Professor Ian Bartrum Writes Op-Ed Piece for Las Vegas Review-Journal

Ian Bartrum is an Associate Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

On April 27, Professor Bartrum's op-ed piece Bundy doesn't understand Constitution ran in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

"In this particular case, however, the actual text of the Constitution is of no help to Bundy — in fact, it is one of the primary obstacles to his cause. That is because it is the Constitution that called into being the very federal government that Bundy now hopes to disempower," Professor Bartrum wrote.

Professor Bartrum's research interests are in constitutional history and theory, the Establishment Clause, and constitutional education.

Professor Leslie Griffin Featured in National Catholic Reporter

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

On April 28, she was featured in the National Catholic Reporter article Contracts that define teachers as ministers raise labor questions.

"It's about churches trying to do everything they can to avoid the anti-discrimination laws, because they don't want to be held to gender equality, sexual orientation equality, racial equality or equal pay," she said in the article. "They want to do their best to get outside all of these laws."

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

Three International Intellectual Property Scholars Visit Boyd

By Marketa Trimble, Associate Professor of Law 

During the 2014 spring semester the Boyd community benefited from visits by three prominent international intellectual property law scholars – Professors Edouard Treppoz, Seagull Song, and Annette Kur -- who presented their current research to faculty and spoke to three intellectual property classes (see Boyd’s IP curriculum here). Several members of the Nevada Bar Intellectual Property Law Section joined the faculty presentation.

Professor Edouard Treppoz, an expert on intellectual property law and conflict of laws (private international law) from the University of Lyon (Jean Moulin) in France, visited Boyd while serving as a visiting professor at Columbia Law School; his position at Columbia was a return to the school, where he conducted research as a Fulbright Scholar in 1998. Treppoz shared with Boyd his expertise in enforcement of intellectual property within the European Union and discussed the controversial French Hadopi law that aimed at enforcing copyright law on the Internet.

Professor Seagull Song, a Chinese copyright law expert with a profound knowledge of Chinese and U.S. copyright laws, holds law degrees from China (Hong Kong) and the United States (University of California, Berkeley) and practiced law in several jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific region. Among her professional positions was senior counsel at The Walt Disney Company. Her remarkable understanding of both the Chinese and U.S. perspectives on intellectual property protection means that she is an important bridge in the intellectual property law exchanges between Chinese and U.S. scholars and practitioners as she currently serves as a visiting associate professor at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. Song presented to Boyd her research on the Chinese motion picture industry and the changes that the industry needs in the Chinese copyright statute.

Professor Dr. Annette Kur is a senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition (formerly the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law) in Munich, Germany. Her primary research interests center on European and international trademark law and industrial design law. She has also been working on issues at the intersection of intellectual property law and conflict of laws (private international law), one example of which was her service as a consultant to the American Law Institute’s project “Intellectual Property – Principles Governing Jurisdiction, Choice of Law and Judgments in Transnational Disputes.” She visited Boyd during her short and intensive tour of the United States to share her research on copyright law and Internet hyperlinks. Additionally, through Kur’s visit, Boyd students learned about European trademark issues concerning the use of keywords and AdWords on the Internet.

The visits of these three prominent intellectual property experts complement the professional endeavors of the Boyd intellectual property law faculty, Professor Mary LaFrance and Associate Professor Marketa Trimble, who conduct research and write extensively about intellectual property law from comparative and international law perspectives.

UNLV Gaming Law Journal Creates New Award to Honor Gaming Law Attorney Anthony Cabot

The William S. Boyd School of Law’s UNLV Gaming Law Journal recently created a new award in honor of Anthony Cabot, a partner in the Gaming Law group at Lewis Roca Rothgerber. The inaugural “Anthony Cabot Award for Best Student Note” was given to Boyd student Kerry Kleiman for her paper titled “Keeping Casinos Clean: The Problem with Dirty Money and International Differences in Anti-Money Laundering Regulations for Casinos.”

The award was created in recognition of the extraordinary contributions Cabot has made to the gaming law profession over the last 30 years, as well as his longstanding commitment to the Boyd School of Law and the UNLV Gaming Law Journal.

“Anthony Cabot is one of the most distinguished gaming law attorneys in the world,” said Daniel Hamilton, Dean of the Boyd School of Law. “He is also a great friend of the UNLV Gaming Law Journal and the William S. Boyd School of Law. He has done tireless work raising funds for the journal and has helped us publish articles from many other important gaming law scholars, which is why we are truly excited to show our appreciation for his work.”

At Lewis Roca Rothgerber, Cabot provides legal counseling related to land-based casinos and interactive gaming. His worldwide client base includes casino owners, game manufacturers, developers, Internet gambling sites, and companies that run contests and sweepstakes. Cabot writes prolifically on the subject of gaming law, including co-authoring The Law of Gambling and Regulated Gaming: Cases and Materials, a leading textbook on gaming law used at law schools throughout the U.S., among many other publications on the subject. In addition, he will be featured as a session expert at the upcoming Gaming Law Conference, hosted by the Boyd School of Law Sept. 3-5.

Cabot is a founding member and the immediate past president of the International Masters of Gaming Law, a worldwide organization of prominent gaming attorneys devoted to ongoing education and communications within the gaming industry. He is also the honorary president of the Asia Pacific Association for Gambling Studies.

The UNLV Gaming Law Journal is a publication of legal scholarship dedicated to analyzing the law and policy implications of gaming case law, legislation, regulations, and important gaming events. The Journal was founded in 2009 and is the first law school journal to specialize in gaming law. It is published by the students of the Boyd School of Law in conjunction with the International Masters of Gaming Law.

April 24 Boyd Briefs Now Available

The April 24 edition of Boyd Briefs is now available.

This week's edition features Professor Mary Berkheiser, student AJ Hames, and alumna Sarah Bassett '06.

Professor Berkheiser is a member of Boyd's founding faculty, and is responsible for developing the school's high-ranking legal clinics. Today, she continues to direct the Juvenile Justice Clinic, where students represent children who have been charged with juvenile delinquency proceedings.

While at Boyd, Hames has strongly performed in his doctrinal, writing, and skills courses, earning a number of CALI (Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction) awards. He currently works as the editor of the Nevada Law Journal, in addition to serving as a member of the Society of Advocates, the Public Interest Law Association, and the J. Reuben Clark Law Society.

Bassett is an associate with the Las Vegas office of Cotton, Driggs, Walch, Holley, Woloson & Thompson, where she practices in the area of commercial litigation. She also remains committed to community service by working as a pro bono attorney for the Children's Attorneys Project for the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada.

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

Boyd Faculty Recognized at UNLV Academic Achievement Gala

Boyd School of Law's Associate Dean for Student Affairs
Frank Durand (left) and UNLV President Donald Snyder

On Thursday, April 17, UNLV hosted the first Academic Achievement Gala, which highlighted significant student and faculty achievements of the 2013-2014 academic year.

Among those honored was Boyd School of Law’s Associate Dean Frank Durand, who received the Administrative Faculty Member of the Year Award.

Several Boyd faculty members had their work displayed at the Gala. Recognized faculty members and their projects are as follows:

Rachel Anderson, Purposeful Spaces, Living History: African Americans, Civil Rights, and Law in Nevada

Michael Kagan and Fatma Marouf (with Rebecca Gill of the Political Science department), Process and Fairness in Immigration Appeals

Francine Lipman,  Heal the Suffering Children under the Internal Revenue Code: Fifty Years after the Declaration of the War on Poverty

Elizabeth MacDowell, Access to Justice and Self-Help Legal Services for Domestic Violence

Fatma Marouf, A Clinic Across Borders: International Comparative Human Rights Practicum in New Dehli, India

Marketa Trimble, Patent Law in the Service of Innovation: The Danger of Patent Trolls

Professor of Law Rachel Anderson (right)

William S. Boyd Professor of Law Francine Lipman (right)

Director of Family Justice Clinic and Associate Professor of
Law Elizabeth MacDowell (right)

Associate Professor of Law Marketa Trimble. For a full-size
version of Professor Trimble's poster, click here.

Professor Rachel Anderson Featured in Lawyers of Color Magazine's 50 Under 50 List

Rachel Anderson is a Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

She was recently featured in Lawyers of Color magazine's 2014 50 Under 50 list, which recognizes the nation’s most influential minority law professors who are 50 years old or younger. 

"Professor Anderson is actively engaged in legal academia and organizations at the local, state, and national levels.She is often invited as a speaker and has given over forty presentations, including at academic conferences, Continuing Legal Education seminars, and community events, and has served as an expert witness on corporate governance in litigation," her profile in the magazine reads.

Professor Anderson's research and teaching interests focus on business law, civil and human rights, empirical legal studies, and international law.

Boyd Faculty to Present at World Affairs Council Event

On Monday, April 28, Boyd School of Law’s Professor Rachel Anderson and Associate Professor Marketa Trimble will join UNLV Political Science professor Christian Jensen on a panel for a World Affairs Council event. The panel will be moderated by Daniel Hamilton, Dean of the Boyd School of Law.

UNLV will open the event’s presentations with a discussion on "Transnational and National Law in the European Union: Is Harmonization Possible?"

The program will be hosted by the World Affairs Councils of America in partnership with the Delegation of the European Union in the United States.

The full-day event will feature a series of discussions on trade and investment between the United States and the EU. Attendees include diplomats from EU Member States,  the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and representatives from legal, education and banking sectors.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister, Mr. Linas Linkevicius, will serve as the event’s keynote speaker.

Professor Sylvia Lazos Appears on Ralston Reports

Sylvia Lazos is the Justice Myron Leavitt Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

On April 21, she appeared on KSNV News 3's Ralston Reports (16:26 remaining mark) to talk about cheating on a proficiency test by adults at a Las Vegas elementary school.

"I think that the State of Nevada needs to have a system in that is statistical and that helps us to spot the more flagrant cheaters. I think in this particular case, going from 20, 30 percent proficiency in third grade to about 80 percent proficiency in third grade is flagrant. It should have been caught almost right away. It took two years. That's disappointing. That tells me that the Nevada Department of Education has not invested enough money in statistical methods that will give us a certain amount of trust in the reliability of the system," she said during the interview.

Professor Lazos is a frequent op-ed contributor, and her expertise is sought by print and broadcast media on a wide range of subjects, including higher education, immigration, race relations, government, voting and initiatives.

Professor Ian Bartrum Appears on Live And Local With Kevin Wall

Ian Bartrum is an Associate Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

On April 17, he appeared on KXNT's Live And Local With Kevin Wall to talk about cattle rancher Cliven Bundy's dispute with the Bureau of Land Management (Hour 2, 2:20-minute mark).

The Bureau of Land Management is "allowed to regulate their land in whatever ways the federal government deems they should. They have a court order telling them they can get Bundy's cattle off the land, and certainly they're allowed to protect themselves if they feel they're in danger," he said during the interview. "I think it's a fair question to ask whether or not they sort of provoked further danger by coming in in a heavy-handed way. And maybe if they had to do it again, they'd do it a different way. I think that's sort of the reality of the situation. It escalated pretty quickly into a conflict that I don't think they were ready to handle."

Professor Bartrum's research interests are in constitutional history and theory, the Establishment Clause, and constitutional education.

April 17 Boyd Briefs Now Available

The April 17 edition of Boyd Briefs is now available.

This week's edition features Professor Leslie Griffin, student Alissa Cooley, and alumna Margo Chernysheva '09.

For decades, Professor Griffin has been deeply engaged in the relationship between law and religion. As one of Boyd's most respected scholars, she is in very high demand. This semester, she is teaching as a visiting professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law.

Cooley has spent the past four years as both a part-time law student and full-time worker. While at Boyd, she's worked as a student attorney in the Immigration Law Clinic, and has also participated in the school's Street Law and Partners in Pro Bono programs.

Chernysheva was the first in her 2009 graduating class to be offered a partnership in a law firm that was not owned by a family member. She currently works at her own firm, MC Law Group, where she concentrates on business and investment immigration visas.

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

TaxProf Blog Spotlights Faculty Enrichment Lecture Series

On April 16, the TaxProf Blog spotlighted the Boyd School of Law's Faculty Enrichment series in an article titled "Peroni Presents Formulary Apportionment in the U.S. at UNLV."

Robert Peroni, a professor at the School of Law at the University of Texas at Austin, spoke on April 14 as a part of the Faculty Enrichment lecture series, which is organized by Boyd's Associate Dean and Professor Thomas Main.

As associate dean, Professor Main has used his contacts in the academy to bring to Boyd a prestigious group of scholars from around the world.

Boyd Alumnus Jeremy Cooper '08 Writes Article for April Nevada Lawyer Magazine

Jeremy Cooper is a graduate of the Boyd School of Law class of 2008.

Cooper wrote an article, "Taxation of Legal Entities: From Disregarded Entities to Electing Small Business Trusts," for the April issue of Nevada Lawyer, the State Bar of Nevada's monthly magazine.

"Many investors and business owners hold their investments, or operate their businesses, through limited liability companies (LLCs). The basic arrangement sounds simple enough; however, deciding on the legal entity to use in these situations is only part of the process of implementing a sound investment or operational structure. Once the type of entity is decided upon, specifically in the case of LLCs, investors and business owners have the ability to elect how these entities will be categorized for tax reporting purposes," he wrote in the article.

Cooper is a co-founder at Cooper Coons, Ltd., where he practices in the areas of estate planning, asset protection, and tax planning.

Boyd Alumnus Christopher Blakesley '08 Featured in Downtown Project Article

On April 14, Boyd alumnus Christopher Blakesley '08, co-founder of Mint Locker, was featured in an article posted on the Downtown Project website.

The article, "A Buoyant Team Runs a Fresh Service," highlights Blakesley and fellow co-founder and friend Robert Sanchez's recent entrepreneurial project, Mint Locker.

Mint Locker makes dry cleaning and wash-and-fold laundry services easily accessible for Downtown dwellers through the use of secure laundry lockers and a mobile app. 

"It’s about relationships. We’re super passionate about innovation and changing the game. Laundry is a common need people have, and we’re just trying to do it better,” Blakesley said in the article.

Professor Lipman Writes Article for April Nevada Lawyer Magazine

Francine J. Lipman is a William S. Boyd Professor of Law at UNLV.

Professor Lipman recently wrote an article, "Dean's Column: Tax Season 2014: Training Tips, Traps and New Taxes," for the April issue of Nevada Lawyer, the State Bar of Nevada's monthly magazine.

"Service to the community is an essential part of each student’s experience at the William S. Boyd School of Law. As our thoughts turn to taxes in April, we are very proud that Boyd law students volunteer annually to bring precious federal tax refunds into our local Nevada communities; those refunds exponentially benefit working families, including many of our most vulnerable children and the many Nevada businesses where taxpayers spend these refunds," Professor Lipman wrote.

Professor Lipman 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, Taxes and Tax Notes.

Professor Jean Sternlight Recognized by Legal Ethics Forum

Jean Sternlight is the Michael and Sonja Saltman Professor of Law and the Director of the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution at the UNLV Boyd School of Law.

Professor Sternlight was recently recognized by the Legal Ethics Forum for coining the title of the new "Behavioral Legal Ethics Blog." The idea for the blog originated at Boyd's Psychology and Lawyering Conference, which took place from Feb. 21 to 22 in the Thomas & Mack Moot Court Facility.

Sternlight is nationally and internationally recognized for her scholarship and law reform activities in the field of dispute resolution.

Election Winners Awarded at SBA's 2014 Barrister's Ball

The William S. Boyd School of Law Student Bar Association Board of Governors hosted the 2014 Barrister's Ball at Mandarin Oriental on Saturday, April 12.

The SBA annually encourages students to vote on the Dean, Faculty, Adjuct Faculty and Staff Member of the year. The student-poll winners were announced and presented with awards at this year's Barrister's Ball.

The 2014 winners are:
Dean of the Year - Frank Durand
Faculty of the Year - Stacey Tovino
Adjunct/Visiting Faculty of the Year - Karen Sneddon
Staff of the Year - Tera Hodge

The SBA Executive Board and Board of Governors provide an effective medium for the expression of student views, while serving as a liaison between Boyd's students, faculty and administration.

To view pictures of the 2014 Barrister's Ball, click here.

Professor Stacey Tovino Places Three New Articles

Professor Stacey Tovino placed three new law review articles in the Tulane Law Review, University of Richmond Law Review, and Kentucky Law Journal. Titled “Lost in the Shuffle: How Health and Disability Laws Hurt Problem Gamblers,” the first article examines the legal treatment of individuals with gambling disorder under health, disability benefit, and anti-discrimination laws. As background, gambling disorder is not a legally sympathetic health condition. Health insurance policies and plans have long excluded treatment for gambling disorder from health insurance coverage. Individuals with gambling disorder who seek disability income insurance benefits from public and private disability income insurers also tend not to be successful in their claims. In addition, federal and state anti-discrimination laws currently exclude individuals with gambling disorder from disability discrimination protections. Professor Tovino’s article is the first law review article to challenge the legal treatment of individuals with gambling disorder by showing how health insurance and anti-discrimination laws hurt problem gamblers. Using neuroscience, economics, and principles of biomedical ethics to argue that individuals with gambling disorder should have the same legal protections as individuals with other physical and mental health conditions, Professor Tovino’s article proposes important amendments to federal and state health insurance laws and anti-discrimination laws. See Stacey A. Tovino, Lost in the Shuffle: How Health and Disability Laws Hurt Problem Gamblers, 89 TULANE L. REV. __ (forthcoming 2014).

Titled “Silence Is Golden … Except in Health Care Philanthropy,” Professor Tovino’s second article examines the competing aims of health care philanthropy and health information confidentiality. As background, the federal Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued final regulations (“Final Regulations”) on January 25 2013, that modify the privacy rule that implements section 264 of the Administrative Simplification provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. On September 16, 2013, HHS issued a model notice of privacy practices (“Model Notice”) designed to assist covered health care providers in complying with the Final Regulations. Professor Tovino’s article is the first law review article to critique and propose corrections to provisions within the Final Regulations that expand the permissible scope of uses and disclosures of protected health information for fundraising purposes as well as related provisions within the Model Notice that fail to alert patients to these expanded information uses and disclosures. In so doing, Professor Tovino’s article seeks to establish an appropriate balance between health care philanthropy and health information confidentiality. See Stacey A. Tovino, Silence Is Golden … Except in Health Care Philanthropy, 48 U. RICH. L. REV. __ (forthcoming 2014).

Titled “Giving Thanks: The Ethics of Grateful Patient Fundraising,” Professor Tovino’s third article examines the ethical implications of the solicitation of philanthropic donations by health care providers from current and former patients. That is, physicians who solicit philanthropic donations from their own patients risk conflicted health care decision making, health care resource allocation injustices, financial exploitation, and breach of privacy. To lessen these risks, Professor Tovino’s article identifies and reconciles two bioethical catch-22s associated with grateful patient fundraising and proposes new ethical guidelines governing physician involvement in health care philanthropy. See Stacey A. Tovino, Giving Thanks: The Ethics of Grateful Patient Fundraising, 103 KENTUCKY L.J. __ (forthcoming 2015).

Associate Professor Elizabeth MacDowell to Present at Association of American Law Schools Clinical Conference

Elizabeth MacDowell is the Director of the Family Justice Clinic and Associate Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

On April 29, Professor MacDowell will present her work in progress, "Rethinking Access to Justice: Self-help, Advocacy and the Poor People's Courts," at the Association of American Law Schools Clinical Conference. She will also present her empirical research project, with the same title as her work in progress, as part of the Bellow Scholar's panel at the conference.

Her research focuses on intersectional issues of race, class, and gender, domestic violence, access to justice, and the impact of criminalization on low-income families. 

Professor Ann McGinley to Present at Labor and Employment Law Workshop

Ann McGinley is a William S. Boyd Professor of Law at UNLV.

On April 26, Professor McGinley will present a paper, "We Are All Contingent Workers" at "Feminism and Legal Theory at 30: A Workshop on Labor and Employment Law" at Emory University Law School. The workshop is part of the "Vulnerability and the Human Condition" project established by Professor Martha Fineman at Emory.

Professor McGinley is an internationally recognized scholar in the area of employment law, employment discrimination and disability law and a leader in Multidimensional Masculinities Theory, an emerging discipline that applies masculinities theory from social sciences to legal interpretation.

Professor Stacey Tovino to Deliver Talk at Imaging Brains, Changing Minds Conference

Stacey Tovino is the Lincy Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

On April 25, Professor Tovino will give a talk as part of a "Translational Expectations and Issues" panel at the "Imaging Brains, Changing Minds: Chronic Pain Neuroimaging in Law" Conference at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.

Professor Tovino will give the talk via Skype.

Professor Tovino is a leading expert in health law, bioethics, and the medical humanities.

Professors Jeanne Price and David McClure Present at Nevada Conference on Digital Learning

Jeanne Price is the Director of the Wiener-Rogers Law Library and an Associate Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

David McClure is the Head of Research and Curriculum Services and an Assistant Professor at the Wiener-Rogers Law Library at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

From April 11 through 13, Professors Price and McClure participated in the Nevada Conference on Digital Learning held at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

They participated in a panel discussion on "Gamifying Access." Their talk was titled "Institutional Repositories as Gamified Environments to Stimulate Student Agency and Faculty Impact."

Professor Price's research interests focus on law and language, law-related taxonomies, and cross-language information retrieval. 

Assistant Professor McClure provides specialized research assistance to law faculty, and coordinates the library’s faculty liaison and student research assistant programs.

Professor Rachel Anderson Presents at American Bar Association Spring Meeting

Rachel Anderson is a Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Professor Anderson, the Nevada State Liaison to the American Bar Association's Corporate Law Committee, presented an update on Nevada business legislation to the Committee on April 10. The update was part of the ABA Business Law Section's Spring 2014 meeting.

Professor Anderson's research and teaching interests focus on business law, civil and human rights, empirical legal studies, and international law.

Professor Stacey Tovino Speaks at Mental Health Law Symposium

Stacey Tovino is the Lincy Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

On March 28, Professor Tovino gave a talk titled "Mental Health Benefit Disparities after the Affordable Care Act" at a mental health law symposium hosted by the Mississippi College School of Law's Bioethics and Health Law Center. The symposium was titled "Mental Health in Mississippi." 

Professor Tovino is a leading expert in health law, bioethics, and the medical humanities.

Associate Professor Michael Kagan Serves as Guest Instructor at Tel Aviv University

Michael Kagan is an Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Immigration Clinic at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Professor Kagan served as a guest instructor at the Refugee Rights Clinic at Tel Aviv University from March 9 to 19. He taught three substantive law classes and presented at two research workshops on his current research involving the intersection of criminal and immigration law. 

Professor Kagan has written several of the most widely cited articles in the fields of refugee and asylum law. His research on credibility assessment in asylum cases has been repeatedly relied on by federal appellate courts and, according to a 2012 commentary, has "guided most subsequent research and analysis on the topic."

Professor Rachel Anderson Moderates Black History Month Panel

Rachel Anderson is a Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

On Feb. 17, Professor Anderson moderated a Black History Month panel on Judicial and Black Legal History in Nevada. The event was sponsored by the Clark County Black Caucus.

Professor Anderson's research and teaching interests focus on business law, civil and human rights, empirical legal studies, and international law.

April 10 Boyd Briefs Now Available

The April 10 edition of Boyd Briefs is now available.

This week's edition features Professor Thomas Main, student Brandi Loffer, and alumna Brenda Weksler '02.

Professor Main is an award-winning teacher, a scholar and prolific author, a mentor to junior faculty, and an ambassador for Boyd throughout the state and the academy. This year, he became Boyd's associate dean for faculty development and research.

After working for two years as a Cirque du Soleil performer on The Strip, Loffer now attends Boyd where she pursues her passion for examining complex issues from varying perspectives.

Weksler has been working as a Las Vegas Assistant Federal Public Defender for the past 11 years, representing indigent clients who are facing federal felony charges. Before becoming a Federal Public Defender, she clerked for the Honorable Kathy Hardcastle at the Eighth Judicial District Court.

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

Professor Ian Bartrum Appears on KSNV News 3

Ian Bartrum is an Associate Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

On April 9, he appeared on KSNV News 3's segment Range Showdown (0:30 remaining mark) about a dispute between the Bureau of Land Management and a Clark County rancher.

"The government restricts the time, the place, or how a person is speaking, and doesn't regulate the content of the speech at all," he said during the interview.

Professor Bartrum's research interests are in constitutional history and theory, the Establishment Clause, and constitutional education.

Dean's Speaker Series Lecturer Featured on KNPR's State of Nevada, Las Vegas Review-Journal

On April 7, the William S. Boyd School of Law hosted a Dean's Speaker Series with Geoffrey R. Stone, the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law at The University of Chicago Law School and a member of the White House Review Panel on Data Surveillance by the National Security Agency. 

The topic of the lecture was "NSA Surveillance: The Inside Scoop."

On the same day, Professor Stone appeared on KNPR's State of Nevada segment What Should Be Done About NSA Spying?

When asked if spying has stopped terrorism, Professor Stone replied, "Yes, in many instances it is quite clear that the information gleaned by the NSA through a broad range of its programs has helped to thwart real terrorist attacks both in the United States and abroad. Of that, I have no doubt. We had top-secret clearance, the five of us on the review group. We were able to look at quite considerable detail about some of these instances, and I have no doubt that this surveillance in a number of instances made a real difference."   

Also on April 7, Professor Stone was also featured in the Las Vegas Review-Journal article Civil libertarian: NSA is not the bad guy here!

NYU Press Publishes Book Co-Edited by Professor David Tanenhaus

David Tanenhaus is the James E. Rogers Professor of History and Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

The NYU Press recently published a book, Choosing the Future for American Juvenile Justice, that was co-edited by Professor Tanenhaus and Franklin E. Zimring, the William G. Simon Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley Law School.

"This essential volume, edited by two of the leading scholars on juvenile justice, and with contributors who are among the key experts on each issue, focuses on the most pressing issues of the day: the impact of neuroscience on our understanding of brain development and subsequent sentencing, the relationship of schools and the police, the issue of the school-to-prison pipeline, the impact of immigration, the privacy of juvenile records, and the need for national policies—including registration requirements—for juvenile sex offenders. Choosing the Future for American Juvenile Justice is not only a timely collection, based on the most current research, but also a forward-thinking volume that anticipates the needs for substantive and future changes in juvenile justice," according to NYU Press.

Professor Tanenhaus is a co-editor of A Century of Juvenile Justice (University of Chicago Press, 2002), author of Juvenile Justice in the Making (Oxford University Press, 2004) and The Constitutional Rights of Children: In re Gault and Juvenile Justice (University Press of Kansas, 2011), and the immediate past editor of Law and History Review. Professor Tanenhaus teaches American Legal History.

Professor Sylvia Lazos Named Education Advocate at Inaugural Cesar Chavez Dinner

Sylvia Lazos is the Justice Myron Leavitt Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

On March 28, she was named the Education Advocate at the inaugural Cesar Chavez Dinner. Hosted by the Nevada Hispanic Legislative Caucus, the event helps provide talented Hispanic students the opportunity to attend college and learn about public service at an early age.

"Since arriving in Las Vegas twelve years ago, Professor Lazos has been an active community leader in the area of education reform and immigration. She has written several policy briefs in the area of education of English Language Learners, high school dropouts, and immigration in Las Vegas. She has served on various committees convened by the Superintendent of Clark County School District to examine historically African American Prime 6 schools, racial disproportionality of disciplinary actions, English Language Learner education and Literacy," the event program reads. 

Professor Lazos is a frequent op-ed contributor, and her expertise is sought by print and broadcast media on a wide range of subjects, including higher education, immigration, race relations, government, voting and initiatives.

Boyd School of Law Hosts 14th Annual Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference

On March 28 and 29, the William S. Boyd School of Law hosted the 14th Annual Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference.

The Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference is an annual event coordinated by the legal writing faculty at several law schools in The West.

Linda Berger, Family Foundation Professor of Law at the Boyd School of Law, won this year's Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Award. The award represents contributions beyond measure to the Rocky Mountain Legal Writing community. 

To see photos from this year's event, click here.

Nevada Law Journal’s 2014 Scholarly Writing Competition Winners Announced

The Nevada Law Journal has announced the winners for its 2014 Scholarly Writing Competition.

Laura Welzig won first place for her piece "The Religious Freedom Restoration Act ("RFRA") and its Impact on the Health Care Mandate: How Congress Shot Itself in the Foot." Second place went to Rhiann Jarvis for "A Critical Analysis of Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and Sch. v. E.E.O.C. and the Ministerial Exception." Third place was awarded to Bailey Bortolin for "Interviewing and Interrogating Children: Getting the Truth."

The Nevada Law Journal is published by William S. Boyd School of Law students three times per year.

April 3 Boyd Briefs Now Available

The April 3 edition of Boyd Briefs is now available.

This week's edition features Professor Jeanne Price, student Bryn Esplin, and alumna Kim Leung '09.

Professor Price serves as the Director of the Wiener-Rogers Law Library, where she manages a staff of more than a dozen people, a collection of more than 350,000 volumes, and a facility that is more than 50,000 square feet.

Esplin has already launched a promising scholarly career, having published articles in peer-reviewed journals, made presentations at numerous conferences, and earned national awards and fellowships, primarily in the fields of health law and bioethics.

Leung currently works as an associate of the Patent Group working in the San Diego office of Fish & Richardson. Her practice focuses on various technologies, including: communications systems, analog and digital electronics, computer hardware and software, mobile devices, semiconductor devices, and medical devices.

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

Professor Marketa Trimble to Present Paper at PatCon4 Conference

Marketa Trimble is an Associate Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

On April 5, she will present her forthcoming paper -- Foreigners in U.S. Patent Litigation: An Empirical Study of Patent Cases Filed in Nine U.S. Federal District Courts in 2004, 2009, and 2012 -- in San Diego at the PatCon4 conference, the largest annual conference for patent scholars in the world.

The article is forthcoming in the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law.

In her research, Professor Trimble focuses on intellectual property and issues at the intersection of intellectual property and private international law/conflict of laws.

Professor Linda Edwards' Article Reviewed in Jotwell

Linda Edwards is the E.L. Cord Foundation Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

On April 1, her article Where Do the Prophets Stand?: Hamdi, Myth, and the Master's Tools, was reviewed by Michael Cedrone of Jotwell.

"Linda Edwards’ article is a thoughtful examination of the hidden and unexplored role of narrative in legal decisions. The article raises fundamental questions about the nature and boundaries of legal discourse and demonstrates that narrative theory and cognitive study can bridge the distance between what one may call ‘traditionalist legal analysis’ and its ‘oppositionist’ critique. The article is a delight. It joins an arresting image to an elegant argument, and it is beautifully written," Cedrone said in his review.

Professor Edwards 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.

Boyd Students Receive GPSA Awards

On March 29, several Boyd students received awards at the annual Graduate & Professional Student Research Forum, hosted jointly by the UNLV Graduate & Professional Student Association and Graduate College. The forum showcases excellence in research conducted at the graduate/professional level.

Shannon Phenix received the 2013 GPSA Service Award, which recognizes outstanding service that betters the life of graduate and professional students.

Bryn Esplin won second place in the "Law, Hotel and Social Science" division for her poster presentation of her research in India. Her presentation was titled, "Swept Under the Rug: Protecting the Rights and Dignity of Domestic Workers."

Whitney Short received an Honorable Mention in the "Law, Hotel and Social Science" platform session for her research in India examining the implementation of a new anti-sexual harassment law. Specifically, she examined how this law is affecting women workers in India's garment industry.

Several Boyd students who received grants from GPSA presented their research in India at the forum. Teammates Virgilio "Bing" Longakit, Robert Loftus, and Brady Briggs presented about fraud and deception in the international recruitment of nurses. Oscar Peralta and Silvia Villanueva presented their research on health and safety violations in the garment industry.