Oct. 29 Boyd Briefs Now Available

The Oct. 29 issue of Boyd Briefs is now available.

This week's edition features Professor Thomas McAffee, student Lynell Reyes, and alumna Stephanie Buntin '11.

Professor McAffee is an expert on the Constitution and an advocate for its thoughtful interpretation. One of the founding faculty members at Boyd, he has been teaching in law schools for more than 30 years.

Reyes is the Latin Bar Association liaison for La Voz, Boyd's Latino student association. She recently completed a Corporate Summer Internship Program at Switch, where she worked on a variety of topics from property to contracts to regulatory compliance.  

Buntin is an intellectual property attorney in the Las Vegas office of Michigan-based firm Howard & Howard Attorneys PLLC. Her practice focuses on trademark prosecution and patent prosecution for businesses.

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

Artists Speak to UNLV Law Copyright Class

Photo © 2015 Gary A. Trimble

Guest speakers enrich the intellectual environment at the Boyd School of Law, contributing their expertise, practical observations, and varied perspectives. This semester Professor Marketa Trimble invited two performing artists to her Copyright course to share their experiences with and opinions of copyright law: Professor and Director of Opera Theater, Voice at UNLV Dr. Linda Lister, and Las Vegas Headliner of the Year twice running, Mr. Frankie Moreno.

Dr. Linda Lister is Associate Professor of Music at UNLV and Director of Opera Theater, Voice at UNLV. In addition to her educational roles, she has many solo soprano credits, including performances with the Washington Symphony Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Las Vegas Philharmonic, and numerous opera roles, including one of her favorites, Musetta in “La Bohème.” She is also a composer of vocal works and operas, including a chamber opera about the Brontë sisters entitled “How Clear She Shines!”, and the author of numerous articles and the 2011 book “Yoga for Singers: Freeing Your Voice and Spirit Through Yoga.” In 2014 she was awarded the American Prize in Directing, and in 2015 she directed the UNLV Opera to two First Place Awards in the 2015 National Opera Association Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition in both the musical theatre and graduate opera divisions.

Photo © 2015 Gary A. Trimble

Mr. Frankie Moreno is an Emmy-nominated international recording artist, singer, songwriter and composer, and one of the most popular performing artists in Las Vegas today. From his childhood days on “Star Search,” to headlining at the Stratosphere, to his performance in 2012 on “Dancing with the Stars,” he has performed to sold-out shows across the United States, including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and The Hollywood Bowl. His touring has taken him around the world, and this year, after thrilling Las Vegas audiences with his “Under the Influence” series of concerts at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, he went on to Australia to thrill audiences Down Under. Mr. Moreno participates in many educational activities: with the students of the Gilbert Magnet School in Las Vegas he recorded an iconic version of the official state song of the State of Nevada “Home Means Nevada” for Nevada’s Sesquicentennial celebration in 2014.

Photo © 2015 Gary A. Trimble

Professor Lister and Mr. Moreno shared with students their many experiences with copyright law, including their very first encounters with copyright law, how technology has changed the challenges that artists and the copyright laws face, and how different copyright law issues arise in the various types of art that artists create. From composing their own music, to performing and recording music by others, to using works either in or out of copyright, artists face a multiplicity of copyright challenges. Professor Lister and Mr. Moreno also opined on how copyright law and its practice can enhance – or at least not impede – their work, and explained what they would like lawyers to know when lawyers work with or represent artists. Law students at Boyd are fortunate to study copyright law in a city that is the home of such talented artists who are so generous in sharing their experiences with students and the community.

Oct. 22 Boyd Briefs Now Available

The Oct. 22 issue of Boyd Briefs is now available.

This week's edition features Professor Jeanne Frazier Price, student Evan Wozniak, and alumnus Matt Christian '02. 

Professor Price is director of Boyd's Wiener-Rogers Law Library. She and her colleagues have made the law library a focus of the intellectual life of the law school, for faculty and for students.

Wozniak is a 2013 magna cum laude UNLV graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in English. He spent the year following his UNLV graduation as a technical writer for National Security Technologies, a contractor to the United States Department of Energy. After spending his 1L year in the Northwest, he transferred to Boyd. 

As a 1L, Christian began working as a law clerk at a small firm specializing in public construction law. He graduated magna cum laude and has focused his practice on complex construction claims ever since. While a shareholder at Kolesar & Leatham, one of his clients, Clark County, asked him to come work in-house. It was an opportunity he could not pass up, and he has been with the District Attorney's Civil Division since 2013. 

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

Professor Marketa Trimble Attends Patent and International Law Conference at UC Irvine School of Law

Marketa Trimble is a professor of law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

On Oct. 16, Professor Trimble participated in a Patent Sovereignty and International Law conference hosted by the UC Irvine School of Law.

The conference examined the recent "Declaration on Patent Protection and Regulatory Sovereignty Under TRIPs" document and explored the balance between international patent harmonization and national sovereignty. As one of several distinguished faculty from law schools across the nation, Professor Trimble presented on the topic of “Patent Working Requirements.”

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

Oct. 15 Boyd Briefs Now Available

The Oct. 15 issue of Boyd Briefs is now available.

This week's edition features Professor Rebecca Nathanson, student Mackenzie Warren, and alumnus Christopher Hicks '01. 

Professor Nathanson directs both the Kids' Court School and the education advocacy clinic in the Thomas & Mack Legal Clinic. The most important thing she's working on now is the expansion of the Kids' Court School, a program she established at Boyd 12 years ago. More than 1,000 children have participated in the program that educates child witnesses about the judicial process.

Warren, the youngest main news anchor in Las Vegas local television history, traveled a unique road to this distinction. As a journalist and now in her second year at Boyd, Warren has embraced the opportunity to channel her passion for discovery, storytelling, and advocacy.  

As a fifth generation Nevadan, Hicks is proud to be a member of the inaugural graduating class of Nevada's first accredited law school. In 2014, he was elected Washoe County District Attorney and serves as the chief law enforcement officer for the county and the attorney for all of the county's departments and commissioners.

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

Oct. 9 Boyd Briefs Now Available

The Oct. 9 issue of Boyd Briefs is now available.

This week's edition features Professor Ian Bartrum, student Christopher Sauser, and alumna Sonya Miller '13.

Professor Bartrum is one of Boyd's experts on the Constitution. He's currently working on a book with the tentative title, The Contested Constitution. The book develops the concept that when people refer to the "Constitution" they are not usually talking about a document, but rather about a particular social practice.

Chris' appreciation and respect for study of the rule of law developed during his 25-year tenure with the United States Air Force as a military police officer. His service has taken him around the country and around the globe.

Miller is a lecturer and the director of the Federal Tax Clinic at the University of South Dakota School of Law. Following graduation at Boyd, Sonya earned an LL.M. in Taxation at Villanova University. She also clerked for the Honorable Mary S. Brennan, J.T.C., in the New Jersey Tax Court.

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