartrum joined the faculty in 2011, bringing expertise in constitutional law, constitutional theory, constitutional history, and law and religion. He taught previously at Drake Law School, Vermont Law School, and at Yale Law School as the Irving Ribicoff Fellow.

Professor Price Places Her New Article in the Cleveland State Law Review

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Professor Jeanne Price placed her new law review article, "Wagging, Not Barking: Statutory Definitions," in volume 59 of the Cleveland State Law Review.

The article focuses on the role played by definitions in a reader’s understanding and application of a statute. Despite the frequency with which terms are defined in the United States Code (the Code includes more than 25,000 defined terms), statutory definitions remain relatively unexamined. Professor Price frames her analysis by distinguishing two functions served by legislation – statutes are both communication vehicles and instruments of governance. She suggests that a better understanding of the effect of definition on a reader’s interaction with a text, coupled with an appreciation of the different roles served by definition, will enable legislators to draft more useful definitions and enable interpreters to better apply those definitions

Professor Price, who also serves as Director of the Wiener-Rogers Law Library, joined the faculty in 2008. She teaches Research Methods and enjoys focusing on information sources and strategies in business and commercial contexts. As illustrated by her new law review article, Professor Price's research interests focus on law and language, law-related taxonomies, and cross-language information retrieval.

Before coming to UNLV, Professor Price served as Associate Director of the Tarlton Law Library and Lecturer at The University of Texas School of Law as well as Adjunct Professor at The University of Texas School of Information. A member of the Texas Bar, Professor Price practiced corporate and securities law in Houston and overseas for nearly ten years. Professor Price is a graduate of Yale University (B.A.), The University of Texas (J.D.), and the University of Maryland (M.L.S.).

UNLV Faculty Members to Participate in Health Care Reform Event

Together with the Nevada State Medical Association and the State Bar of Nevada, the Boyd School of Law will participate in the presentation of a "Health Care Reform: Next Steps for Nevada" continuing legal education (CLE) and continuing medical education (CME) event on November 16, 2012.

The program, which will offer 3.5 CLE and CME units, will feature presentations by Connie Akridge (Past President, State Bar of Nevada, and Partner, Holland and Hart), Chris Cochran (Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Health Care Administration and Policy, UNLV), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nevada Attorney General), Dr. Mitchell Forman (Dean, Touro University), Jon Hager (Executive Director, Silver State Health Insurance Exchange), Dr. Florence Jameson (President, Nevada State Medical Association), Scott Kipper (Nevada Insurance Commissioner), Kate Leone (Senior Health Counsel, Senator Harry Reid's Office), Larry Matheis (Executive Director, Nevada State Medical Association), Dr. Thomas Schwenk (Dean, University of Nevada School of Medicine), and Stacey Tovino (Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Research and Lincy Professor of Law, Boyd School of Law, UNLV).

"Health Care Reform: Next Steps for Nevada" will be held on November 16, 2012, between 1:00 and 5:30 p.m. at The Smith Center, 361 Symphony Park Avenue, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89106. A reception from 5:30 to 6:30 will follow. Registration information is available here.

Saltman Center Presents Film Screening of Streetball Hafla

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution will present a Peace in the Desert film screening and panel discussion of Streetball Hafla on October 23, 2012.

Streetball Hafla, which explores how basketball can foster harmonious relationships between Jews and Arabs in Israel, will be discussed by panelists Sasha Nizgoda, Gilad Berman, Mohammad Nasereddin, Ricky Sobers, Tom Jackovic, and Michael Saltman.

The film screening and panel discussion, which are free and open to the public, will be held on October 23, 2012, at 7:00 p.m. at the UNLV Student Union Theatre. No RSVP is required. A movie trailer for Streetball Hafla is available here. For more information, call (702) 895-2428 or visit the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution online here.

Boyd to Present 'Hot Topics' CLE

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that it will present a 'Hot Topics' continuing legal education (CLE) program on October 12, 2012.

The program, which is approved for 2 CLE credits and .5 ethics credit, will include presentations by Nancy Rapoport, Interim Dean and Gordon Silver Profesor of Law ("The Ten Commandments: Avoiding Judicial Wrath for Practitioners"), Ngai Pindell, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law ("The Power of Eminent Domain to Address the Local Mortgage Crisis"), and Stacey Tovino, Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Research and Lincy Professor of Law ("The HIPAA Privacy Rule and Business Associates: Review and Update").

The 'Hot Topics' CLE will be held on Friday, October 12, 2012, between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. at the Thomas & Mack Moot Court Facility at Boyd School of Law. Registration information is available here.

Boyd to Host 'Academe Meets Bar' Event

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that it will host a first-of-its-kind 'Academe Meets Bar: 2012 Books By Boyd Faculty Members with Relevance to the Practicing Bar' event on November 1, 2012.

The event, which will offer 1.0 hours of continuing legal education (CLE), will feature talks by four Boyd faculty members, including Professors Linda Edwards, Jeff Stempel, Jean Sternlight, and Marketa Trimble.

Linda Edwards, E.L. Cord Foundation Professor of Law, will discuss her recent book, Readings in Persuasion: Briefs That Changed the World. Jeff Stempel, Doris S. and Theodore B. Lee Professor of Law, will discuss his recent book, Fundamentals of Litigation Practice. Jean Sternlight, Director of the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution and Michael and Sonja Saltman Professor of Law, will discuss her recent book, Psychology for Lawyers: Understanding the Human Factors in Negotiation, Litigation, and Decision Making. Finally, Marketa Trimble, Associate Professor of Law, will discuss her recent book, Global Patents: Limits of Transnational Enforcement.

The event will take place on November 1, 2012, from 4:00 to 5:20 p.m. in the Thomas & Mack Moot Court Facility. The event is free and open to the public.

Las Vegas City Life Interviews Professor Griffin

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Las Vegas City Life published a lengthy interview with Professor Leslie Griffin yesterday.

Entitled, "A Local Law School Prof Is at the Forefront of the Debate over Contraception Insurance and Religion," the interview begins with Professor Griffin's decision to write a letter that was signed by 170 law professors across the country and entered into the Congressional Record on August 1, 2012, at pages E1370 and E1371. In the letter, which defends free contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Professor Griffin contends that ACA protects women's rights and does not infringe on religious freedom:

"The way I think of religious freedom is to say we have the free exercise clause, and although there are few cases that say the government has to keep complete hands off religious organizations, the dominant theme has been that religions need to follow the law, like everybody else. Otherwise every citizen would be a law unto himself. If the drastic end of my religion said 'sacrifice human beings,' that shouldn’t entitle me to do it. And so if you move down from the very extreme to 'well, if my religion says I can harm people, or if my religion says I can treat my employees any way I want,' we shouldn’t assume the Constitution protects that kind of freedom. What the Constitution protects is laws that aren’t based on religion and that let us all live together."

Professor Griffin concludes her interview by stating, "One of the reasons we have the establishment clause is to keep churches from having too much power in our government. The First Amendment is supposed to protect individuals. The individuals here are women of different faiths, or no faith, and of different conscience. They should be the ones who get to make decisions about their reproductive freedom, not their employers."

Professor Griffin currently serves as William S. Boyd Professor of Law. She is author of Law and Religion: Cases and Materials, editor of Law and Religion: Cases in Context, and author of numerous articles and book chapters about law, religion, politics and ethics. Her most recent law review article, "The Sins of Hosanna-Tabor," forthcoming in the Indiana Law Journal, addresses the Supreme Court’s recent First Amendment decision. Professor Griffin is a graduate of Yale University (M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D., Religious Studies) and Stanford Law School.

September 2012 Issue of Boyd Briefs Released

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce the release of Volume 1, Issue 2, of Boyd Briefs.

Issued on a monthly basis, Boyd Briefs provides information about the scholarly and other activities of Boyd faculty members during the previous month. Illustrative entries announce new faculty publications, the drafting of briefs and uniform legislation, submission to administrative agencies of comments on proposed regulations, Clinic victories, the organization and hosting of academic conferences, appointments and elections of Boyd faculty members to local, national, and international boards, offices, and societies, and other honors and awards.

The September 2012 issue of Boyd Briefs announces several new book contracts and law review placements, the hosting of several conferences and festivals, and many other faculty honors and awards. Congratulations, Boyd faculty members!

The Boyd Briefs archives may be accessed here.

Boyd alumnus publishes article about corporate governance.

We're proud to announce that Elias George, an associate who's newly arrived at Gordon Silver, has published Using Game Theory and Contractarianism to Reform Corporate Governance: Why Shareholders Should Seek Disincentive Schemes in Executive Compensation Plans in 42 Golden Gate L. Rev. (2012).  Congratulations, Elias!

Dean Rapoport Places Latest Article in Gonzaga Law Review

The Boyd School of Law is pleased to announce that Interim Dean and Professor Nancy Rapoport placed her latest article, "Managing U.S. News & World Report - The Enron Way," in volume 48, issue 2, of the Gonzaga Law Review (forthcoming 2013).

Congratulations, Nancy!

The Nevada Copyright Litigation Landscape without Righthaven

The copyright litigation scene in Nevada recently garnered attention – in fact, world-wide notoriety – in expert intellectual property circles with a series of cases filed by the copyright holding company Righthaven LLC, which was pursuing infringement claims concerning copyrights to articles in the local daily newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal. A few legacies remain after Righthaven; one is the debate about the legitimacy of aggressive copyright enforcement by copyright holding companies instead of the original copyright holders, and another is the lesson that a transfer of a right to enforce copyright is not enough, by itself, to secure standing to sue for copyright infringement.

Another legacy of Righthaven is evident in the distorted statistics of copyright litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada in 2010 and 2011. As Chart 1 below shows, the numbers of copyright cases filed in the court between 2000 and 2009 ranged between 18 and 46 cases, while in 2010 the number of copyright cases rose to an unprecedented 215 cases.

The change in the statistics caused by Righthaven is clear. Chart 2 compares the statistics for all copyright cases filed in the court with the statistics for copyright cases excluding Righthaven. The red columns are the copyright case numbers without Righthaven cases, and they document the fact that, following the surge of cases that coincided with the economic boom in Las Vegas that ended in 2007, case numbers, ex-Righthaven, returned to pre-2004 levels.

Righthaven also filed suits outside of Nevada; it sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado (57 cases in 2011) and in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina (one case in 2010). In Colorado Righthaven cases doubled the number of copyright cases filed in that district in 2011 as compared to 2008 and 2009 and quadrupled the number of cases as compared to 2010. However, in Colorado, in contrast with Nevada where there was a return to the status quo ante after Righthaven, Colorado continues with its expansion of activity in the copyright area as Malibu Media, LLC, has filed 44 suits in the district court in a period of less than nine months in 2012, from January 1 to September 24.

[The above charts were prepared based on data provided by Lex Machina, Inc.]

[Updated on November 2, 2012.]

Boyd to Host 'Academe Meets Bar' Event

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that it will host a first-of-its-kind 'Academe Meets Bar: 2012 Books By Boyd Faculty Members with Relevance to the Practicing Bar' event on November 1, 2012.

The event, which will offer 1.0 hours of continuing legal education (CLE), will feature talks by four Boyd faculty members, including Professor Linda Edwards, Professor Jeff Stempel, Professor Jean Sternlight, and Professor Marketa Trimble.

Professor Linda Edwards will discuss her recent book, Readings in Persuasion: Briefs That Changed the World. Professor Jeff Stempel will discuss his Fundamentals of Litigation Practice. Professor Jean Sternlight will discuss her recent book, Psychology for Lawyers: Understanding the Human Factors in Negotiation, Litigation, and Decision Making. Professor Marketa Trimble will discuss her recent book, Global Patents: Limits of Transnational Enforcement.

The event will take place on November 1, 2012, from 4:00 to 5:20 p.m. in the Thomas & Mack Moot Court Facility. The event is free and open to the public.

Boyd to Host Hastings Dean Frank Wu

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that its Faculty Enrichment Committee will host University of California Hastings Chancellor and Dean Frank H. Wu for a talk on Thursday, October 4, 2012.

Chancellor and Dean Wu's research and writing emphasizes issues of diversity and civic engagement. His works include Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White, which was immediately reprinted in its hardcover edition, and Race, Rights and Reparation: Law and the Japanese American Internment, which he co-authored under a grant from the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund. He has written on a professional basis for magazines and newspapers, including The Washington Post, National Law Journal, and Chronicle of Higher Education.

The first Asian American to serve as Dean at UC Hastings, Chancellor and Dean Wu previously taught for a decade at Howard University. He also has taught at the law schools of George Washington University, University of Maryland, Columbia University, University of Michigan, Peking University, as well as in the undergraduate programs of Johns Hopkins University and Deep Springs College. He served as Dean of Wayne State University Law School in his hometown of Detroit.

Chancellor and Dean Wu's talk on October 4 will address his latest book project as well as the state of legal education today.

Professor Edwards's Readings in Persuasion Published

The Boyd School of Law congratulates Professor Linda Edwards on the publication of her latest book, Readings in Persuasion: Briefs That Changed the World.

Readings in Persuasion: Briefs That Changed the World combines a nuanced treatment of legal writing topics -- such as rhetoric, voice, emotion, metaphor, and narrative -- with winning arguments from famous cases. Introductions and photographs reveal the compelling story behind each historical decision. Every chapter stands on its own, giving unlimited flexibility to teaching. Briefs and case decisions are available in their entirety on the book's own companion website.

Professor Edwards, who serves as the E.L. Cord Foundation Professor of Law, is a national leader in the field of legal writing, having been awarded the 2009 Thomas Blackwell Award for her lifetime achievements in and contributions to the field. She has published a number of articles and books in the areas of legal writing and property, and has served in a variety of capacities at the ABA and the American Association of Law Schools. Professor Edwards is a frequent speaker at national conferences and serves as a faculty member for the Persuasion Institute's Advanced Training Program in Narrative Construction, sponsored by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

Public Interest Law Film Festival Begins Tomorrow

By Jeanne Price

The Boyd School of Law’s second annual Public Interest Law Film Festival begins tomorrow, September 13. This year’s festival features three films that highlight the role of lawyers who are committed to public service. Each of the three films examines the legitimacy of the justice system and the penalties it imposes through a different lens – the criminal justice system in Crime After Crime, policies on immigration in AbUSed: The Postville Raid, and tort reform in Hot Coffee.

The festival begins Thursday evening with a showing of Crime After Crime (winner of the Freedom of Expression Award from the National Board of Review and the Grand Prize at the San Antonio Film Festival). Filmmaker Yoav Potash will lead a discussion of the film following its showing.

Friday morning events include a discussion of the use of media in litigation, led by Boyd Professor Elizabeth MacDowell, and a showing of Hot Coffee, followed by a question and answer session facilitated by Boyd Professor Elaine Shoben. At lunch, a group of distinguished academics, legislators, and community activists convene to discuss the collateral consequences of criminal convictions.

On Friday afternoon Professor and Boyd alumna Angela Morrison leads a discussion following the showing of AbUSed: The Postville Raid.

The festival ends with a keynote speech by Justice Michael L. Douglas of the Nevada Supreme Court. Following Justice Douglas’ remarks, the Law School will host a reception in the Wiener-Rogers Law Library. All of the films celebrated in this year’s festival are part of the Law Library’s documentary film holdings, a collection of more than 2000 films that are used by faculty and students in teaching and scholarly activities.

The Law School is very grateful to the Festival's sponsors.