Dean Rapoport Commended by Director of United States Trustee Program

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Interim Dean and Gordon Silver Professor of Law Nancy Rapoport was commended by Clifford J. White III, Director, United States Trustee Program (USTP), for the guidance she provided regarding the USTP final Guidelines governing the review of attorneys’ fees and expenses in large chapter 11 bankruptcy cases.

In his press release, Mr. White stated: "After two public comment periods spanning more than a year – and after hearing from a broad range of commenters from the largest law firms to major investors to academics to the public – the USTP promulgated a new set of Guidelines governing disclosures that should be made to justify fees in the largest bankruptcy cases. We are extremely grateful for the many helpful comments we received from bankruptcy experts, including Richard Levin, Chair of the National Bankruptcy Conference, and law professor Nancy Rapoport."

Copies of the Guidelines and related press releases are available here and here, respectively.

Congratulations, Nancy!

Dean Rapoport Essay Highlighted in The Wall Street Journal Law Blog

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Interim Dean and Gordon Silver Professor of Law Nancy Rapoport recently placed an essay ("Managing U.S. News & World Report - The Enron Way") in volume 48, issue 2, of the Gonzaga Law Review.  The Boyd School of Law is also proud to announce that Dean Rapoport's essay was featured in an April 26, 2013, The Wall Street Journal Law Blog post ("Law Schools and the 'Enron Way'") authored by Jacob Gershman.

According to Gershman, "In pursuit of higher rankings, law schools risk falling into an Enron-like trap, according to a new law review essay.  Nancy B. Rapoport, the interim dean of University of Nevada’s William S. Boyd School of Law in Las Vegas, sees parallels between incentives that encourage law schools to embellish data and incentives that helped drive Enron into the ground."  To read more of Gershman's blog post, click here.

Congratulations, Nancy! 

DANIEL W. HAMILTON SELECTED AS NEXT DEAN OF BOYD LAW SCHOOL

UNLV President Neal Smatresk announced today that Daniel W. Hamilton has been selected as the third dean of the William S. Boyd School of Law. Hamilton, associate dean for faculty development and professor of law and history at the University of Illinois College of Law, will start July 1, 2013.

“Dan Hamilton will bring with him his sterling record as a scholar, his exceptional experience as a teacher, and his experience in working with faculty, students and alumni,” said UNLV Executive Vice President and Provost John Valery White, who preceded Hamilton as law school dean.

Hamilton received a Ph.D. in American legal history from Harvard University, a J.D. from George Washington University and a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College. An elected member of the Board of Directors for the American Society for Legal History, Hamilton was a Golieb Fellow in Legal History at New York University School of Law, has been a visiting scholar at the American Bar Foundation, and served as past chair of the Legal History Section of the Association of American Law Schools.

Hamilton says the Boyd School of Law’s talented faculty, dedicated staff, and engaging student body drew him to apply.  “I am extremely proud to become the third dean of the William S. Boyd School of Law, and I’m looking forward to continuing Boyd Law’s tradition of excellent teaching, outstanding scholarship and active engagement with the academy and the community,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton researches and writes primarily on American property ideology and the legal and constitutional issues during the Civil War.  He has written numerous articles and reviews on American legal history, with works in Civil War History, the Chicago-Kent Law Review, the Journal of Supreme Court History, the Journal of American History, the Journal of Southern History, the Journal of Interdisciplinary History, the Journal of National Security Law, and the Law and History Review.  His book, The Limits of Sovereignty: Property Confiscation in the Union and the Confederacy During the Civil War, was published in 2007 by the University of Chicago Press.

Hamilton succeeds John Valery White, who moved from the deanship of the William S. Boyd School of Law to the position of Executive Vice President and Provost at UNLV in 2012. Nancy Rapoport, Gordon Silver Professor of Law at UNLV, served as interim dean during the search.

The Boyd School of Law has been among U.S. News & World Report’s top 100 law schools in the nation for seven consecutive years and this year achieved its highest-ever ranking. The school ranked 68th nationally overall, third in legal writing program, and 11th in the dispute resolution.

Dean Rapoport Publishes New Book Review

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Interim Dean and Gordon Silver Professor of Law Nancy Rapoport published a new book review in volume 47, issue 1 (March 2013), of the Law & Society Review.

Dean Rapoport's review is of Brian Tamanaha's Failing Law Schools (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012), which highlights the multiple ways in which law schools are failing. According to Dean Rapoport: "The first step in solving a problem, though, is admitting you have one. Even the people who think that legal education is just fine as it is need to read this book. Otherwise, their confirmation bias will cause them to keep the status quo just long enough to find themselves irrelevant -- or worse. The bravest thing a law faculty can do these days is to read about the problems -- many of our making -- in modern legal education. The best way to start is by reading this book."

Dean Rapoport's full review is available from the Law & Society Review here.

Dean Rapoport Commended in Cahill's 'On Business Blog'

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Interim Dean and Gordon Silver Professor of Law Nancy Rapoport was commended for her recent work examining bankruptcy fees in Joe Cahill's 'On Business Blog' in Crain's Chicago Business on January 16, 2013.

Entitled, "One Group Always Wins in Bankruptcy: The Lawyers," Cahill's blog post examines how corporate bankruptcy favors attorneys and other professionals who steer companies through the process. According to Cahill, Chicago-based Tribune Co. paid professional services fees approaching $300 million during the four-year reorganization that ended December 31, and Comdisco Inc. has paid more than $9 million to the law firm of the trustee overseeing a Chapter 11 case that was filed in 2001 and is ongoing.

In his blog post, Cahill commends Dean Rapoport for her recent work examining bankruptcy fees: "I agree with bankruptcy fee examiner Nancy Rapoport, a law professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, who says firms should have to demonstrate that the stated fee isn't just a 'rack rate' by presenting evidence that 'people really pay it in the real world.'"

Congratulations, Nancy!

Dean Rapoport Quoted and Referenced in Norton Bankruptcy Law and Practice

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Interim Dean and Gordon Silver Professor of Law Nancy Rapoport was recently quoted and referenced several times by William L. Norton, Jr. in his Norton Bankruptcy Law and Practice.

The quotations and references, which appear in Section 106:1 of Volume 5 of the Third Edition, relate to the complex fiduciary duties of a chapter 11 debtor-in-possession and its counsel. In one quotation, Dean Rapoport explains that:

"Representing a corporation can present numerous problems for Estate Counsel, but representing individual Debtors in chapter 11 is even trickier: 'The complex fiduciary duties of a chapter 11 debtor-in-possession and its counsel can become even more confused when the debtor(s)-in-possession are individuals.' Obviously, there is the metaphysical challenge of realizing that the human who hired you to file his chapter 11 petition is not your client in the bankruptcy case. Even though it's fairly easy, at least in theory, to understand that the president of a corporation or the managing partner of a partnership is not your client when you are representing the business entity itself, it stretches the bounds of legal fiction to comprehend the difference between the Bankruptcy Estate of an individual (your client) and the individual himself (not your client)."

Congratulations, Nancy!

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!

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.

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!

Dean Rapoport's Latest Article Goes to Press

Congratulations to Interim Dean Nancy Rapoport on the publication of her latest article, "Black Swans, Ostriches, and Ponzi Schemes," in volume 42 of the Golden Gate University Law Review.

Using the Bernie Madoff investment scandal as a launching point, the article offers an insightful examination of what we know (or think we know) about investing as well as when and how we should question our assumptions about investing. According to Rapoport, "The key for those of us with little to no accounting background isn’t to learn accounting principles. It’s to read news stories and ask questions. It’s to be skeptical when things look too good to be true. When a magazine like Fortune runs stories like 'Is Enron Overpriced?' that information is available and accessible to all of us. Our choice to ignore accessible information makes us ostriches. And voluntarily becoming an ostrich — a know-nothing — must have consequences."

Congratulations, Nancy!

Dean Rapoport to Serve as Co-Reporter of ABI Advisory Committee

The Boyd School of Law is very pleased to announce that Interim Dean Nancy Rapoport will serve as a co-reporter of the American Bankruptcy Institute's Advisory Committee on the Governance and Supervision of Chapter 11 Cases and Companies. The Advisory Committee reports to the ABI's Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11. Her co-reporter is Douglas Baird, the Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. The Advisory Committee will assist the Commission in drafting proposed reforms to Chapter 11 and related statutory bankruptcy provisions.

Congratulations, Nancy!