Boyd Alumna Heather Procter '03 Featured on UNLV News Center

Boyd alumna Heather Procter '03 was featured on the UNLV News Center on Oct. 30 for being an honoree at the 2013 Alumni Association Homecoming Awards celebration.

Each year, during UNLV's homecoming week, the Alumni Association honors alumni, faculty, students, and community leaders who represent the ideals of higher learning and demonstrate exceptional achievements and leadership at UNLV and in the community. 

This year's Boyd School of Law honoree is Procter.

Her feature reads, Procter "is a senior deputy attorney general in the appellate division of the Nevada Attorney General’s Office, where she has worked for more than nine years. She has prosecuted state criminal actions, defended the State against state and federal habeas corpus petitions, and litigated inmate civil rights cases. She has argued more than a dozen cases before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States District Court, District of Nevada."

Professor Leslie Griffin Writes Article for Religion & Politics

Dr. Leslie C. Griffin is William S. Boyd Professor of Law at UNLV.

On Oct. 30, her article, The Supreme Court's 2013 Term: Missing Justice O'Connor, was published by Religion & Politics, an online news journal.

"In this term's cases, federal courts have applied O'Connor's precedents in their decisions. If the justices follow O'Connor's reasoning, those courts' decisions will be affirmed. If the justices repudiate O'Connor's legacy, the nation can expect more government-sponsored religion and less abortion or contraception. Either way, the current Supreme Court term has the potential to shift precedents and shape jurisprudence on liberty and equality for decades to come," she wrote in the piece. 

Professor Griffin, who teaches constitutional law, is known for her interdisciplinary work in law and religion.

Boyd Students Receive Scholarships through the Las Vegas Chapter of the National Bar Association

From left: National Bar Association Vice President Benjamin Crump,
Boyd School of Law Dean Daniel Hamilton, Izaac Rowe, Jessica
Gandy, Brittnie Watkins, Scott Morris, Jonathan Lee, LVNBA
President Doreen Spears Hartwell, and UNLV Provost John Valery
White

The Las Vegas Chapter of the National Bar Association (LVNBA) awarded scholarships to five William S. Boyd School of Law students at its 24th Annual Scholarship Gala on Oct. 12.

The student honorees were Jessica Gandy ’16, Jonathan Lee ’14, Scott Morris ’15, Izaac Rowe ’15, and Brittnie Watkins ’14. LVNBA member Judge Karen Bennett-Haron presented the scholarships at the event, which was held at the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas.

Since the first Annual Scholarship Gala in 1987, the LVBNA has awarded tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships to local law students. To meet the LVNBA’s scholarship criteria, students were required to describe how they demonstrate commitment and interest in pro bono, public interest or public service legal work, and the ways in which they plan to serve the needs of minority communities in Clark County.

Also at the event, Nevada Supreme Court Justice Michael L. Douglas swore in the 2013-2015 LVNBA executive board members. Rachel Anderson, Professor of Law at Boyd, was sworn in as president of the LVNBA. Boyd alumna Kelley Jones ’08 was sworn in as treasurer of the organization.

Boyd School of Law Graduates Post Strong Results on Nevada Bar Exam

Eighty percent of Boyd School of Law graduates who took the Nevada Bar Exam for the first time in July passed the test. Statewide, seventy-six percent of people who took the exam for the first time passed.

“This kind of success is testimony to our students, faculty, and our excellent Academic Success Program,” said Daniel Hamilton, Dean of the Boyd School of Law. “Our rigorous curriculum prepares students for diverse challenges in practice – and for success on the bar.”

Boyd School of Law’s Academic Success Program is credited with helping students and alumni prepare for the bar exam through workshops, mock exams, and individual counseling sessions.

“Nevada’s bar exam is widely regarded as one of the most difficult state bar exams, making these results all the more meaningful,” said Jennifer Carr, director of the Academic Success Program. “Boyd’s Academic Success Program is designed to equip students with the information and skills they’ll need to pass the bar exam. We offer a level of individualized attention commercial bar preparation programs don’t provide.”

The Nevada Board of Bar Examiners released the results Oct. 22.

Among the results:

• 80 percent of UNLV law school graduates who took the exam for the first time passed the exam – 4 percent higher than Nevada’s pass rate for first-time test takers.
• 77 out of 96 Boyd graduates who took the test for the first time passed. Statewide, 205 out of 268 people who took the exam for the first time passed. 
• 74 percent of all Boyd test takers passed the exam. The pass rate is 8 percent higher than the state’s overall pass rate for all test takers.   

The Nevada bar is a three-day exam consisting of several Nevada essay questions, one or more Performance Test (MPT) problems, and a Multistate Bar Examination (MBE). The successful applicant must achieve a total scaled score of 75 on the exam as a whole, as well as passing at least three essays with a scaled score of 75.

The William S. Boyd School of Law has more than 450 students and offers three juris doctor degree programs: a full-time day program, a part-time day program, and a part-time evening program, and three dual degree programs: a J.D./MBA, a J.D./M.S.W. and a J.D./Ph.D. It is fully accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the American Association of Law Schools, accomplishments it achieved in record time.

Oct. 24 Boyd Briefs Now Available

The Oct. 24 edition of Boyd Briefs is now available.

This week's edition features Professor Francine Lipman, student Mackenzie Hanks, and alumnus Jeremy Aguero '04.

After working for seven years as a tax lawyer, Professor Lipman now teaches tax law at UNLV's Boyd School of Law. Her current research agenda focuses on a topic she calls access to tax justice.

Hanks is a trained geotechnical engineer who is currently seeking a J.D. degree to pursue a career in intellectual property law. Her unique career goals include securing patent laws in order to protect the designs of her fellow geotechnical engineers.

Aguero currently works as a principal analyst with Applied Analysis, a leading economic, fiscal and policy research firm based in Las Vegas. After working with the late Dr. Shannon Bybee during his undergraduate studies, Aguero graduated from the Boyd School of Law in 2003.

To subscribe to Boyd Briefs, visit law.unlv.edu/BoydBriefs.

Boyd Students Sweep Shannon Bybee Scholarship Award Competition

From left: Boyd students Evan Simonsen, Justin Allsop, Miriam
Meyer-Thompson, and Adjunct Professor Bob Faiss

William S. Boyd School of Law third-year students Miriam Meyer-Thompson, Evan Simonsen, and Justin Allsop recently received first, second and honorable mention prizes, respectively, through the International Association of Gaming Advisors’ (IAGA) Shannon Bybee Scholarship Award program. It was the first time a school swept the annual competition.

The three recipients were recognized at the Global Gaming Expo during a special reception held in honor of Lionel Sawyer & Collins’ Bob Faiss (also an adjunct professor at Boyd) and his contributions to gaming law.

In addition to receiving scholarship prizes, the students’ winning papers will be published by IAGA. Simonsen’s work will also be featured as a student note in the Boyd School of Law’s Gaming Law Journal this spring.

This was not the first time Boyd students received the Shannon Bybee Scholarship Award. Jaime E. Serrano, Jr. '12 won honorable mention in 2012 for his paper Creating the Law. Rick Benito ‘12 and Michael Lafia ‘12 received honorable mentions in 2011 for their papers on Nevada gaming law. John Piro ‘10 won the scholarship in 2009 for his paper Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas: The Nevada Gaming Regulatory Response to Sovereign Wealth Fund Investment. Charles C. Rainey ‘07 received the award in 2007 for his paper on gaming law education.

The scholarship’s committee members evaluate papers based on the following criteria: quality of presentation and footnoting, depth of research, novelty or importance of subject matter, value to gaming law practitioners or gaming control officials, and value to the study of gaming law.

The Shannon Bybee Scholarship Award was created by IAGA in honor of Bybee’s lasting influence in gaming law. During his career, Bybee helped found the IAGA and worked as a gaming attorney, state gaming regulator, and gaming industry executive. He is considered a pioneer in gaming law and casino operations education.

Boyd Alumni and Students Assist with, Featured in September Issue of Nevada Lawyer Magazine

Several William S. Boyd School of Law alumni and students assisted in creating the September issue of Nevada Lawyer, the State Bar of Nevada’s monthly publication.

The September issue was a special edition, focused on Hispanic Heritage Month.

Siria Gutiérrez ‘10 and Leslie Nino ’09 helped write “Nevada’s Hispanic Leaders,” an article about Hispanic leaders in Nevada’s legal community.

Marla Renteria ‘11 wrote “Young Lawyers - The Importance of Diversity: Embracing the Momentum for Change,” a column calling young lawyers to help underrepresented community members achieve success in their careers.

Students Melissa Corral and Oscar Peralta co-wrote “La Voz – The Latino Law Student Association: Preparing Tomorrow’s Leaders.” Their article was about Huellas, a four-tier mentorship program launched by Boyd’s La Voz in 2008 that matches a Las Vegas attorney, a Boyd student, a UNLV or CSN undergraduate student, and a Las Vegas high school student to share guidance and support.

The executive board of La Voz – Jennifer Mehner, Jose Martin, Maria Luisa Parra, Oscar Peralta, and Jessica Guerra – translated most of the magazine articles for a special Spanish edition of the September issue.

Several Boyd alumni were featured in the magazine, too. Jose Valenzuela III ‘11, Mariteresa Rivera-Rogers ‘03, Siria Gutiérrez ‘10, and Lucy Flores ‘10 were highlighted in “Legacy in the Making: The Las Vegas Latino Bar Association.” The article talks about the LBA and the role it serves as a valuable resource for the Hispanic community.

Flores was also featured in “Pro Bono Spotlight,” a regular piece on local attorneys who give back to the community.

Oct. 17 Boyd Briefs Now Available

The Oct. 17 edition of Boyd Briefs is now available.

This week's issue features Associate Professor of Law Fatma Marouf; student Dawn Hathaway Thoman; and alumni Tera Hodge '09, Jennifer Carr '06 and Angela Morrison '05.

Professor Marouf co-directs the Immigration Clinic, and will return to India to lead the winter session program where she will assist Boyd students in designing their own experiential research projects.

After Hathaway Thoman donated her time and talent to a variety of community organizations, she joined the Boyd School of Law. Since, she was awarded the Outstanding Student of the Year award for her work with the Kids' Court School.

After attending the Boyd School of Law, Hodge, Carr and Morrison returned to serve the law school community. Hodge is the Judicial Clerkship & Public Interest Coordinator. In this position she provides guidance to students seeking judicial clerkships and advises the recipients of the Public Interest Fellowships. Carr now directs the Academic Success Program, helping first-year students acclimate to law school and preparing graduates for the bar exam.  She has also taught legal analysis, remedies and criminal law. Morrison currently teaches employment discrimination, immigration law, and in the Immigration Clinic at Boyd.

Boyd Professors and Alumni Named to Top Lawyers List

Several William S. Boyd School of Law professors and alumni were recently named top lawyers in southern Nevada.

Editors of the October issue of Desert Companion magazine worked with Martindale-Hubbell, the authoritative resource for information on the worldwide legal profession, to compile a list of southern Nevada’s top lawyers. The list of 700 leading local lawyers in their areas of expertise was generated based on peer review ratings.

Among those recognized were Professor Mary Berkheiser as well as several alumni and adjunct professors.

Professor Berkheiser was featured in the Appellate Practice area of expertise. After earning her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Arizona in 1984, Professor Berkheiser spent eight years working as an attorney in Phoenix, Arizona practicing in the areas of employment law, appellate litigation, and professional liability defence. Throughout her career, she has prosecuted and defended appeals in the Arizona Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Arizona Court of Appeals. She additionally taught in the areas of employment, housing and consumer law at Arizona State University College of Law from 1995 to 1998.

Desert Companion’s top lawyer list also identified a number of Boyd alumni and adjunct professors, including the following:

Alumni
Shemilly A. Briscoe ‘06
Laura Ellen Browning ‘02
Adam K. Bult ‘04
Sean K. Claggett ‘03
John Craig Courtney ‘08
Brian R. Dziminski ‘03
Sally L. Galati ‘05
Timothy J. Geswein ‘06
Dennis C. Gutwald ‘03
Brian R. Hardy ‘06
Marjorie Hauf ‘02
Michael B. Lee ‘06
Terry A. Moore ‘01
Christian M. Orme ‘06
Cal J. Potter ‘12
Rosa Solis-Rainey ‘01
Richard Rawson ‘04
Gregory Eli Smith ‘02
William H. Stoddard ‘02
William T. Sykes ‘05
Ryan J. Works ‘04

Adjunct Professors
Robert D. Faiss
Frances Alice Forsman
Gregory R. Gemignani
Dominic Gentile
Dean J. Gould
Stanley Hunterton
Douglas McLellan Edwards
Thomas F. Pitaro

Now Available: Thomas & Mack Legal Clinic Update

On Oct. 11, the William S. Boyd School of Law released its Fall 2013 Thomas & Mack Legal Clinic Update.

The e-newsletter included updates on: the accomplishments of faculty and students working under the Immigration, Appellate, Juvenile Justice, and Family Justice clinics; the Kids' Court School; and new hires Eric Franklin and Lydia Nussbaum.

The Thomas & Mack Legal Clinic provides students the opportunity to represent clients under close faculty supervision. Students are expected to take the lead in all aspects of client representation, including primary responsibility for developing and maintaining the attorney-client relationship; formulating case strategy; and conducting fact investigation, legal research, and trial work.

Boyd alumna Kendelee Works '05 Writes Article for October Nevada Lawyer

Kendelee Works is a graduate of the Boyd School of Law Class of 2005.

For the October Nevada Lawyer Magazine, the State Bar of Nevada's monthly publication, she wrote an article titled Young Lawyers: It's Not Too Late to Get Involved in the YLS.

In the article, she encourages readers to get involved in the Young Lawyers Section and lists upcoming events.

"In addition to fostering opportunities for professional development among our members, the YLS is dedicated to promoting law-related education throughout our state," she wrote in the article.

Kendelee is an Associate at Eglet Wall Christiansen, where she litigates catastrophic injury cases arising from product defect or negligence. 

Professor Lori Johnson Writes Article for October Nevada Lawyer

Lori Johnson is Lawyering Process Professor for the Boyd School of Law.

In the October Nevada Lawyer Magazine, the State Bar of Nevada's monthly publication, she wrote an article titled Effective Contract Drafting: Identifying the Building Blocks of Contracts.

"Many lawyers, particularly those who do not practice transactional law on a daily basis, become anxious when a client approaches them with a request to draft a contract. The skills required to mold a client's handshake deal into a well-drafted, enforceable contract are often overlooked in legal education. The oversight can leave practitioners feeling out of their elements. However, by using a few basic building blocks and appropriate drafting techniques, any lawyer can successfully draft a basic contract," she wrote in the article.

Prior to joining the faculty at the Boyd School of Law, Professor Johnson practiced at the Las Vegas office of Snell & Wilmer L.L.P., and the Chicago office of Winston & Strawn, LLP, specializing in the areas of real estate, commercial finance, and financial litigation.

Dean Dan Hamilton Writes Column for October Nevada Lawyer

Dan Hamilton is the Dean and Richard J. Morgan Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

For the October 2013 issue of Nevada Lawyer, the State Bar of Nevada magazine, Dean Hamilton wrote the Dean's Column. Titled Lawyering Process at the Boyd School of Law, the column talks about how important it is in the legal field for students to be strong writers when they graduate from law school.

"Practicing lawyers tell me again and again that the most important skill a new lawyer needs is the ability to write well. Of course, I agree. No matter how much we emphasize 'thinking like a lawyer,' or how much we focus on helping our students refine their analytical abilities, it all comes to naught if they cannot effectively communicate their ideas in writing," Dean Hamilton wrote in the column.

Under the Lawyering Process Program at Boyd, students are required to complete nine graded credits of legal analysis, research, writing and skills training. Boyd's legal writing program tied for third in the U.S. News & World Report 2014 edition of the best graduate schools and specialty programs in the nation, released earlier this year.

Boyd School of Law Profiled in The Princeton Review's The Best 169 Law Schools: 2014 Edition

The William S. Boyd School of Law is profiled in The Princeton Review's The Best 169 Law Schools: 2014 Edition. The book was published on Oct. 8.

The book was put together by analyzing data from surveys of 18,500 students at what Princeton Review administrators consider the best ABA-accredited law programs in the country. The 80-question survey asked students to rate their schools on several topics and report on their experiences at them.

The Princeton Review does not rank the schools hierarchically. 

"Each school in our books offer outstanding academics: no single law school is 'best' overall," said Robert Franek, SVP/Publisher for The Princeton Review. "We publish rankings in several categories and detailed profiles of the schools to give applicants the broader information they need to determine which school will be best for them." 

Law Firm Job Survival Manual is out.

Professor Nancy Rapoport and her husband, Jeff Van Niel, have published the Law Firm Job Survival Manual (it's the second in the series--their first in the series is the Law School Survival Manual). 

Boyd School of Law Hosts Eighth Annual Colloquium on Current Scholarship in Labor and Employment Law

The Boyd School of Law hosted the Eighth Annual Colloquium on Current Scholarship in Labor and Employment Law on Sept. 27 and 28. The Colloquium is a group of scholars from around the country and beyond who gather each September to discuss works, progress and ideas in the field.  

The Colloquium this year had more than 60 presenters and nearly 100 attendees, making it the largest to date. Fifteen concurrent panels and two plenary panels comprised the program, in addition to a special presentation of the Paul Steven Miller Memorial Award to Professor Marley Weiss of the University of Maryland for her teaching, scholarship and service to the workplace law community.

The highlight of the event for many attendees was the dinner program at Culinary Workers Union Hall Local 226, where guests heard about the unique labor history of Nevada from Professor Michael Green of the College of Southern Nevada and the history of the Culinary Union from Secretary Treasurer Geoconda Arguello-Kline and members of the Union. The Culinary Training Academy, a unique labor-management cooperative partnership, provided excellent food and service. The panel was moderated by Boyd Professor Ruben Garcia. 

The Plenary luncheon panel on Friday, Sept. 27, moderated by Wiliam S. Boyd Professor Ann McGinley, featured Professors Vicki Schultz from Yale Law School and Tanya Hernandez from Fordham Law School, both recognized experts in the field, to discuss the pending 50th Anniversary of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting race, color, sex, national origin and religious discrimination in the workplace. The Nevada Law Journal will publish a special symposium on Title VII’s anniversary next year. 

Ten Boyd students also worked at the conference as Fellows, providing needed support and learning from the many seasoned academics and practitioners who presented papers. Boyd has been a center for labor and employment law research and teaching since its founding 15 years ago, and hosting the Colloquium further exemplifies the important role Boyd plays in the dialogue on workplace issues in Nevada, nationally and globally as well. 

Boyd Alumnus Miles Dickson Featured in Vegas Magazine

Boyd alumnus Miles Dickson '11 is featured in the October issue of Vegas magazine.

The profile, Miles Dickson's New Leadership Adventure, shares with readers his decision to not pursue a law career, but instead work for Moonridge Group, an organization that assists people, corporations and nonprofits in developing and executing their charitable investments. Since leaving Moonridge Group after two years, Miles now does consulting focused on social policy and programs.

"In Southern Nevada, there is a huge opportunity to increase the resources available to create social progress," he said in the article. "We don't have a few things we need to do; we have a dozen. The biggest challenge for us is determining what has to come first." 

In Southern Nevada,” he says, “there is a huge opportunity to increase the resources available to create social progress.” But while the opportunities may be here, “Las Vegas is a difficult place to accelerate forward when most of the young people, especially the intelligent, ambitious ones, decide to leave.”
Read more at http://vegasmagazine.com/personalities/articles/miles-dickson-new-leadership-adventure#3GaHDRPGgOD0rxO4.99

In Southern Nevada,” he says, “there is a huge opportunity to increase the resources available to create social progress.” But while the opportunities may be here, “Las Vegas is a difficult place to accelerate forward when most of the young people, especially the intelligent, ambitious ones, decide to leave.”
Read more at http://vegasmagazine.com/personalities/articles/miles-dickson-new-leadership-adventure#3GaHDRPGgOD0rxO4.

In Southern Nevada,” he says, “there is a huge opportunity to increase the resources available to create social progress.” But while the opportunities may be here, “Las Vegas is a difficult place to accelerate forward when most of the young people, especially the intelligent, ambitious ones, decide to leave.”
Read more at http://vegasmagazine.com/personalities/articles/miles-dickson-new-leadership-adventure#3GaHDRPGgOD0rxO4.99