UNLV Law Magazine 2021

UNLV Law THE MAGAZINE OF THE WILLIAM S. BOYD SCHOOL OF LAW | 2021

LAYING DOWN THE LAWS Boyd students make an impact on the 81st Session of the Nevada Legislature

+ ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE THROUGH A LEGAL LENS

WILLIAM S. BOYD SCHOOL OF LAW

+ INTRODUCING THE INDIAN NATIONS GAMING & GOVERNANCE PROGRAM

LL.M. in Gaming Law and Regulation “ I am an atypical law student, having worked in Indian

gaming law for 25 years.

Through the LL.M. program, I had the privilege to get to know some brilliant professors and amazing students who made formally learning gaming law more interesting. It has been a great gift to be a part of the LL.M. program, and I am honored to have been selected for the San Manuel Full-Tuition Scholarship.”

Patrick Lambert (LL.M., 2021) Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, North Carolina San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Scholarship Recipient

Flexible Schedules: Available on a part-time or full-time basis with early morning classes and one-week intensives.

The UNLV Alumni Advantage: J.D. alumni from UNLV can transfer up to 9 units of UNLV gaming coursework toward the 24 unit LL.M. program.

Gain Practical Experience: Students have access to top gaming organizations through the externship program.

law.unlv.edu/gaminglaw gradlaw@unlv.edu

CONTENTS Features

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THEY FOUGHT FOR LAWS …

AND THEY WON

The Nevada Legislature passed dozens of impactful bills during the 2021 session. And multiple UNLV Boyd Law students had their fingerprints on several of them.

On the Cover Left to right: Kelsey DeLozier, Sebastian Ross, Karyna Armstrong, and Jorge Padilla.

PHOTO BY CONNIE PALEN

26

WORKING TOWARD A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

As our world continues to heat up and dry out, UNLV Boyd Law students and faculty passionately tackle fundamental issues related to environmental law.

Departments

2 FROM THE DEAN’S DESK 4 OPENING ARGUMENT 6 CENTERS & CLINICS 10 GIVING BACK 11 WHO KNEW? 32 FACULTY FOCUS 36 THE GALLERY 38 CLASS ACTIONS 42 DONORS 48 CLOSING ARGUMENT 2021 | UNLV Law

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A MESSAGE FROM DEAN SARA GORDON

FROM THE DEAN’S DESK

Rising to the Challenge to Accomplish Our Mission

T

he beginning of an academic year is always an exciting time mixed with a little nervousness anticipating what it will bring. As students returned to in-person classes for the first time since spring 2020, those emotions were even more pronounced than usual. And while this year looks different, with some students on campus and others continuing to take classes remotely (and some doing a little of both), what makes the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law community special—the relationships we build and the work we do—has continued, no matter where and how we interact.

The past 20 months have challenged us, and we continue to adapt to changes caused by the pandemic—changes in the nation, changes in our community, and changes at home. But this year, on the first day of classes, as I walked around the law school and saw faculty and students in classrooms for the first time in almost two years, I was reminded of how committed this community is and has always been to our core missions: to provide students a quality legal education, to support our faculty in their teaching and scholarship, to engage with our alumni, and to serve our community as Nevada’s only law school.

This year’s edition of UNLV Law reflects the many ways in which we met those goals over the past year and highlights the law school’s commitment to improving the lives of everyone in our community, both here in Las Vegas and throughout Nevada.

Our cover story (see Page 18) features the many Boyd students and faculty who made significant contributions to the 2021 Nevada legislative session. You’ll read about 3L Jorge “Coco” Padilla, who drafted a bill that went on to become Assembly Bill 376. This important piece of legislation, which Governor Steve Sisolak signed into law in June, secured $500,000 in state funds over two years to support the UNLV Immigration Clinic. Later in the summer, the Clark County Commission approved an additional $500,000 2

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in public funding for the clinic, which provides legal defense to people facing deportation, especially unaccompanied children and those in detention.

Three additional Boyd students—3Ls Karyna Armstrong and Sebastian Ross, and recent graduate Gabrielle Boliou— also drafted bills that eventually became law in our state. Armstrong and Ross worked together on what became Assembly Bill 254, which allows collegiate athletes to profit from their names, images, and likenesses. And Boliou partnered with Assemblywoman Melissa Hardy on legislation that increased the statute of limitations for sex trafficking offenders.

The bills that Armstrong, Boliou, Padilla, and Ross drafted were all part of the law school’s inaugural Making the Law Competition, run by Boyd’s Policy and Legislation Society (see Page 12). This competition invites students to submit bill draft requests that are then turned into proposed bills and finally presented before a judging panel at a mock committee hear-

ing. Judges include current and former members of the Nevada Legislature, as well as many Boyd alumni, lawyers, and lobbyists who are actively involved in Nevada’s legislative process.

Many other Boyd students and faculty also participated in this year’s legislative session. Thirteen students externed with law firms, and in public interest and government placements during the 2021 session, where they conducted public policy research, drafted proposed legislation, attended committee and floor hearings, and provided testimony. As you’ll see in our cover story, Dr. David Orentlicher, the Judge Jack and Lulu Lehman Professor of Law and director of UNLV’s Health Law Program, served his first term as an assemblyman, and faculty members Frank Rudy Cooper, Ben Edwards, Frank Fritz, Eve Hanan, and Ann McGinley all played pivotal roles in the session.

While the impact of some of the work of Boyd’s students and faculty was immediate, other efforts focused on long-term

FROM THE DEAN’S DESK

solutions to seemingly intractable problems that we all face. Climate change, perhaps the defining crisis of our times, is widespread and rapidly intensifying, and the law school community is doing its part to address the many consequences of those changes. Fritz, a Senior Fellow, is helping to develop legal tools to combat climate change and has founded the Climate and Sustainability Law Project, which has provided legal research and policy recommendations to Nevada’s Office of the Attorney General. He also has published model laws to reduce legal barriers to building fueling stations for hydrogen fuel cell trucks and buses.

You can read more about Fritz’s work—as well as the contributions of professor Bret Birdsong and Boyd’s Environmental Law Society—on Page 26.

This year also saw the development of UNLV Boyd Law’s new Indian Nations Gaming & Governance Program, which was made possible by a generous gift from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians (see Page 17). Led by nationally recognized leaders in gaming and tribal governance— including Distinguished Fellow in Gaming Law Anthony Cabot, International Gaming Institute Professor of Law Ngai Pindell, and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Professor of Law Addie Rolnick—this program consists of specialized academic training for J.D. and LL.M. students; public programming for diverse audiences; academic and policy research; and conferences and symposia examining current issues in tribal gaming and governance.

In the spring 2022 semester, we also look forward to welcoming two leading experts on tribal gaming from the University of North Dakota: professors Kathryn Rand and Steve Light, both of whom are Distinguished Fellows at the UNLV International Center for Gaming Regulation. Rand and Light will teach courses on tribal gaming and governance, and they will contribute to the program’s research on training in gaming, regulation, and governance for Indian Nations.

Within this issue, you also will read about the recent work of many of our other faculty members, all of whom have earned the recognition of their peers and colleagues around the country for substantial academic, research, and professional contributions in their respective fields. Our faculty’s ongoing dedication to their scholarship and their students—all in the face of a global pandemic—is precisely why Boyd’s profile continues to rise in legal education circles and will be especially important this year as we begin a national search for a new permanent dean.

Of course, Boyd couldn’t do what it does without the

support of our alumni and our donors. Our alums are an incredible group of individuals who are as dedicated to their law school as they are to their communities.

We highlight two alumnae in this issue: local attorney Shane Jasmine Young (’04) and Washington Superior Court Judge Jennifer Andrews (’02). (Learn more on Pages 38 and 40, respectively.)

We are also grateful to the hundreds of UNLV Boyd Law graduates who have taken time out of their busy schedules to remain engaged with the law school and participate in alumni events, including this year’s Alumni Association golf tournament (see Page 42). The tournament raised more than $20,000 for the organization’s endowed scholarship and will help law students cover expenses ranging from books to tuition.

We are equally grateful to our many donors and supporters (see Page 44). Thanks to your ongoing generosity, we’re able to fund community-based programs and initiatives, conduct important legal research, offer financial assistance to students in need, and help ensure the overall success of all students.

And finally, to our students: None of this would be possible without you. The diversity of experiences and perspectives that you bring to the law school are among the many things that distinguish UNLV Boyd Law and make it such a remarkable community. I have been inspired and impressed over and over again these last 20 months as I’ve watched you remain focused, flexible, and devoted to your studies and to each other. You have served as a constant reminder—even in these difficult times—that this law school will meet its challenges head-on and continue to realize its mission.

It is my honor to serve as the Interim Dean of the Boyd School of Law this year, a year in which many things returned to something approaching normal— and a year in which we celebrate our ongoing successes in providing students with an excellent legal education, supporting our faculty in their scholarship, recognizing the important work of our alumni, and serving our community.

Of course, Boyd couldn’t do what it does without the support of our alumni and our donors. Our alums are an incredible group of individuals who are as dedicated to their law school as they are to their communities.

UNLV LAW MAGAZINE EDITOR MATT JACOB ASSOCIATE EDITORS MICHAEL BERTETTO PAUL SZYDELKO GRAPHIC DESIGNER CHED WHITNEY CONTRIBUTING WRITERS STEVE BORNFELD CAMILLE CANNON PATRICK EVERSON PATRICK MCDONNELL ELIZABETH RUSIECKI ANDY SAMUELSON PAUL SZYDELKO CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS JOSHUA HAWKINS CONNIE PALEN UNLV PRESIDENT KEITH E. WHITFIELD PROVOST CHRIS L. HEAVEY INTERIM DEAN, WILLIAM S. BOYD SCHOOL OF LAW SARA GORDON SUBSCRIBER UPDATES Update your address and submit Class Actions items at: law.unlv.edu/alumni/ StayConnected UNLV Law magazine is published by the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law, Office of Communications 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, Box 451003, Las Vegas, Nevada 89154-1003 (702) 895-3671 law.unlv.edu UNLV is an AA/EEO INSTITUTION

Sara Gordon Interim Dean

2021 | UNLV Law

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PROMINENT MEMBERS OF NEVADA’S LEGAL COMMUNITY PRESENT A COMPELLING CASE

OPENING ARGUMENT

A CONVERSATION WITH ...

JENNIFER DORSEY U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE

Administering Justice in a New Era THE UNLV BOYD SCHOOL OF LAW WORKS TOGETHER WITH THE LEGAL SYSTEM TO OVERCOME MULTIPLE CHALLENGES POSED BY COVID-19 PANDEMIC

I

returned to campus this fall to teach a writing class—in person for the first time in 18 months. Seeing things through a pandemic-tinted lens, I find that much has changed, but much hasn’t.

Reduced occupancy limits have thinned the once-full classrooms, but the returning students’ vivacity and reverence for this time-honored profession more than fills the void. And although my newest William S. Boyd School of Law clerks completed their education virtually, they remain welltrained professionals and critical thinkers.

All of this gives me hope that the recent lapses in decorum that plague online courts—for example, litigators appearing for hearings woefully unprepared, from inside moving vehicles, wearing gym clothes, or (famously) with cat filters—are just temporary bugs to be worked out of a new system that will deliver broader access to justice well into the future.

As our state’s only law school, UNLV Boyd Law is a laboratory for innovative legal-services solutions. When the world moved online last year, forcing all of us to navigate an unfamiliar landscape, the law school stepped up. It rolled out a Virtual Lawyering Boot Camp with workshops and simulations to provide cutting-edge education. Practitioners and faculty worked together to offer hands-on training covering legal-services models, writing, technology, and myriad other practical skills. This collaboration between many stakeholders in the legal community was a success, and 4

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I was thrilled to participate when the Boot Camp returned this year with an expanded curriculum and reach.

Similarly, I am proud of how my court has met the challenge of administering justice amid disruption. Our judge-led, drug-diversion program—known as RISE (Recovery, Inspiration, Support, and Excellence) Court—was in its inaugural year when the pandemic struck. RISE gives select defendants battling a substance-use disorder a unique opportunity to have their federal felony charges dismissed after completing a rigorous course of treatment and self-improvement.

COVID shutdowns complicated the already-isolating experience of addiction

As we emerge from this unprecedented era, I am hopeful that what I love about our profession endures: the rigor of the process in which we search for truth; the showcasing of communication skills from talented oral advocates and gifted writers; and generous counsel willing to donate their services to assist a public in need.

and recovery. But RISE thrived, largely because of the commitment of our U.S. Pretrial Services team, which kept participants engaged with a redesigned online model. In August, we celebrated that success with our first in-person RISE Court graduation—a celebration not just of the graduating participant who completed the program and saw her life transformed, but of the good that the American legal system can do.

I am also heartened by the jury selections over which I have presided since we adapted the process to include masks, social distancing, and enough plexiglass to transform the jury box into the penalty box at a Vegas Golden Knights game. Nevadans have overwhelmingly answered their summonses and performed their civic duty, despite the risks and added challenges that the pandemic presents. And the 12 strangers selected as jurors almost always set aside their divergent backgrounds, faiths, and politics to achieve unanimity.

As we emerge from this era, I am hopeful that what I love about our profession endures: the rigor of the process in which we search for truth; the showcasing of communication skills from talented oral advocates and gifted writers; and generous counsel willing to donate their services to assist a public in need.

Incorporating the best practices developed during this time will only strengthen these pillars. And by serving as a liaison between the courts, counselors, and the community at large, the UNLV Boyd School of Law will help maintain these standards.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey is a native Nevadan who earned her undergraduate degree from UNLV. She is honored to be a small part of the William S. Boyd School of Law’s legalwriting program, which remains ranked No. 1

by U.S. News & World Report.

OPENING ARGUMENT

2021 | UNLV Law

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IMMIGRATION CLINIC

CENTERS & CLINICS

Helping Our Own NEW LEGISLATION CREATES PUBLIC FUNDING THAT WILL HELP IMMIGRATION CLINIC EXPAND AND CONTINUE SERVING A COMMUNITY IN NEED

BY ELIZABETH RUSIECKI With a large undocumented immigrant population and scarce free legal defense available for those facing deportation, Las Vegas is often called a “deportation defense desert.”

The Nevada Legislature took a big step this year to help the city shed that nickname with the passage of Assembly Bill 376. The legislation—which was initially drafted by student Jorge “Coco” Padilla as part of a lawmaking competition (see Pages 12 and 24)—earmarks $500,000 over two years for the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law’s Immigration Clinic in the Thomas & Mack Legal Clinic. Clark County followed up with its own allocation for a similar amount. It’s the first time that the clinic has received public funding on this scale.

The public funds—combined with a previous generous donation from local law firm Edward M. Bernstein and Associates—will be used to elevate deportation defense efforts.

“For the past five years, the Immigration Clinic’s work defending unaccompanied children has been possible because of a $250,000 commitment from Mr. Bernstein’s firm,” says Michael Kagan, director of the Immigration Clinic. “The new funding from the state and the county builds on the foundation that gift made possible. We’re not going to solve the full problem, but this is a huge turning point.”

The clinic provides free consultations and legal services to UNLV and College of Southern Nevada students, staff, and their families.

Now, thanks to the new funding, the clinic will be able to open its first off-campus location, to be called the Community Advocacy Office. Attorneys and paralegals at the site will work directly on deportation defense for detained adults and unaccompanied children.

Expanding community access also creates the potential for paid internships, part-time jobs, and externships outside of UNLV Boyd Law’s existing Immigration Clinic course. It also lays out a clear career track for those passionate about focusing their careers on immigrant defense.

“That’s something I want to see happen in our law school and our community in the same way we see our undergraduates rising in the ranks of the state district attorney’s office or the public defender’s office,” Kagan says. “I hope that 10, 20 years from now we look back on this and see it as the beginning of something even larger and something enduring, a resource that people come to count on in our community.”

Nevada has one of the highest per capita averages of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. (about 7 percent)—a number that becomes more startling when considering the Silver State is the nation’s fifth-fastestgrowing state. With the passage of AB 376, Nevada became the seventh to provide state funding for immigration defense, but Kagan notes that it’s the first swing state to do so, an important marker of progress.

“The immigrant community has been under attack, and that’s a crisis we felt for our neighbors here after 2016,” he says. “And I know it’s something many of our own students felt, often personally.”

With Clark County being the Nevada’s most diverse county—and at more than 2 million, also the most populous—the Immigration Clinic 6

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Michael Kagan, UNLV Immigration Clinic director finds itself in an unusual position. Many big cities have nonprofit organizations dedicated to immigrant defense; law school clinics in those jurisdictions play a more supplemental role.

There is no dedicated immigrant defense center in or around Las Vegas, although attorneys and legal aid organizations take on individual cases. So while the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada has expanded its immigration law offerings, one organization in a community of 2.2 million can’t do all the work.

“One of the reasons this clinic expansion is happening is [because] as things developed in Southern Nevada, we were really the only institution acutely focused on immigrant legal defense,” Kagan says.

About those population stats: They’re more than numbers. They’re names and faces of the UNLV community. They are the undocumented students at UNLV Boyd Law, as well as the undocumented or previously undocumented parents of those students and staff, and countless others across the entire university system. So it’s personal.

“When we go out and try to defend someone else’s family from being broken apart by the immigration system, we’re really defending our own,” Kagan says.

Fond of the phrase “serving the community from which we come,” Kagan uses it often. That’s why he lauds the passion of law students who bring a fresh eye to immigrant defense. These aspiring attorneys aren’t restricted by traditional norms, and they don’t hold back for fear of appearing aggressive. They serve the community from which they come, and they do it for free—but, as Kagan is quick to point out, with the highest level of defense.

“The student attorneys in our clinic are typically more devoted to their clients than I could ever afford to pay an attorney to be,” he says.

RURAL NEVADA INDIGENT DEFENSE

Going the Distance to Close the Gap UNLV BOYD LAW STUDENTS ARE HELPING TO RAISE THE STANDARDS OF RURAL INDIGENT DEFENSE THROUGH THEIR WORK WITH THE NEW DEPARTMENT OF INDIGENT DEFENSE SERVICES

BY ELIZABETH RUSIECKI For lawyers who work in rural areas, the rubber truly does meet the road. They typically balance multiple clients across vast, unpopulated stretches, regularly juggling defendants across county lines and through fragmented court systems. With hours behind the wheel in between filings and motions, a rural lawyer is often a solitary figure—both on the road and on the job.

Nevada’s new Department of Indigent Defense Services (DIDS) is changing that, and students from the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law aren’t just along for the

ride — they’re sitting in the passenger seat.

“This effort is not limited to but has been focused on rural [counties],” says Anne Traum, the law school’s associate dean for experiential legal education who helped write the statute that created DIDS in 2019.

“The goal was to elevate and create standards of indigent defense and ensure rural counties can afford to meet those standards by acknowledging the state bears ultimate responsibility for providing indigent defense.”

DIDS, which was 10 years in the making, offers UNLV Boyd Law students who have an interest in indigent defense an opportu-

CENTERS & CLINICS

nity to do novel work for a small agency in its infancy. In fact, Nevada’s only law school is written into the statute, with Traum serving as chair of the department’s board. That tangible connection incentivizes students to pursue the field and provides a 360-degree view on indigent defense in the state’s 15 rural counties.

When the statute went into effect, the law school’s students jumped right in, helping the department achieve critical goals such as creating practice resources for indigent defenders, and assisting in grant research and applications. Students also researched how to build a student pipeline of indigent defenders, in essence, envisioning their own horizon.

In helping DIDS devise a legal framework to set rural lawyers up for success, students not only have piled up volunteer hours that count toward their community service requirement, but they’ve gotten a “look under the hood” at the challenges indigent defenders encounter. And their work has proven invaluable.

“Access to law students has provided the Department of Indigent Defense Services with a distinct advantage that many other agencies do not have,” says Marcie Ryba, executive director for DIDS. “We are in awe of the students’ professionalism.”

More recently, UNLV Boyd Law students partnered with the Clark County Public Defender’s office to pen a manual that guides rural indigent defenders in Nevada’s 15 counties not named Clark or Washoe. Also, several students volunteered with DIDS during the summer, researching regulations, running comparables, examining legal and regulatory issues, and helping with daily tasks.

The hope is that through these experiences, current and future students will be inspired to put rubber to the road when they become practicing attorneys.

“Hopefully, these internships will allow students to be exposed to the practice of law in Nevada’s rural communities and open their eyes to career opportunities across the entire state,” Ryba says. “For our department, these students further inspire us to continue moving forward on this path.”

Indeed, as DIDS pursues its mission of elevating indigent defense in the state, UNLV Boyd Law students aren’t just along for the ride. They’re holding the map, navigating the path for Nevada’s future rural defenders, and rewriting a system so it works for everyone—from lawyer to defendant, regardless of the distance.

2021 | UNLV Law

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SALTMAN CENTER

CENTERS & CLINICS

Sharing the Wealth IT TOOK TIME FOR PATRICK CHAPIN TO DISCOVER HIS PASSION FOR LAW. NOW THE LONGTIME LITIGATOR, DISPUTE RESOLUTION PRACTITIONER, AND ADJUNCT PROFESSOR IS PAYING IT FORWARD TO STUDENTS—IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

BY MATT JACOB Patrick Chapin’s students know him as an affable guy with an abundance of legal experience, particularly in the realm of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Those students also know Chapin as someone who believes in the concept of “learning by doing,” a philosophy that guides his twicea-week ADR in Employment Law course at the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law. Here’s what those students don’t know: Chapin mapped out his career plan at a young age, and becoming a law professor was nowhere to be found on that map. Heck, neither was becoming a lawyer.

“I was very much into science—specifically, biology and chemistry,” Chapin says.

“I was absolutely going to medical school.”

Sure enough, after accepting a full-ride golf scholarship to Louisiana Tech University in the late 1970s, the Midwest native enrolled as a biology/chemistry major. But about halfway through his studies, Chapin began to question if he was heading down the right path. Steering that uncertainty: an old high school course.

“I took a mandatory government class during my senior year, and the teacher presented the material in a fun and interesting way that gave me a different insight,” Chapin says. “I remembered thinking, ‘Boy, I really liked that government class.’ I soon came to realize that with my personality and skillset, I was probably going to be a better lawyer than a doctor.”

So Chapin relinquished his athletic scholarship, transferred to Purdue University where he earned an English degree, then took off for law school. In 1993, he made his way to Southern Nevada and began working as a sole practitioner in civil litigation, eventually with an emphasis in employment law.

As the years passed, though, Chapin found himself resolving the majority of his cases not in a courtroom but at a bargain8

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“When they leave my class, I want students to take with them two or three [lessons] that stick with them for the rest of their legal careers and maybe even transfer to their personal lives. If I can do that, I’ll know I have done my job.”

Patrick Chapin UNLV Boyd School of Law adjunct professor ing table. Realizing this wasn’t a temporary trend—and knowing that negotiating was one of his greatest strengths—Chapin decided to seek the skills and knowledge required to become an ADR practitioner.

That led him first to the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at the Pepperdine School of Law in Southern California, and then to UNLV Boyd Law’s renowned Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution. Since receiving advanced mediation training at both institutions, Chapin has served as an arbitrator (neutral) and/or mediator for more than 350 cases in the past seven years.

During that time, Chapin’s connection to the UNLV Boyd School of Law has strengthened. He has served as a mediation coach, guest speaker, panelist, and judge for various law school competitions.

And three years ago, he took on the role of adjunct professor after working with Saltman Center founding director/Michael and Sonja Saltman Professor of Law Jean Sternlight, and Workplace Law Program co-directors/Boyd Law professors Ann McGinley and Ruben Garcia to develop the ADR in Employment Law course. The

Adjunct professor Patrick Chapin class, which currently meets on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, features mostly 2L and 3L students.

Adding adjunct professor to his already well-rounded résumé wasn’t something Chapin planned—although he acknowledges it’s a natural fit, given his penchant for mentoring and taking charge in given situations.

“For whatever reason, I’ve always seemed to be the one selected or appointed to be the leader [of projects] or the chairperson of committees or subcommittees,” he says. “When I was younger, people jokingly called me ‘professor’ and often told me, ‘You missed your calling; you should’ve been a professor!’”

As the title of his class suggests, Chapin provides students insights into how ADR principles apply to employment law, and which methods (mediation, arbitration, negotiation, etc.) should be used at different times. As for his teaching style, Chapin is quick to note that while he may be the guy in front of the class dispensing information, it’s up to his students to drive the car. He’s simply along for the ride.

“I’m not an academic,” he says. “My focus is to bridge the gap from academic success to practical application, which is why half of the class is experiential. At some level,

CENTERS & CLINICS

Petya Pucci, UNLV Boyd Law graduate and 2021 Chapin Book Award winner the students teach themselves, and I guide them down the path.

“One reason students may enjoy an adjunct’s perspective is the immediate practical experience/application we bring to the subject. We come from our firms or businesses and simply provide a perspective for application of legal doctrine. I serve as mentor and coach.”

Another way Chapin supports students who have an affinity for ADR and/or workplace law is through the Chapin Book Award. Founded last year for the Saltman Center and added this year to the Workplace Law Program, the awards are separate $1,000 gifts funded by Chapin and awarded annually to a high-achieving UNLV Boyd Law student who demonstrates an aptitude and passion for dispute resolution and workplace law.

Professors who teach in each concentration nominate students for the awards.

Sternlight and current Saltman Center director Lydia Nussbaum select the ADR winner, and McGinley and Garcia choose the workplace law winner. Unlike a scholarship, recipients of the Chapin Book Award can use the funds however they want.

Last year’s inaugural Chapin Book Award recipient was 2020 graduate Astasia Lucas. This year Petya Pucci won the ADR award, while Erika Smolyar and Joseph Adamiak were co-recipients for workplace law. Pucci, Smolyar, and Adamiak all graduated in May. “I remember one time as a science student, I received a book award for $100 and I thought it was the world,” says Chapin, explaining his motivation for establishing the awards. “I’m first-generation everything

and come from a working family where every $10 meant a lot. So this is a small gesture toward conveying recognition and gratitude for the passion and work the award’s recipients demonstrate in these important areas of law and life.”

While a couple of students each year will receive some much-needed spending money thanks to Chapin’s generosity, the former pre-med student turned lawyer/ADR practitioner/adjunct professor hopes every student who passes through his classroom walks away with something far more valuable and everlasting.

“When they leave my class, I want students to take with them two or three [lessons] that stick with them for the rest of their legal careers and maybe even transfer to their personal lives,” Chapin says. “If I can do that, I’ll know I have done my job.”

2021 | UNLV Law

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A GLIMPSE INTO BOYD’S GOOD WORKS IN THE COMMUNITY

GIVING BACK

Ryan McConnell, a UNLV Boyd School of Law alum and staff attorney for the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada’s Consumer Rights Project, poses with UNLV Boyd student Judy Sanderlin. One of more than

Ryan McConnell, a 2020 UNLV Boyd Law graduate, works with the Legal Aid Center’s Consumer Rights Project.

Safe at Home STUDENTS PARTNER WITH THE LEGAL AID CENTER OF SOUTHERN NEVADA TO COME TO THE RESCUE OF RESIDENTS FACING EVICTION

BY ELIZABETH RUSIECKI The Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada sensed a tsunami barreling toward the Silver State. The federal government’s pandemic eviction moratorium was slated to lapse in May, and the organization knew it would be drowning in a wave of tenanteviction help requests.

Ryan McConnell of the center’s Consumer Rights Project was among those who understood the magnitude of the impending crisis, so he sounded the alarm for help. The 2020 graduate of the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law turned to Christine Smith, who has been with the law school since its doors opened in 1998 and who serves as associate dean for public service, compliance, and administration.

Smith’s quick call for student volunteers staffed a Legal Aid Center project in June and July that kept more than 250 Southern Nevada residents in their homes.

The program paired more than 25 law 10

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“The eviction process can be very confusing. ... We would not have been able to help as many tenants without the law students. There were too many tenants in need and not enough hours in the day.”

Ryan McConnell Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada’s Consumer Rights Project students with tenants facing eviction. Students committed a minimum of five volunteer hours a week to the program, with most going above and beyond that, even working evenings and weekends. Students would speak with Legal Aid Center clients over the phone, then electronically file eviction answers for tenants.

They completed 168 filings in June and another 85 in July.

“The eviction process can be very confusing,” McConnell says. “The tenant answer is the first step in the process for the tenant to make sure they get their hearing and their day in court. We would not have been able to help as many tenants without the law students. There were too many tenants in need

and not enough hours in the day.”

The program also allowed students to rack up pro bono hours, a valuable part of any law student’s transcript since most law firms are interested in having associates and lawyers work on pro bono cases. A threshold of 60 logged hours earns students pro bono honors upon graduation; more than 100 hours merits highest pro bono honors.

“UNLV Boyd School of Law students are interested in programs like this as they love to help people, but they also get the pro bono hours,” Smith says.

McConnell says the program also gave law students the opportunity to hone important attorney-client interview skills, albeit remotely. Learning how to interact with clients and ask appropriate questions is essential in the professional realm. “In practice, once you go to your internships and externships, you’re typically in a cubicle or office writing memos, briefs, and motions,” McConnell says. “So the students who volunteered for this program gained valuable skills and [professional] experience.”

Just as important, those students provided a valuable service. In fact, McConnell says many Southern Nevada residents are in their homes right now because of the time and efforts of the student volunteers.

“Families who had been in their homes for 30 years—who never had a problem paying rent—all of a sudden had the rug pulled out from under them,” McConnell says. “The law students really responded to that. They were eager and willing to help. It was really great seeing them connect with the community that way.”

While this particular situation that required the assistance of UNLV Boyd volunteers was new, the pipeline connecting students with the Legal Aid Center is not. The two entities established a relationship when the law school was founded, and Smith says that relationship remains invaluable. So much so that sometimes, as McConnell can attest, the student connection to the center extends long past graduation.

“Because of our ongoing partnership,” Smith says, “the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada has access to law students who are already trained to continue in paid positions.”

WHO KNEW?

Here’s to Your Health

in different aspects of the field, including: Gakh (public health), UNLV Boyd Law Dean Sara Gordon (mental health), professor Leslie Griffin (bioethics), professor Ann McGinley (disability discrimination), and adjunct professors Glen Stevens (managed care) and Susan Pitz (fraud and abuse).

“Quality of care, malpractice liability, ethics, compliance, health care delivery, insurance, public health—this is a highly regulated field, so for our graduates who master these complicated regulations, there’s a lot of demand for their expertise,” Orentlicher says. “That’s one of the nice things about health care law: There are many different directions you can go.”

COVID-19 PANDEMIC INTENSIFIES REAL-LIFE LEARNING FOR HEALTHMINDED UNLV STUDENTS

BY ELIZABETH RUSIECKI When a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic struck, the UNLV Health Law Program turned the multifaceted global crisis into a teaching moment.

A partnership of the university’s law and public health schools—and directed

by UNLV Boyd Law professor Dr. David Orentlicher—the Health Law Program made COVID-19 the headliner for its annual health law conference in April. About 80 students, community members, and policy makers gathered via Zoom to discuss how federal, state, and local authorities can balance the scientific and political aspects of pandemic decisions and the underlying tensions connecting them.

Additionally, Maxim Gakh—a professor in UNLV’s School of Public Health and the associate director of the UNLV Health Law Program who also teaches at the law school—gave COVID-19 a front-row seat in his Public Health Law and Public Health Policy courses.

Conference Mobilizes Minds Since 2018, the health law conference has focused on a timely health-specific policy issue to promote understanding (past topics have included the opioid epidemic, health cost containment, and healthcare reform in the 2020 election). Another important goal of the conference: Help policy makers recognize that the state’s sole law school is a resource for nonpartisan, objective information based on the best understanding from a scientific and legal perspective.

Orentlicher, the Judge Jack and Lulu Lehman Professor of Law at UNLV Boyd, is a policymaker himself, serving as freshman Assemblyman in the 2021 Nevada Legislature.

April’s conference studied COVID-19

UNLV professor Maxim Gakh

from three legal perspectives: • The vaccination approval process and emergency authorization usage • Public health mandates (such as masks), as well as capacity limitations, social distancing, and immunization requirements • Allocation issues resulting from vital health-related shortages—such as ICU space, ventilators, medical equipment, and vaccines—and the difficult triage decisions that accompany those shortages Benjamin Franklin once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

And in that respect, the last decade has seen an increase in public health preparedness because of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and the H1N1 (swine) flu in 2009.

However, as Orentlicher notes, the nation’s health care systems are still structured so that far more money is spent on treatment than prevention. He’s hopeful that the global effects of COVID-19 will change that mindset—not to mention open more opportunities for health law careers.

“This [pandemic] is going to force us to do more,” says Orentlicher, who served as a health policy adviser for the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

“The field is definitely growing, and when I think of the space of health care law, it’s become more important than it was 20 years ago. That’s been good to see.”

For students interested in health law, the law school and Health Law Program offer several faculty members who have expertise

COVID-19 Seeps Into the Classroom Gakh made COVID-19 a focus of his crosslisted Public Health Law and Public Health Policy courses, which are available to UNLV Boyd Law as well as master’s and Ph.D. public health students.

In Public Health Law, the class focused on the current pandemic as context when discussing how law is used to prepare for and respond to public health emergencies, as well as the government’s authority to establish and implement effective mitigation measures that also respect individual rights.

Gakh says the dynamic of having both UNLV Boyd Law and School of Public Health students taking the same course brought fresh eyes to the pandemic and enhanced the legal conversations around such crossover topics as bans on large gatherings, school closures, and vaccinations.

“All the students had very specific experiences they could draw on just as human beings living through this thing,” Gakh says.

“Trying to think about how the dots connect and how everything associated with the pandemic impacted their personal lives was really interesting to hear and led to some great conversations.”

In addition to Public Health Law, Gakh teaches a Public Health Policy course, which is also cross-listed at both schools. Last year, students in this class collaboratively completed a policy analysis that examined possible policy levers to increase uptake in Nevada, even partnering with the Nevada Public Health Association to “think through” possible alternatives.

“Nevada and Las Vegas need attorneys who come at problems with both legal tools and broader context,” Gakh says. “I’m hoping Boyd students will become lawyers who bring all those perspectives and skills to realworld problems affecting the community.”

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WHO KNEW?

Isaac Hagerbaumer, 3L student and 2021-22 PALS president

Hands-On Experience POLICY AND LEGISLATION SOCIETY SPONSORS COMPETITION THAT LETS STUDENTS DRAFT BILL PROPOSALS—SOME OF WHICH HAVE BECOME STATE LAWS

BY PATRICK MCDONNELL Many law school students say they want to get involved in shaping the law and helping the community. But the members of the Policy and Legislation Society (PALS) at the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law are taking this premise quite literally.

The three-year-old student organization’s Making the Law competition crafts not just ideas, but actual legislation: Three bills created with PALS input were passed by the 2021 Legislature and signed into law by Governor Steve Sisolak. (See cover story, Page 18.)

The inaugural competition, which was organized by founding PALS president Radhika Kunnel, took place in October 2020. The first-of-its-kind contest in the United States begins when PALS students learn how to create bill draft requests (BDRs). Those requests then go to an anonymous committee, which 12

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reviews the material and selects the top eight.

Those students who make the cut then present the proposed bills in mock committee hearings before actual legislators.

Legislators are both part of the hearing and act as judges. They ask competitors questions about their BDR, as a legislative committee would do. Following the presentations, legislators judge the competitors’ overall efforts, including the quality of the BDRs. “You have to be able to read the law and understand the law,” says Isaac Hagerbaumer, a 3L student and 2021-22 PALS president.

“Then you learn how to present.”

Among the legislators and attorneys who have judged the competition are UNLV Boyd Law alums Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson (part of the school’s first graduating class) and Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (a 2010 graduate). Other notables who have taken part in the mock committee hearings include Assemblywomen Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod and UNLV Boyd Law alum Rochelle Nguyen (a 2002 graduate), and Clark County Commissioners Marilyn Kirkpatrick and Tick Segerblom. Hagerbaumer also notes that Dr. David Orentlicher, a UNLV Boyd professor who was a freshman Assemblyman this year and who serves as

PALS’ faculty adviser, also has been extremely important to the organization’s success.

Jorge “Coco” Padilla, a 3L student who submitted a BDR providing pro bono immigration-related legal services, won the 2020 competition. Padilla’s entry turned into Assembly Bill 376, which came to be known as the Keep Nevada Working Act On June 11, Sisolak signed AB 376 into law, which among other things allocates $500,000 in state funds to UNLV Boyd’s Immigration Clinic over two years (see Page 6).

Two other 3L students, Karyna Armstrong and Sebastian Ross, took second place behind Padilla with a BDR that focused on name, image, and likeness (NIL) rules for Nevada collegiate athletes. Their proposal eventually turned into Assembly Bill 254, which permits student-athletes to enter into third-party endorsement contracts without losing their amateur athletic status.

Additionally, recent graduate and former PALS member Gabrielle Boliou worked with Assemblywoman Melissa Hardy on a BDR that sought to eliminate the statute of limitations for sex trafficking offenses. Boliou’s entry, which was amended and became law, made it to the semifinals of the 2020 Making the Law competition.

The 2021 Making the Law competition took place in March, with 3L student Kelsey DeLozier taking home first place for her work expanding adoptive parents’ rights.

During this academic year, PALS plans to host events discussing two new bills that will impact Nevada’s criminal justice system.

“I would like to see PALS be a platform for students to pursue careers forming legislation and to maybe even become legislators,” Hagerbaumer says. “We would like to educate the legal and law school community on these impacts and connect students with the legislators who drafted and got those bills passed.”

Hagerbaumer stresses person-to-person connection as a key to PALS’ success—and he knows from experience, as he interned for Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson this past summer. During the internship, Hagerbaumer asked Wolfson, “What do you think is the most important thing to litigating cases in Las Vegas?”

“He said, ‘In general, litigating cases takes fostering good relationships with everyone around you,’” Hagerbaumer says.

“This is important because it emphasizes if you want to practice law successfully, you aren’t doing it alone. You need to collaborate with, and sometimes receive help from, those around you.”

WHO KNEW?

Welcome to the Show SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT LAW ASSOCIATION ENJOYS EVENTFUL YEAR—AND IS READY FOR MORE

BY PATRICK MCDONNELL Victoria Noam knows the story starts here, right in her own backyard. The president of the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law’s Sports and Entertainment Law Association (SELA), Noam understands that incredible learning—and, potentially, career—opportunities surround her and the 69 other students in her organization.

“Las Vegas is the place to be for sports law,” says Noam, a 3L student from Toronto who pivoted from covering the NBA for the Score sports-media company to interning with Shaquille O’Neal’s agent at the Las Vegas-based PRP sports management firm last summer. “All of these events, teams, and increased media presence will create more opportunities for people like me.”

And those opportunities can cross multiple entertainment platforms, from professional athletes such as O’Neal to A-list actors/performers to high-profile social media personalities. Whether it’s negotiating a contract, representing a famous person embroiled in a lawsuit, or securing copyright or trademark protections, legal needs abound for those in the public eye. Noam says that kind of variety is part of SELA’s appeal.

“So many things are transferrable,” Noam says. “The [legal issues] that matter to athletes are also important to celebrities.”

From administrative changes to exciting events, it’s been a busy calendar year for SELA, which was founded in 2013.

Brian Wall, the law school’s associate dean for student affairs, took over as the organization’s new faculty adviser, while JeanLionel Mésidor—a New York City music industry veteran—filled a new entertainment chair post that was created for him in April.

On the event side of things, 30 UNLV Boyd Law students participated last year in a virtual “A-Listers in Entertainment Law” panel. PRP founder Perry Rogers, Dickinson Wright patent attorney Jennifer Ko Craft, and Tao Group executive Andrew Goldberg shared insights with SELA’s membership on the personal goals and challenges

Victoria Noam, 3L student and 2020-21 SELA president

“Las Vegas is the place to be for sports law. All of these events, teams, and increased media presence will create more opportunities for people like me.”

Victoria Noam 3L student athletes and celebrities face.

Also, Las Vegas Raiders president Dan Ventrelle joined a virtual SELA panel on pro sports last fall, and Noam says she is excited to develop future in-person events featuring Las Vegas-based speakers. For instance, SELA will co-host a panel this year with UNLV Boyd’s Cannabis Law Society to discuss Olympic-level athletes and doping.

Noam also plans to reach out to the school’s Gaming Law Society for a sports betting-focused seminar. “It’s a hot-button issue right now,” Noam said of the growth of sports betting across the national landscape.

Another sizzling-hot topic: name, im-

age, and likeness (NIL) rights for collegiate athletes. Earlier this year, the courts ruled that amateur athletes have a right to benefit financially from their NIL without fear of losing eligibility. SELA is partnering with the local Holley Driggs law firm to develop a program that will teach UNLV studentathletes about those financial opportunities and how to protect themselves from bad contracts. If approved, the partnership may allow SELA members to pile up community-service hours by volunteering.

As for her own career motivations, Noam says she’s thinking about following the path of lawyers-turned-NBA-executives Adam Silver and Michele Roberts. Silver joined the NBA in 1992 and worked his way up to becoming the league’s commissioner in 2014. Meanwhile, Roberts is the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, the first woman in history to hold that position (and first woman in the history of North American pro sports to head a labor union).

“I am most excited to be able to do more challenging work and make a difference,” says Noam, who also works as a student attorney at UNLV Boyd’s Immigration Clinic.

“Hopefully, all my hard work will pay off with a rewarding career in sports law.”

2021 | UNLV Law

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WHO KNEW?

Getting in the Game PROFESSIONAL SPORTS LAW COURSE TEACHES STUDENTS HOW TO TACKLE LEGAL CHALLENGES THAT ARISE IN THE SPORTING WORLD

BY PATRICK EVERSON In a city suddenly bursting at the seams with major league franchises, it makes perfect sense that the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law would want to keep up with the action. After all, just as legal matters intersect with countless other spheres, they also intersect with sports.

So, during the 2021 spring semester, the law school debuted its Professional Sports Law course, and it went right to the source for the instructor: Peter Sadowski, executive vice president for the Vegas Golden Knights. Sadowski says the course is a natural fit given the city’s growing presence as a sports destination.

“Las Vegas no longer is just the entertainment capital of the world; it’s becoming the sports and entertainment capital of the world. People are beginning to realize that it’s a tremendous market for all sports,” Sadowski says. “Now, we’ve got the Golden Knights and Silver Knights [Henderson’s new minor league hockey team], the Raiders, the WNBA’s Aces, and minor league baseball with the Aviators. There’s also interest in Major League Soccer, and no doubt, the 14

UNLV Law | 2021

NBA will one day come to Las Vegas. Plus, thousands of kids are involved in sports.”

Sadowski says the course’s primary objective is to provide UNLV Boyd Law students a better understanding of how law interfaces with sports, the many legal issues that arise in the sports space, and what it takes to be a lawyer in that arena. Guest lecturers appeared from a variety of professional teams and leagues—including the Golden Knights and Raiders, who were eager to provide their expertise—as well as members of Olympic committees and arena operators.

“It’s giving students a look at real-life, practical experience in those areas,” says Sadowski, who was born and raised in Poland before immigrating to the U.S. when he was 14. “We covered all sorts of sports and had guest speakers from all over the world discuss their experiences and the issues which come up that require legal analysis or legal counsel.

“A lot of it dealt with the United States, but a lot of it also dealt with sports around the world, because sports is a global market. For example, we had a person who runs sports clinics in underdeveloped countries talking about how to deal with govern-

ments and how to form co-ops with local tribes to allow girls to participate in sports.”

Although his course is titled Professional Sports Law, Sadowski repeatedly emphasized that parts of the curriculum apply to all levels, even youth leagues.

“How do you deal with trainers, how do you secure sponsors, the various steps required to secure proper coaching for kids— all of that applies to the entire community, not just professional sports,” Sadowski says.

“There’s a relationship between kids and coaches, and parents and coaches. There’s also a relationship between teams/leagues and suppliers/sponsors. That’s all governed by rules that are based in law.”

With such a fertile field of topics and easy access to guest speakers who are sports-law experts, Sadowski says he’s eager to teach the course again soon.

“I was quite surprised at the willingness of some guest speakers to talk about confidential topics. There was a cone of silence that enabled them to discuss things you really wouldn’t expect to hear,” he says. “My final exam asked students to point out the deficiencies in the course and give me ideas for improvement. I’d like to build on what we were able to do through offering this course virtually. It enabled us to present guest lecturers from China and Europe. I’d like to continue taking advantage of that technology.”

WHO KNEW?

Parlaying Sports and Law LL.M. IN GAMING LAW AND REGULATION HELPS UNLV BOYD ALUMS DANIEL MALONEY JR. AND BRIAN SCROGGINS JR. JOIN THE SPORTS BETTING GAME

BY ANDY SAMUELSON Daniel Maloney Jr. grew up in New York in the late 1980s cheering for an unusual combination of teams in the New York Mets and Rangers, Buffalo Bills, and New Jersey Nets. Meanwhile, in the Southern Nevada desert, Brian Scroggins Jr. was a fan of the greatest show in Sin City, the hometown UNLV Runnin’ Rebels.

When the two crossed paths decades later in Las Vegas, the rooting interests of their youth had been supplanted by real-life opportunities in the sports world—specifically, the aggressively expanding landscape of sports gambling.

“Brian and I hit it off right from orientation,” Maloney Jr. says, recalling their introduction at the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law in 2019. “He might be the best networker I’ve ever met in my life.

He can talk to anyone about anything. So I followed him around at various speaker events and got introduced to people I wouldn’t have met otherwise.”

Each armed with juris doctor degrees—Maloney from the Seton Hall University School of Law, Scroggins from the University of Kentucky’s J. David Rosenberg College of Law—the two became friends while pursuing their master’s degrees in gaming law and regulation at UNLV Boyd Law, the only school in the country to offer such an LL.M. Scroggins admits he might have had an advantage over Maloney in relationship-building, since he grew up around casinos and sportsbooks. However, he’s quick

to add that UNLV Boyd’s LL.M. program levels the playing field for non-locals.

“With Las Vegas being the entertainment—and now sports— capital of the world, there are a ton of opportunities to meet people in the industry,” says Scroggins, who earned his LL.M. in 2020 and turned it into a regulatory compliance position with WynnBET. Maloney also lauded the LL.M. program, which covers such topics as state lotteries, gaming licensing and regulation, sports betting, employment relations, and zoning.

“I’ve never been immersed in one industry the way I was while at Boyd,” says Maloney, who was named the first director of sports betting for the New Hampshire Lottery in October 2020, shortly after completing his LL.M. “You can’t overstate the faculty’s level of expertise, and when you factor in the location it becomes all-encompassing.

“Also, the school’s connections for externships provides opportunities for practical experience” Maloney and Scroggins found their way to UNLV Boyd Law at the perfect moment. A year earlier, in May 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protec-

tion Act (PASPA), a historic ruling that gave every state—not just Nevada—the right to legalize sports betting. Now, more than half of the U.S. offers legal sports betting in some form.

“Sports gambling is still a small part of the gaming industry compared with certain casino games, or entertainment and retail operations,” Scroggins says. “But the next big step for many of these states and regulatory companies could be igaming. Expanding current betting menus, coupled with the additional tax revenue, is a market states are going to want to tap into.”

As these new gaming products emerge and more jurisdictions jump into the gaming space two things are certain: Opportunities for legal professionals to enjoy successful careers in the gaming industry are only going to grow. And UNLV Boyd Law will continue to offer those professionals a chance to broaden their knowledge and skills through its LL.M. in Gaming Law and Regulation.

“I would say to [any lawyer] who has a passion about the gaming industry, it’s an invaluable experience,” Maloney says. “The fact it’s the only program of its kind really sets its graduates apart.”

GAMING LAW ADVISORY BOARD Mike Alonso Alonso Law Limited; Stuart Altman ContourGlobal; Bo Bernhard UNLV Interim vice president of academic development; Peter Bernhard Kaempfer Crowell; Joe Bertolone International Center for Gaming Regulation, UNLV; Jan Jones Blackhurst; Michael Brunet Snow Covered Capital; A.G. Burnett McDonald Carano; Mark Clayton Greenberg Traurig; Jacob Coin San Manuel Band of Mission Indians; Bill Curran Ballard Spahr; Lou Dorn Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc.; M. Daron Dorsey; Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers; Mark Dunn Baha Mar; Katie Fellows JC Hospitality; Greg Gemignani Dickinson Wright; Phyllis Gilland Golden Entertainment; P. Gregory Giordano McDonald Carano; Becky Harris International Center for Gaming Regulation, UNLV; A.J. (Bud) Hicks McDonald Carano; Jeff Ifrah Ifrah, PLLC; Terry Johnson; Yvette Landau W.A. Richardson Builders; Katie Lever Lottery.com; Mark Lipparelli Galaxy Gaming; Martin Lycka Entain; John McManus MGM Resorts International; Kevin Mullally Gaming Labs International; Dennis Neilander Kaempfer Crowell; Luke Orchard IGT; Maren Parry Ballard Spahr; Anthony Pearl The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas; Dan Reaser Fennemore Craig; Jeffrey Rodefer, Esq.; Karl Rutledge Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie; Scott Scherer Brownstein Farber Hyatt Schreck; Frank Schreck Brownstein Farber Hyatt Schreck; Jeffrey Silver Dickinson Wright; Keith Smith Boyd Gaming; Sylvia Tiscareno; Ellen Whittemore Wynn Resorts 2021 | UNLV Law

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WHO KNEW?

“Succinct writing makes it exponentially easier for the judge to do their job and move on to the next case. And they are so grateful for that.”

Joe Regalia UNLV Boyd Law professor

Write Makes Might UNLV BOYD LAW STUDENTS LEARN THAT CRAFTING CONCISE DOCUMENTS IS VITAL TO PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS

BY PAUL SZYDELKO Try “because” instead of “in view of the fact that.” Consider using “under” the contract rather than “pursuant to” the contract.

Write “among other things” and not “inter alia.” Use just enough relevant examples to make your point. Prune extraneous details.

First-year students arriving on the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law campus tend to feel obligated to sprinkle legal jargon, pack every contingency, and pour all precedents into documents they write, says UNLV Boyd Law professor Joe Regalia.

That’s why one of the faculty’s top priorities is to help those students understand that judges and attorneys aren’t remote 15th-century barristers keen on elegant turns of phrase. They’re time-pressed people who appreciate and even reward brevity, clarity, and simplicity—especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which made concise writing even more imperative.

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Lawyers who can refine a bloated 10-page draft into two tightly crafted pages thrive in any situation. “What is the rule? What are the relevant facts? Why do you think I should rule one way or the other?” Regalia says. “Succinct writing makes it exponentially easier for the judge to do their job and move on to the next case. And they are so grateful for that.”

Regalia is one of many UNLV Boyd Law professors at the forefront of researching the best ways to improve students’ writing. It’s a big reason why the law school has been rated No. 1 for legal writing for three consecutive years in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate School rankings.

The not-so-secret sauce? Professors like Regalia immediately ask incoming law students to write real-world documents, then consistently provide detailed feedback.

Even when making nuanced arguments, students are empowered to develop their own voice, be in the driver’s seat, and avoid archaic formalisms. They explore techniques to efficiently convey not only needed information but also vividly express their experience and perspective in their writing.

Regalia’s strategy is not to overwhelm students with a bunch of techniques but instead pick a few at a time and show them

how to improve their writing. The best legal writers even adopt the time-tested tools of a novelist, he says.

“They use a very simple sentence structure and very familiar, simple word choice,” Regalia says of top legal writers. “They use storytelling techniques with imagery-laden language. They use lots of examples to put their audience in their client’s position.”

Not that she will be confused with a bestselling suspense novelist, but U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan is considered among the best current legal writers. “She has fully adopted the approaches we’ve been talking about in terms of communicating with people like they’re people—communicating not like you’re a lawyer but like you’re a human being who is trying to help someone understand something,” Regalia says of Kagan.

Regalia views legal writing as such a vital skill that it comprised about 50 percent of the agenda for his second Virtual Lawyering Bootcamp, a collaboration between the law school and Southern Nevada legal community. The optional noncredit program that Regalia organizes featured live sessions over three weeks, in addition to other online material. The other half of the bootcamp covered technology (such as e-discovery and analytics tools) and other practicalskills training (such as working as a team and managing projects).

Regalia says he’s proud to be part of a faculty that’s committed to teaching UNLV Boyd Law students how to get to the crux of matters quickly so they can communicate and persuade effectively.

After all, it’s no coincidence that the most successful lawyers doing the most exciting work—be it arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court, serving as counsel for Fortune 500 corporations, or impactfully litigating for the public’s interest—are the best writers. Notes Regalia: “They spend more time on their writing, because they know that’s how you change the law and change outcomes for clients.”

WHO KNEW?

Banding Together GENEROUS GIFT FROM SAN MANUEL BAND OF MISSION INDIANS HELPS CREATE UNIQUE PROGRAM ON TRIBAL GAMING LAW AND GOVERNANCE

BY ANDY SAMUELSON Native American people and the political and legal issues that impact them are often overlooked in universities. A new program at the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law aims to address this by providing future tribal leaders, and the lawyers who will work with them, with educational opportunities in tribal gaming and governance.

UNLV Boyd Law’s Indian Nations Gaming & Governance Program was established in February 2020, thanks to a $3 million gift from the Southern California-based San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. The program consists of specialized academic training for J.D. and LL.M. students in Indian gaming law, federal Indian law, and tribal sovereignty and governance.

Through the program, students—both Native and non-Native—gain fundamental knowledge about the nuanced world of Indian gaming, whose laws and policies differ significantly from that of traditional gaming.

The scholastic component is bolstered by public programming for diverse audiences, as well as academic and policy research, and conferences and symposia examining current issues in tribal gaming and governance. The goals are to make space for inclusive dialogue to address the critical challenges facing tribal communities in gaming and governance, and to recognize the ways that tribes have led the way in gaming regulation and law.

“Our law school has long had a strong relationship with the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, thanks in part to adjunct professor Greg Gemignani, who for many years has invited guest lecturers from San Manuel and other Native communities to speak to his class on federal laws and Indian gaming,” says Sara Gordon, UNLV Boyd Law’s interim dean. “From the beginning of that relationship, the San Manuel tribe expressed a strong desire to expand the conversation around Indian gaming to include Native governance and sovereignty.

“Thanks to this generous gift, the law school now has the gaming and governance infrastructure in place to make a meaningful contribution to both conversations.”

At the helm of the new program is Addie C. Rolnick, who was appointed as faculty director of the Indian Nations Gaming & Governance program and who also took on the title of San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Professor of Law. Rolnick, who is non-Native, has worked on behalf of tribal governments for 20 years, including teaching classes at UNLV Boyd Law in Indian and tribal law. Her work as a lawyer and law professor has focused on defending legal rights for indigenous peoples, including protections for children, and supporting tribal courts.

“It is an incredible honor to lead this program and to serve in a professorship named for a tribal government,” says Rolnick, who joined the UNLV Boyd Law faculty in 2011.

“This professorship honors the San Manuel Band’s leadership in legal education and makes visible their efforts and those of other tribes in building the fields of tribal law, gaming, and economic development.”

The Indian Gaming & Governance Program will introduce three new courses in spring 2021, taught by two professors in residence who have a wealth of experience in the tribal gaming space: Kathryn Rand and Steven Light, co-directors of the Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law & Policy at the University of North Dakota School of Law. Rand will teach Tribal Gaming Law, Light will teach Contemporary Issues in Tribal Governance, and the pair will co-instruct a course called Guided Research and Writing in Indian Gaming.

In addition to the new classes being offered to UNLV Boyd Law students, the law school will offer public-facing workshops and conferences that address tribal gaming, sovereignty, governance, and law.

The first public program, which took place in fall 2020, was a national webinar discussing the history of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (the 1988 federal law that established the legal framework for tribal gaming). The second virtual session, in October, considered tribal governments’ forays into sports betting and, specifically, how tribes and states have incorporated sports betting into compact negotiations.

Professor Addie Rolnick With the conferences, which in the future will include a mix of virtual and in-person gatherings focused on gaming and governance, Rolnick hopes to provide an academic complement to the work of national organizations such as the National Indian Gaming Association, the National Congress of American Indians, and the Reservation Economic Summit.

“Although gaming has been a critical driver of economic development for tribes for more than 30 years, the academic study of Indian gaming law and regulation has lagged behind, especially in law schools,” she says.

“With this program, we hope to provide a space for robust scholarly conversation on the future of tribal gaming and how it relates to other areas of law. The partnership with the San Manuel Band helps ensure that law schools and universities are accountable to tribes as they do this.”

The Indian Nations Gaming & Governance Program is a key part of UNLV’s overall commitment to collaborate with tribal governments, including those in Nevada—such as the neighboring Las Vegas Paiute Tribe and Moapa Band of Paiutes—and nationally.

Programs such as this will help the university recruit and support indigenous students, faculty, and staff. The curriculum also aims to train future lawyers to interact respectfully and knowledgeably with tribal clients.

“Our goal is to link rich scholarly engagement with strong public programming that will benefit tribes nationally and locally, along with the legal community and the state of Nevada,” Rolnick says.

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They Fought for Laws … and They Won

THE NEVADA LEGISLATURE PASSED DOZENS OF IMPORTANT BILLS DURING THE 2021 SESSION. AND MULTIPLE UNLV BOYD LAW STUDENTS HAD THEIR FINGERPRINTS ON SEVERAL OF THEM

BY STEVE BORNFELD

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C

all it the ultimate DIY project: You want the law, which shapes the society in which you live, to reflect your values? Do It Yourself.

That’s essentially the mentality that motivated numerous UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law students to combine their burgeoning legal knowledge with their passion for a cause and go out and make a meaningful difference this year.

“I am just a first-generation college student, born and raised in Las Vegas, who saw an issue in our state laws,” says UNLV Boyd Law 3L student Jorge “Coco” Padilla. “So I went out on a limb and tried to rectify it.”

Padilla and a dozen fellow students ventured far beyond the safety of classroom structures and into the belly of the legislative beast: the 81st Session of the Nevada Legislature, which rolled from February 1 to June 1.

The students’ role? Active participants in the legislative process, thanks to the law school’s externship program, as well as a bill-drafting competition sponsored by a student-run organization. Collectively, Padilla and his 2L and 3L classmates put in more than 5,500 hours and earned 114 academic credits. How? They researched policy issues. They looked up legislative history.

They tracked bills. They joined strategy and committee meetings. They attended floor hearings. They testified on the floor of the two legislative chambers.

That last one made ’em sweat.

“Giving testimony—that’s the thing that scares them the most,” says Dawn Nielsen, UNLV Boyd Law’s director of externships and an assistant professor in residence.

“But when they do it, they get this adrenaline rush.”

Oh, and yes … they also proposed actual legislation.

Several bills that came out of the billdrafting competition ended up being sponsored by legislators. Those drafts then went on to survive the sometimes-brutal gauntlet of debate, disagreements, concessions, compromises, and partisan priorities in both the Assembly and Senate, and eventually wound up on the desk of Governor Steve Sisolak, whose signature turned proposals into laws.

One of them: the immigration-bolstering Assembly Bill (AB) 376, which came to be known as the Keep Nevada Working Act. Among other things, AB 376 established a task force to develop strategies and make recommendations for supporting immigrant workers and small-business owners.

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“Giving testimony—that’s the thing that scares students the most.

But when they do it, they get this adrenaline rush.”

Dawn Nielsen

UNLV Boyd Law director of externships and assistant professor in residence And although it passed in amended form— thanks to all that debate and compromise— it began in the mind and heart of Padilla.

“Having the bill signed into law was the best day of my life,” says Padilla, who worked almost two years on the proposal.

Padilla’s bill—which ultimately resulted in $500,000 in state funding over two years for UNLV’s Immigration Clinic—was joined by other student-assisted legislation that resulted in new laws addressing the statute of limitations for sex trafficking, collegiate athlete rights, traffic offense reforms, and use of force by law enforcement. Add to that the efforts to advance healthcare bills championed by a UNLV Boyd Law professor who doubles as an elected assemblyman.

“Being involved in the legislative process is very important for understanding how it operates. There’s the textbook version, and then there’s the actual version,” says Dr. David Orentlicher, that professor/legislator who heads the university’s Health Law Program (see Page 11). “Between our clinics and externships, the student competition, and the experience some got testifying in committee hearings, our students made their mark.

“I would expect this would inspire some of them to serve.”

That’s a pretty safe expectation, if you think of the present as prologue. Seven UNLV Boyd Law graduates currently serve in the Legislature: Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro; Speaker of the Assembly Jason Frierson (a member of the law school’s inaugural class); Senators James Ohrenscall and Keith Pickard; and Assembly members Edgar Flores, Venicia Considine, and Rochelle Nguyen.

Also give a nod to four additional alums: Nevada State Treasurer Zach Conine; exAssembly member Derek Armstrong (now the director of economic development and tourism for the City of Henderson); former Assemblywoman Lucy Flores; and former state Senator Yvanna Cancela, who is now Governor Sisolak’s chief of staff.

No doubt, the 81st (2021) Nevada Legislative Session boasted a persuasive UNLV Boyd Law presence.

Education Meets Legislation Ticking off a few legislative externship fact boxes: Ten government affairs and lobbying law firms, government agencies, and public interest organizations hosted 13 students. Among them: The American Civil Liberties Union; Carrara Nevada; the Clark County School District; the Governor’s Office; Greenberg Traurig; Nevada Coalition of Legal Service Providers (Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada & Washoe Legal Services); the Nevada Mining Association; Rowe Law Group; state Senator Dallas Harris; and Strategies 360.

Additionally, nine of the legislative externs took the companion Legislative Policy course taught by state lobbyists Sam McMullen and Erin McMullen Midby.

“Externships are the primary experiential opportunity for Boyd students,” says Nielsen, a 2016 UNLV Boyd graduate who directs the legislative externship program that began in 2001. “Students are placed into externships based on their interests, so those who have a passion for law-making or policy, or who just want to understand how the Legislature works, seek out a legislative externship.”

Externships are one-part field work, onepart fulfilling academic requirements, including attending seminars, meeting with professors, and completing coursework.

Hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic (as we all were), the students initially were forced to interact with Carson City mover-shakers remotely, although several (fully vaccinated) students did make it to the capital once the Legislature relaxed restrictions and reopened its doors in the spring.

“Some had no idea what to expect from their externship until they were there, but they had amazing experiences,” Nielsen says. “More than one student remarked to me that they were surprised at how small our state is, how approachable it is, how much access [citizens] have, and how much involvement they can have in the process if they choose to do so.

“They listened to public comment and lobbyists explain why they were for or against something, and they saw first-hand how this conversation can affect a vote. They now understand how important the education process is for our legislators to understand what something really means and hearing from all sides before they make a decision.”

One of those externs impressed by her experience was Christal Folashade, a 3L student who worked in Harris’ office. Folashade was involved in the process that produced Senate Bill (SB) 212, which called for revised provisions relating to the use of force by peace officers. Folashade’s work did not go for naught, as Governor Sisolak signed SB 212 into law.

“Senator Harris gave me numerous opportunities to participate in the legislative process,” Folashade says. “I worked on projects such as providing draft language [that Harris] sought to use in her bills, working with constituents and key stakeholders, and testifying on a bill that I had worked on with Senator Harris since its foundation.”

Seeing SB 212 through to enaction, she says, was the ultimate reward—particularly since she came to realize that’s not always the outcome. “I learned that there are numerous opportunities along the way where a bill can lose its traction and not be passed into law,” Folashade says. “Overall, this experience has further solidified my goals to do public interest work after law school. I have gained an invaluable set of skills that I will carry with me throughout my legal career.”

Making PALS Further catapulting students into the legislative action was the UNLV Boyd School of Law’s Policy and Legislation Society

““I have read a lot of the Nevada Revised Statutes since getting to law school, yet I still did not fully understand the long tactical process that a bill goes through to become law. The PALS competition offered basic understanding, but now I have a much better grasp of the process.”

Karyna Armstrong UNLV Boyd Law 3L student (PALS), a student-run organization that brings together classmates who share a common interest in and passion for public policy (see Page 12).

One of the perks of PALS is the opportunity for student lawyers to get hands-on policy and legislation experience. That opportunity smiled on seven PALS members who competed in the organization’s Making the Law contest. In October 2020, those students submitted bill draft requests that were turned into proposed bills, then presented at a mock committee hearing before a judging panel consisting of legislators and various members of the legal community.

Proving himself a repeat champ, 2019 winner Padilla also took first place in 2020 with what would become the Keep Nevada Working Act. Finishing second to Padilla were partners Karyna Armstrong and Sebastian Ross, current 3L students whose bill draft became AB 254. Sponsored by Frierson, the legislation—which passed unanimously— enables Nevada’s NCAA student-athletes to earn money from their name, image, and likeness, while maintaining their collegiate athletic eligibility.

“This legislation is a step toward expanding equity for a demographic of Nevadans,” Ross says. “Although it is important to understand how a bill becomes a law, the questions I asked myself along the way served as invaluable teaching points. What are issues of particular concern for stakeholders? How will this bill be perceived differently on the floor versus in a committee? What distinguishes someone as a ‘key player?’’’

Adds Armstrong: “I have read a lot of the Nevada Revised Statutes since getting to law school, yet I still did not fully understand the long tactical process that a bill goes through to become law. The PALS competition offered basic understanding, but now I have a much better grasp of the process. There is a lot of negotiation and clarification required

to convince enough members to vote in favor of a bill. I have so much respect for the members in our state Legislature. “ Then there was 3L student Gabrielle Boliou, who acted on her passion for preventing sex trafficking and holding perpetrators accountable by crafting the bill draft that became AB 113. Although the bill, which was sponsored by Assemblywoman Melissa Hardy, wound up different from Boliou’s original conception—to completely eliminate the statute of limitations for the crime— it passed in altered form to increase the statute of limitations from four to six years.

The experience taught her much.

“To me, the short statute of limitations demonstrated a tragic lack of understanding about the psychological manipulation executed by traffickers, including brainwashing their victims into believing that they are not experiencing exploitation and intentionally forming ‘trauma bonds’ with their victims,” says Boliou, who testified twice, first in committee, and then before the Senate.

“Every assemblyperson in the committee asked to support the bill, which passed in the Senate. The support the bill received makes me optimistic that we can continue extending the statute of limitations on sex trafficking and maybe, one day, eliminate it entirely.”

Boliou’s bill draft made it to the semifinals of the 2020 Making the Law competition, as did entries from recent UNLV Boyd Law graduates Christen Anderson and Jessica White, as well as 3L student Alina Krauff.

All three also interacted with the Legislature during the 2021 session. (For additional thoughts from Padilla, Armstrong, Ross, and Boliou about their legislative experience, see Page 24.)

Refining the Fines Have you ever violated the rules of the road and paid a financial price? Most of us have. Have you ever had that price throw your life into disarray? That’s where UNLV Boyd Law’s Misdemeanor Clinic jumps into the legislative fray.

“Because we handle cases where the punishment is fines and fees—and sometimes court-ordered classes or programs— we think about the impact of high fines and fees, and how hard it is for many people to pay them,” says UNLV Boyd Law professor Eve Hanan, who co-directs the school’s Misdemeanor Clinic with professor Anne Traum. “This is what’s known as ‘criminal justice debt,’ and we’re just now coming to understand how debilitating court debt is for so many people.”

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The Difference Maker UNLV BOYD LAW PROFESSOR AND DEDICATED HEALTHCARE ADVOCATE DR. DAVID ORENTLICHER MAKES HIS MARK DURING FIRST SESSION AS NEVADA ASSEMBLYMAN

BY STEVE BORNFELD By what title should we address this gentleman?

Professor? Assemblyman? Doctor? Esquire? Perhaps just … Dude? “‘David’ will be just fine,” says doctor/ state legislator/presidential adviser/author/ UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law professor David Orentlicher.

Phew. That’s a relief, given his many accomplishments and accompanying titles.

Actually, let’s just call him this: healthcare warrior.

“I was interested in both fields, medicine and the law. And I did well in the sciences and medicine, and my dad was a law professor so I also saw that side—how you can make important change, social reforms, through the 22

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law,” says Orentlicher—who once practiced internal medicine as a physician—recalling the roots of his multipronged career.

“I saw medicine and law as ways to make important contributions. I started out in medicine thinking it was the better path for me but as I was going through it, I realized law was a better fit. I do not practice medicine now. But through the law I bring the two together, and my focus is on health law, both as a teacher and legislator.”

Harvard Medical School claims Orentlicher as a graduate. So does Harvard Law School. So does the Indiana House of Representatives, where he served from 2002-08, authoring legislation to promote job creation, make healthcare more affordable, and protect children from abuse and neglect—all while simultaneously teaching at Indiana University’s law and medical schools.

Impressive double play in Indiana—one that he now replicates here. Not only does Orentlicher head up the UNLV Health Law Program, but he was elected to the Nevada State Assembly as a Democrat in November 2020. A deeper dive into his bulging résumé reveals Orentlicher also was a health policy adviser to the presidential campaigns of

Barack Obama and Joe Biden, has testified before Congress, and had his scholarship cited by the U.S. Supreme Court.

You prioritize your health? You want this man on your side.

“The role that healthcare law plays in our country is huge,” says Orentlicher, who was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in nearby Bethesda, Maryland, directly in the hothouse of national politics. “With programs like Medicare and Medicaid, it’s a very highly regulated field, with good reason. We want to make sure that before drugs are put on the market that they are safe and effective, and now as we’ve seen with COVID-19, government plays a critical role in protecting the public’s health.”

So does Orentlicher.

As a freshman Nevada legislator during the 2021 session, Orentlicher authored several bills, including Assembly Bill 345. Now a state law, the bill addresses Nevada’s opioid abuse crisis that has only worsened during the pandemic.

“One of the problems is drugs like heroin and other opioids are adulterated with fentanyl, and that can be lethal,” he says. “AB 345 allows distribution of test strips, so if

“The role that healthcare law plays in our country is huge. With programs like Medicare and Medicaid, it’s a very highly regulated field, with good reason. We want to make sure that before drugs are put on the market that they are safe and effective, and now as we’ve seen with COVID-19, government plays a critical role in protecting the public’s health.”

Dr. David Orentlicher UNLV Boyd Law professor and director of UNLV’s Health Law Program

somebody uses a drug that might have fentanyl, they can [first] test it and protect themselves.

“There are other things we can do to connect users to treatment and reduce the risk of overdose that other countries have done. I want to work on that.”

For example, he plans to reintroduce a part of AB 345 that didn’t pass. It would have allowed Nevada’s two largest counties (Clark and Washoe) to create a pilot program for “safe injection sites” where people would be able to use drugs with clean needles and with trained medical staff onsite in case of overdoses.

Teaming with UNLV Boyd Law School’s Race, Gender & Policing Program, Orentlicher also worked on two bills related to police reform during the 2021 session. And he authored Assembly Bill 338, which grants the state treasurer greater flexibility when investing public funds to increase revenues, but with careful safeguards. Governor Steve Sisolak signed the bill into law.

While some efforts don’t always score, that doesn’t make them legislative whiffs— just potential triumphs waiting on deck.

One of those is AB 347, which would have regulated medical fees. Put more simply: How to prevent doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies from making your wallet anemic. That goes to the heart of Orentlicher’s mission: universal access to healthcare. “It didn’t pass, so I’m going to bring it back in the next session,” Orentlicher says.

He elaborates further: “Prescription drug [costs] are too high, but the main contributor to high healthcare costs is hospital costs. Those bills can be astronomical. When we look at what hospitals charge, they have a lot of leverage because sometimes they are the only hospital in the community, or they are the so-called ‘must-have’ hospital. When insurance companies are putting together their networks, they know their members are not going to be happy if they can’t go to one of the highly regarded hospitals in their

community. That gives [hospitals] a lot of leverage with insurance companies when negotiating rates.”

Other nations, he says, are far better at controlling healthcare costs than the United States. They do this by relying on a public utility model, wherein governments set rates to ensure hospitals meet their costs and earn reasonable profits without putting patients under monetary strain or forcing them into financial ruin.

“We saw in the early days of COVID that there are disparities in access,” Orentlicher says. “So broadening access is critical.”

When there are cracks of daylight in his otherwise jam-packed schedule, Orentlicher skips catnaps and writes books.

Among them: Two Presidents Are Better Than One: The Case for a Bipartisan Executive Branch, which taps his experience with partisan conflict as an elected official and his expertise in constitutional law to discuss reforms that would address the country’s increasingly nasty and dangerous political polarization. He’s also the author of Matters of Life and Death: Making Moral Theory Work in Medical Ethics and the Law, and was co-author of Health Care Law and Ethics.

Five years ago, UNLV Boyd Law and Orentlicher began a happy partnership when he came aboard the faculty. “When they were expanding the Health Law Program, they encouraged me to apply,” he says.

“We’re a smaller law school—a large class here might be 50 or 60 students instead of 100. That’s better for the students and better for the professor. And being the only law school in the state is a plus, too, in our ability to connect students with the Legislature and courts for externships. It’s a good position to be in. We’re still a growing law school, and that’s also a nice place to be; you can do new things more easily here.”

So says the doctor/state legislator/presidential adviser/author/professor.

You can just call him David.

Toward that end, the clinic’s six students teamed with the advocacy-oriented Fines and Fees Justice Center (FFJC) to advance AB 116. Passed by the Legislature during this year’s session, the bill decriminalizes minor traffic violations and halts the practice of issuing arrest warrants when individuals can’t afford to pay fines and fees that can increase to significant amounts and financially cripple lower-income individuals.

Students researched the traffic-related debt issues and also represented clients to learn about its harms. Then they created materials (pie charts, flowcharts, etc.) to demonstrate the impact of criminal justice debt.

Ultimately, the FFJC decided that Nevada was a state that would be amenable to the kind of legislative reform that would positively impact residents. From there, a bill was drafted, sponsored by Assemblywoman Nguyen, and signed into law, with it set to take effect on January 1, 2023.

“We didn’t work on drafting the bill, but we represented individual defendants,” Hanan says. “A law can look good on paper, but in practice it is not workable for the people subjected to that law. Our clinic was able to provide a granular look at cases, including students explaining how, for example, a $300 traffic fine over time could become $1,500 because of all the fees that attach to it when someone can’t pay the full amount at once.”

Curious about the real-world impact of AB 116? Consider this: Before the bill goes into effect, you can be arrested for a traffic offense at the discretion of the police.

Such a successful effort, Hanan says, is a tonic to student morale: “Students can easily become disillusioned or frustrated with legal practices that are unfair and start to wonder about having entered a profession where a law on the books can be so harmful to people when they see it in practice.

“So when AB 116 goes into effect, our former students will see how their work has resulted in the decriminalizing of many traffic offenses. People will still have to pay their fines, but they won’t have to live in fear of arrest if they can’t pay in a given month.”

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hey saw injustice. They fought it.

They won. And the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law not only taught them the rules but ushered them into the arena. To quote a familiar phrase: They were the change they were looking for.

And so we repeat: You want the law, which shapes the society in which you live, to reflect your values? Do It Yourself.

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Students Speak, Lawmakers Listen

FOUR UNLV BOYD LAW STUDENTS DISCUSS THE IMPACTFUL BILLS THEY DRAFTED THAT EVENTUALLY BECAME LAW DURING THE 2021 NEVADA LEGISLATIVE SESSION

BY STEVE BORNFELD In the future, they could be this state’s lawmakers. In the present, think of them as lawmakers-in-training.

That’s a status several students from the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law earned as part of the school’s Policy and Legislation Society’s Making the Law competition. Seven competitors submitted bill draft requests that were turned into proposed bills, then presented before legislators at a mock committee hearing. (See Page 12) Over two days in October 2020, winners were selected by a judging panel that included several current and former Nevada Senate and Assembly members, as well as numerous UNLV Boyd Law alumni, lawyers, and activists involved in our state’s legislative process. That led to direct student involvement—and, just as importantly, impact—during the 81st (2021) session of the Nevada Legislature.

Following, in their own words, are the recollections of four of the participants.

(Editor’s note: Some comments have been edited for length and clarity.)

JORGE “COCO” PADILLA (Making the Law winner)

I knew that I wanted to compete, and I wanted my bill to address immigration reform. I called my mentor, Assemblywoman Selena Torres and we began drafting what would become Assembly Bill 376. The bill sought to codify into law that state and local enforcement agencies were prohibited from detaining immigrants longer than their hold time for purposes of transferring them to ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] custody. The bill’s goal was to preserve state resources by precluding state and local enforcement agencies from participating in immigration enforcement—a task I thought should be exclusive to the federal government.

The bill’s intent also was to boost confidence in our local enforcement agencies and bolster a relationship between the immigrant community and those agencies.

The competition hearing included former and current state and local lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties. County Commission Chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick chaired the final hearing. To say I was nervous is an understatement. What if I didn’t know the answer to one of their questions? Would the event organizers even allow an immigration-related bill to win?

The final hearing went amazing. I learned that it’s OK if a bill is missing something important. The purpose of a committee hearing is to flesh out the bill and add relevant and important ideas. That’s the reason why amendments exist.

While I had to adjust to saying “Coco Padilla, for the record” before every answer, I made it clear to committee members that I was willing to add or delete ideas. I answered questions to the best of my abilities and was transparent when I did not know an answer.

Much to my surprise, I won the competition—but the process wasn’t over. Assemblywoman Torres agreed to sponsor my bill in the 2021 session and wanted to include me in all stakeholder meetings. I sat in on meetings with the Nevada Immigrant Coalition, UNLV Boyd Law’s Immigration Clinic, and the Governor’s Office of New Americans. Just as I had predicted, the bill evolved and different components were added. While the detention component remained, it was now a small part of this all-encompassing bill.

Seeking to address the detrimental economic impacts that COVID-19 had on the immigrant community and small-business owners, the bill created a task force within 24

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Jorge Padilla

the Office of the Lieutenant Governor to offer economic and social recommendations to assist immigrants. The state attorney general, in turn, would adopt model policies based on these recommendations. And that’s how the Keep Nevada Working Act came to be.

The bill was in limbo for the first half of the session until we got notice that it would be discussed before the Assembly Government Affairs Committee. The hearing was tense. While it was clear who did and did not support the bill, the real gut-wrenching moment came when we heard public testimony. It’s not easy to have your bill ridiculed or hear disparaging comments about the people you’re trying to help. But the hearing must have gone well, because committee Chairman Edgar Flores moved to have the bill voted out of committee and onto the Assembly floor. It was then reassigned to the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

The bill was not dead.

The real action came just days before “sine die” (a.k.a., the last day of the session).

The bill, which had been stuck in committee, was amended to remove the detention component and, as a

replacement, appropriate $500,000 over two years to the UNLV Immigration Clinic for pro bono deportation defense efforts. With the new amendment, the bill was able to pass through the committee, the Assembly floor, and the Senate Finance Committee. On May 31, sine die, I anxiously waited for my bill to be considered on the Senate floor—the final step.

It’s not uncommon for a bill to approach the finish line and then die—we had not received any promises that our bill would make it out alive. But moments before the end of session, by a vote of 12-9 in the Senate, it was on its way to Governor Steve Sisolak. Once he signed it, Nevada became the first state in the country to fund deportation defense at the state level.

Having the bill signed into law was the best day of my life … sort of. By the time the ceremony was scheduled, I had already moved to New York for a summer internship. I was sad that I couldn’t make it, but Assemblywoman Torres insisted that my parents attend on my behalf. So at the ceremony, there were my parents—both U.S. immigrants—bumping shoulders with Governor Sisolak, Speaker of the Assembly (and UNLV Boyd Law alum) Jason Frierson, and even Congresswoman Dina Titus (a former UNLV professor).

This competition showed me that anyone can get involved in the legislative process. I am just a first-generation college student, born and raised in Las Vegas, who saw an issue in our state laws, so I went out on a limb and tried to rectify it. And by chance, I also got my parents involved. A proud moment I’ll cherish forever.

KARYNA ARMSTRONG

(Making the Law runner-up, with Sebastian Ross) Earlier this year, the NCAA ruled that athletes can now profit off their name, image, and likeness (NIL), and Sebastian and I felt it was important for the state to enact a law that addresses how Nevada’s collegiate athletes can do this properly, while also protecting the interests of the athletes and our universities.

Initially, we were working with former state Senator Yvanna Cancela. She was very passionate about this law, but when she resigned to take a new position with the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services, we were lucky that Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson was able to pick up the bill and sponsor it.

Karyna Armstrong

The bill started off as a writing competition for the law school’s Policy and Legislation Society (PALS). Sebastian and I wrote a proposal, we were chosen to advance, and then COVID hit. We didn’t end up doing the mock legislative committee presentation until almost a year later. After the competition, Speaker Frierson sponsored the bill, which was introduced on the floor and then was referred to committee.

At this point, Sebastian and I presented the bill (via Zoom) with Speaker Frierson before the Assembly Committee on Education, which voted to approve it. The bill was then introduced on the Senate floor and referred to the Senate Education Committee. Sebastian and I were fortunate to be invited to Carson City, where we presented the bill alongside Speaker Frierson, and the committee approved it.

I have read a lot of the Nevada Revised Statutes since getting to law school, yet I still didn’t fully understand the long tactical process that a bill goes through to become law.

The PALS competition offered a basic understanding, but I now have a much better grasp of the process. There’s a lot of negotiation and clarification required to convince enough members to vote in favor of a bill. I have gained so much respect for our state legislators.

This experience helped me gain a lot of confidence in my ability to work with others, negotiate, talk to legislators, and speak publicly. It also showed me that when you’re passionate about something, you can make a difference.

And you don’t need to be a high-ranking legislator or have key connections to make that difference. If you’re willing to work hard, do the research, practice, and have someone believe in your vision, change can happen.

As an ex-collegiate athlete, this bill was so important to me. I’m beyond thrilled I was able to do my part to make a difference for Nevada’s current and future collegiate athletes.

Sebastian Ross

Gabrielle Boliou

SEBASTIAN ROSS

GABRIELLE BOLIOU

Assembly Bill 254, which was sponsored by Assembly Speaker and Boyd alum Jason Frierson, enables Nevada’s NCAA student-athletes to earn money from their name, image, and likeness (NIL), while maintaining their athletic eligibility. This legislation is a step toward expanding equity for a demographic of Nevadans.

Although it’s important to understand how a bill becomes a law, the questions I asked myself along the way served as invaluable teaching points. What are issues of particular concern for stakeholders? How will this bill be perceived differently on the floor versus in a committee? What distinguishes someone as a “key player”? These are just a few questions that help procure comprehensive solutions to an issue needing to be solved.

Perhaps the most important lesson I learned during this process came in Governor Steve Sisolak’s signing of the bill: The enactment of AB 254 affirmed my belief that we can all contribute toward making our community better.

This experience also taught me that Nevada’s Legislature functions differently than politics in Washington, D.C. Although Nevada has unique challenges that can lead to partisanship, our legislators have a history of being more willing than most to reach across the aisle and work together to solve the state’s problems. The unanimous passage of AB 254 in the Senate suggests our legislative body can reach common understanding on material principles. By continuing to work cohesively on issues, the Legislature can ensure future productivity, which will help all Nevadans.

I want to express gratitude to Assemblyman Frierson for working with Karyna and me. His effort embodies the very lessons we learn at the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law. I would be remiss without also acknowledging the herculean effort of Speaker Frierson’s staff.

My bill was originally drafted to eliminate the statute of limitations for sex trafficking offenses. I am passionate about fighting sex trafficking and was shocked to see that the statute of limitations in Nevada was only four years, putting our state far behind others on this issue. It was particularly odd given that the statute of limitations for sexual assault was recently extended to 20 years, and sex trafficking includes repeated sexual assaults (in addition to other forms of abuse and exploitation).

To me, the short statute of limitations demonstrated a tragic lack of understanding about the psychological manipulation executed by sex traffickers, including brainwashing their victims into believing they’re not being exploited and intentionally forming “trauma bonds” with their victims.

I presented Assembly Bill 113 in the Policy and Legislation Society’s Making the Law competition in October 2020. Afterward, Assemblywoman Melissa Hardy—who was one of the competition’s volunteer judges—reached out about sponsoring my bill. We conducted more research and gathered support in the spring, and in April, she invited me to Carson City to testify twice—first in committee, then before the Senate.

Every assemblyperson in the committee asked to support the bill, which passed in the Senate. Unfortunately, by this point, the bill had been altered to merely extend the statute of limitations from four to six years. However, the support the bill received makes me optimistic that we can continue extending the statute of limitations on sex trafficking and maybe, one day, eliminate it entirely.

(Making the Law runner-up, with Karyna Armstrong)

(Making the Law semifinalist)

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WORKING TOWARD

A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE AS OUR WORLD CONTINUES TO HEAT UP AND DRY OUT, UNLV BOYD LAW STUDENTS AND FACULTY PASSIONATELY TACKLE KEY ISSUES RELATED TO ENVIRONMENTAL LAW BY ELIZABETH RUSIECKI27 2021 | UNLV Law

W

ith the passion and dedication of professors and students acting like its renewable energy sources, the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law is becoming a leader in environmental law. Some inconvenient and convenient truths are propelling its rise: Las Vegas and Reno are two of the fastest-warming cities in the United States.

With a climate change-fueled drought sinking Lake Mead to an unprecedented 35 percent capacity, the federal government this summer declared a water shortage on the Colorado River for the first time, triggering mandatory water consumption cuts throughout the Southwest.

Many UNLV Boyd Law students were raised on and around the ski slopes, lake shores, and sandstone hiking trails of the Silver State.

The school’s Environmental Law Program is led by climate veterans who revere the (increasingly scalding) sun and (rapidly disappearing) water as much as the students they mentor.

Settling into a New Environment

“Sometimes, after class, I feel like I’ve been plugged into an electric socket. The energy is so powerful,” says Frank Fritz, a senior fellow and adjunct professor at UNLV Boyd Law and founder of the Climate and Sustainability Law Project. “I’m so lucky to do what I do.”

A veteran of the Environmental Protection Agency, Fritz had 24 years of Superfund cleanups under his belt before following the sun (and his spouse) to Las Vegas. His wife, Kathy Stanchi, had joined the law school’s faculty as E.L. Cord Professor of Law, and as Fritz approached the end of a government career, a low-energy light bulb went off: He proposed the Climate and Sustainability Law Project, and UNLV Boyd Law welcomed him.

The new guy in town, Fritz went on a conference spree to shake some hands. One of the first people he met was Kristen Averyt, a UNLV research professor who is focusing on climate resilience and urban sustainability. She is also Nevada’s climate policy coordinator. When Fritz called Averyt to volunteer his time, she told him what was needed: professors and law students to do the legal research required to develop the state’s first climate strategy.

Fritz and several members of the UNLV Boyd Law community (including students) dug in, examining legal techniques the state could implement to mitigate climate change.

Their research on transportation, electricity, commercial and residential buildings, and land use—and what laws the state could enact or amend to achieve its climate goals— were instrumental in the 2020 Nevada State Climate Strategy.

“It was the most rewarding thing I have done in my entire career,” says Fritz, whose team’s research also included using greater sage grouse habitats to capture carbon.

“Working on the climate strategy had the 28

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potential to help people in Nevada and, honestly, throughout the world.”

Road Maps and Footprints

Inspired by the 2019 book Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States— considered a road map for the future of environmental law—Fritz also crafted a law that makes it easier to build hydrogenfueling stations for battery-powered trucks.

That law is now one of 2,000 model laws on the nationwide pro bono Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization website, which legislatures can customize and adopt to achieve deep reductions in fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Hoping to involve more students in writing laws that address climate change, Fritz began teaching a Climate Law Practicum during the spring 2021 semester. An intimate class of nine, students collaborated much like they would at a law firm. This fall, the practicum picked up where spring students left off, writing a law to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from buildings. Fritz plans to submit that work to Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization as well.

“It’s practical legal work on climate change, looking across the U.S. for the best example laws and models, and trying to synthesize them into something better,” he says. “It also offers recommendations for taking a modified [legal] approach that we think could be better or people should consider.”

Environment: The New Justice

It doesn’t require a telescope to see that environmental concerns have seeped into every corner of business. That’s why Fritz is hopeful that more students and student lawyers are electrified at the thought of working climate strategy into their careers in some way. After all, who better to write laws leg-

“Sometimes, after class, I feel like I’ve been plugged into an electric socket. The energy is so powerful. I’m so lucky to do what I do.”

Frank Fritz Founder, Climate and Sustainability Law Project

ENV IRO NME NTAL LAW

islating consumption, output, and public resource use than UNLV Boyd Law alums who studied law in Nevada, where plentiful public lands have been greatly impacted by climate change?

“That’s a thought for the future: How can Boyd help you?” Fritz says. “I would like to use my energy, effort, talent, and the enthusiasm of Boyd students to make our world a better place for our children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.”

There’s the environmental justice career route, too. Fritz says the law school’s recent work with the Windsor Park community is strong evidence of the power of joint public and private partnerships.

A historic North Las Vegas neighborhood, designed for Black Americans in the 1960s, Windsor Park is literally sinking because of depleted groundwater reservoirs and the community’s placement atop geographic faults. With homes slipping back into the earth and a neighborhood in disrepair, Fritz says Nevada Assemblywoman Dina Neal approached the law school to help illuminate the crisis in her district.

UNLV Boyd Law reached out to Department of Film associate professor Brett Levner, who along with graduate student Jacqueline Olivé and undergraduate film students, interviewed Windsor Park residents in hopes of shining a light on a community that “felt the government had stopped listening.” The resulting documentary, Windsor Park: The Sinking Streets, premiered at UNLV in September.

Warming to Environmental Law

Given that the younger generation grew up among the perpetual climate change conversation, it’s no surprise that many UNLV Boyd Law students are drawn to environmental law. And that interest has increased exponentially recently—just ask Valarie Kuschel, a 2L student and president of the Environmental Law Society.

Kuschel says participation in the student organization has doubled, if not tripled, from last year. In addition to having genuine concern for the environment, students also understand that they can be at the forefront of shaping a field of law that’s underserved— particularly in the Silver State.

The former chapter secretary, Kuschel notes that Nevada has the largest percentage of federal land in the United States yet lacks a substantial environmental law community, essentially handicapping hands-on opportunities for UNLV Boyd students. So when organizations ask her to pass clerkship offers

“The success we’ve had in just the last year alone is amazing.

My hope and my goal, ultimately, is that UNLV becomes known for its Environmental Law Program, and students know if they do go to Boyd, it’s an area they can practice in the long term.”

Valarie Kuschel President, Environmental Law Society 2021 | UNLV Law

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From left: UNLV Boyd Law adjunct professor Frank Fritz; UNLV Boyd Law professor Bret Birdsong; and 2L UNLV Boyd Law student Valarie Kuschel.

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ENV IRO NME NTAL LAW

to students, Kuschel does so eagerly, knowing her organization is creating opportunities for Boyd-harvested lawyers to do important and needed work in Nevada.

For example, during the spring 2021 semester, 11 Environmental Law Society students and four supervisors from the Nevada Environmental Justice Coalition and National Lawyers Guild Las Vegas teamed up on three pro bono research projects: examining equitable public outreach processes, managing Western sprawl, and legislative research into a potential blockchain-based town in the Nevada desert.

“The success we’ve had in just the last year alone is amazing,” Kuschel says.

Looking ahead, she anticipates increased visiting speakers, hikes, clean-up opportunities, and potential partnerships with organizations like the Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, and Make the Road Nevada.

“My hope and my goal, ultimately, is that UNLV becomes known for its Environmental Law Program, and students know if they do go to Boyd, it’s an area they can practice in the long term.”

She lauds the law school’s faculty for their mentorship, and says professors are open and welcoming to any student who displays the initiative and passion to embark on a challenging career.

“This is such a difficult area of law to work in,” says Kuschel, a lifelong Nevadan. “It’s probably the least [financially lucrative], and you have a lot of people who oppose you. Having professors like this around me makes me feel confident in my choice to pursue this area of law.”

Kuschel credits those professors for helping her secure a cherished opportunity: This fall, she was the first UNLV Boyd Law student to work with the Environmental Law Institute, a global think tank based in Washington, D.C.

Water Rights—and Wrongs

On a late summer day, UNLV Boyd Law professor Bret Birdsong gazes out his window and notes that Las Vegans haven’t seen a truly “blue sky day” in two months. Wildfires that have blazed throughout the West created lingering smoke that has altered the skyline. Birdsong also notes something else: Climate change—or the fear of it—is flooding his Water Law course with a record number of students.

It’s the glass-half-empty news that’s spurring the interest: With Lake Mead water levels at an all-time low, the U.S. Bureau of

Reclamation in August declared the first water shortage in history. As a result, Southern Nevada and other jurisdictions around the Southwest that rely on Lake Mead for their water supply will be forced to reduce their annual draw beginning in January.

“We have record high enrollment this term,” Birdsong says of his course. “I think what’s bringing them in is the increasing consciousness of climate change and the long-term questions about the sustainability of our resources in the Southwest.”

During the recent fall semester, Birdsong’s Water Law course addressed allocation of water use, with a primary focus on Western law issues. With hotter, drier seasons lasting longer—as well as lower water flows and less snowpack runoff from the western slope of the Rocky Mountains—the class took direct aim at the Colorado River, the 1,450-mile-long lifeblood of the Southwest.

“We are going to spend a little more time than usual looking at the Colorado River and the complex set of laws that dictate how its water is used,” says Birdsong, who serves as the Environmental Law Society’s faculty adviser. “Many of those things we look at piecemeal. But this year we’re going to look at it in a more integrated way.”

The West’s New Normal

The former Deputy Solicitor for Land Resources at the Department of the Interior during the Obama Administration, Birdsong specializes in federal public lands and conservation law. And he’s the bearer of some bad (but not exactly unexpected) news: Climate models aren’t favorable for the Southwest.

There’s the heat, the drought, and the disappearing biodiversity. That lethal combination means the way we use water—and the legal mechanisms we have to manage it—must change. Still, Birdsong reminds us, there’s never been a lot of water law careers in vulnerable cities like Las Vegas. He hopes to change that.

“Just this summer, fires, floods, water shortage—it’s all around us, and it’s propping up student interest. They want to know more,” he says. “I think of my class as not just preparing people to go out and be water lawyers, but preparing them to understand what it means to live in the West.

“I always tell my students in terms of natural resources and public lands, knowing about those topics—whether or not you ever practice in those areas—makes you a better citizen. It helps you understand why things

are the way they are.”

Understanding “why things are the way they are” was precisely the focus of Birdsong’s pre-pandemic Natural Resources Field Seminar, which saw him and a small group of students “jump in a van” for a ground-floor view of environmental issues in the landscape in real time.

“I think about that course almost every day, because there are so many issues we could cover,” he says, ticking off highlights of previous trips: examining utility scale solar on Bureau of Land Management land; the attempt by mining company Barrick Gold to mitigate the loss of sage grouse (Nevada’s protected game bird); the legal issues surrounding the creation of the BLM-managed Basin and Range National Monument; visiting with Shoshone land-rights activist Carrie Dann before her death in January.

“It’s nice to go more slowly and take time out on the landscape and understand how the issues play out,” Birdsong says.

A Crisis Heats Up

Paving Nevada over with solar panels isn’t the solution to our climate crisis, Birdsong says. The desert and sagebrush are full of life. The solution, he says, is increased consciousness of the natural resources that not only provide us that cheap Western water and electricity we’ve come to expect, but also support the natural systems and biodiversity essential to sustaining life on our planet.

“We know to adequately respond to climate change we’re going to have to ramp up by like eight times what we’ve done in the past,” Birdsong says. “There’s going to be unbelievable demand to [allocate] more federal land for solar and wind farms. The question I have is: How can we do that in a way that is also going to recognize that we’re not only in a climate crisis, but we’re also in a biodiversity crisis?

“What people don’t know, and even a lot of Nevadans don’t know, is how precious and unique our resources are.”

Which is where the UNLV Boyd School of Law comes in. With professors like Birdsong and Fritz conducting critical research and tackling key issues in their classes—and with students like Kuschel opting for legal careers that are more personally (rather than financially) rewarding—the law school is at the forefront of addressing a stark reality: Our planet is in peril. And time is something we can’t afford to waste.

2021 | UNLV Law

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SCHOLARSHIP, PRESENTATIONS, AND OTHER NEWS

FACULTY FOCUS

Stating the Case for Police Reform PROFESSOR FRANK RUDY COOPER SEEKS TO HELP THE NEVADA LEGISLATURE IDENTIFY WAYS TO SUBSTANTIVELY IMPROVE POLICING

BY PAUL SZYDELKO As the only law school in Nevada, the UNLV Boyd School of Law is uniquely positioned not only to be a dynamic resource for the state Legislature but to have a profound impact by helping to research, draft, and advocate for new laws.

William S. Boyd Professor of Law Frank Rudy Cooper took full advantage of that position during this year’s legislative session, lending his expertise to lawmakers when the discussion turned to the highly contentious topic of police reform.

Cooper, who helps lead the law school’s Race, Gender & Policing Program, applauds two relatively modest but important reform bills passed by the 2021 Legislature. One bill allows the attorney general to investigate patterns and practices of unconstitutional or unequal enforcement, and the other makes it more difficult for police to obtain “no-knock warrants.”

As much as those new laws are a step in the right direction, Cooper notes that Nevada still has a lot of work to do on the issue of police reform. As an example, he points to Colorado, which last year passed a sweeping bill that requires all police officers to use body-worn cameras, bans chokeholds, and limits when officers can shoot at a person who is running away, among other new laws.

Cooper is especially interested in halting “pretextual stops,” which are permitted by law under Whren v. the United States.

“Are there ways that the state can prevent police officers from using something like jaywalking to seize and search somebody because they suspect them of being a drug dealer or something else?”

Cooper and his Race, Gender & Policing Program colleagues—Assistant Director Addie Rolnick, co-facilitator Stewart Chang, Eve Hanan, and Dmitri Shalin— hope state lawmakers will soon address several other police-reform issues. For instance, they are researching the value of 32

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creating a more robust civilian review of police departments and exploring the legality of qualified immunity, which shields police officers from being held liable for violating a person’s civil rights.

At the grassroots level, Cooper is hoping to involve more students in researching race, gender, sexual orientation, economic status, and other identity issues that often impede fair and bias-free policing.

One way to increase that involvement is to introduce students to the subject early in their law school journey. UNLV Boyd Law is now doing that through a mandatory class for 1Ls called “Law and Inequality: Policing, Protest, and Reform.” The course, which became part of the curriculum in the Fall 2020 semester, was well received after some initial concerns, Cooper says.

“A particular subset of students was worried they were going to be maligned if they didn’t agree with some of the critiques of policing,” says Cooper, adding that the class didn’t require students to have particular views on the topic. The

vast majority of students evaluated the class positively.

Cooper himself advocates for what he calls a “right-size policing” paradigm.

“What the police ought to be doing, and I think most of them are trying to do, is to get involved when there’s a major crime that requires somebody to step in and intervene, but not to over-police those communities,” he says. “This is particularly important for communities of color and lower-income communities.”

To that point, Cooper says he’s encouraged by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s work on de-escalation and the use-of-force continuum. He adds that the organization has displayed an openness to reform and is moving toward more progressive policing practices.

“After some criticism, [Metro has] been pretty proactive in trying to make some reforms even before they were pressured to do so,” Cooper says. “Hopefully that trend continues—and hopefully the Legislature encourages that.”

FACULTY FOCUS

Fighting for What’s ‘Write’

FACULTY SCHOLARSHIP & ACCOMPLISHMENTS Rachel Anderson ⊲ Jefferson Fordham Society Law Office Accomplishment Award, ABA State & Local Government Section (member of recipient team: Nevada Office of the Attorney General Policy Research Team), 2021 ⊲ The 5 “Cs” Award, State of Nevada, Office of the Attorney General, 2020 ⊲ Next-Level Inspiration, 2020 Women of the Year, Emerge Nevada, 2020

PROFESSOR LORI JOHNSON PUSHES FOR EQUITY IN ACADEMIC STANDING FOR LEGAL-SKILLS COLLEAGUES

Ian C. Bartrum ⊲ The People’s Court: On the Intellectual Origins of American Judicial Power, 125 DICKINSON L. R. 283 (2020).

BY PAUL SZYDELKO Lori Johnson already has a mission for 2022, and it’s rather straightforward: Overcome the vestiges of a time when law schools undervalued the importance of legal writing.

The UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law associate professor will advocate for equity in status for legal-writing professors around the country next year when she chairs the Legal Writing, Reasoning and Research Section of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS).

“Legal writing wasn’t even taught at most law schools until around 30 to 40 years ago,” Johnson says. “It’s [now] ubiquitous that every school provides these courses, but there’s a long-standing bias that teaching legal writing isn’t quite as important as teaching a course focused on doctrine or theory.”

All too often law professors who teach these vital skills are not tenure-tracked—let alone tenured. As a result, they often have less job security, lower pay, less input about their campus obligations, and fewer voting rights than their colleagues.

While this inequity still exists at many schools, UNLV Boyd transitioned professors in its Lawyering Process Program onto equal footing with their peers beginning in 2013. It’s one reason, Johnson believes, that the school has claimed the No. 1 spot for legal writing three years in a row in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate School rankings.

Since the law school implemented its policy to elevate the status of legal-writing professors, students see first-hand that developing writing and other lawyering skills is just as essential as learning about contracts, torts, civil procedure, and criminal law.

“Students begin to understand the value of legal skills in addition to the legal doctrine that they’re learning,” Johnson says. “Without legal skills, there’s no way for students to

put that doctrine into practice.”

Among other benefits, Johnson says professors who attain tenure can bring their skills to doctrinal classes, more readily develop interdisciplinary approaches to teaching, and devote more time to scholarship about legal writing and other topics.

Equity will be on the agenda when Johnson’s section teams with the AALS section on Professional Responsibility in January to cohost a virtual panel (with fellow UNLV Boyd professor Kathy Stanchi) titled “Pursuing the Common Good in Fractured Communities.”

Johnson’s scholarship also reflects this combination of theory and skills. Last year, she authored “Navigating Technology Competence in Transactional Practice, which examines how lawyers must keep current with new innovations. However, she notes that lawyers can’t lean too heavily on artificial intelligence, for example, or they risk underutilizing their own experience and judgment.

“It is still imperative that a lawyer be the final arbiter of what goes into their clients’ documents,” she says.

Johnson shares her passion for teaching and researching with the adjunct professors she trains to teach upper-level courses in the Lawyering Process Program. A Willow Tree sculpture of a woman holding a book—a gift from an adjunct professor she assisted—is displayed in Johnson’s office. Symbolic of her love for reading, the gift also reminds Johnson how she’s helped shape the UNLV Boyd School of Law during the past 11 years.

“One of the best things about this job is the ability to help others—not just my students, but also help my colleagues and others to fulfill their professional goals.”

Frank Rudy Cooper ⊲ Fight The Power!: Law and Policy Through Hip Hop Lyrics (Gregory Parks & Frank Rudy Cooper eds.) (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2022) ⊲ Dis/Ability In Media, Law & History: Intersectional, Embodied and Socially Constructed? (Micky Lee, Pat Reeve & Frank Rudy Cooper eds.) (Routledge Press, forthcoming 2022) ⊲ Intersectionality, Police Excessive Force, and Class, 89 George Washington University ⊲ Law Review ___ (forthcoming 2021) Michael Kagan ⊲ The Battle to Stay in America was named a Foreword INDIES Gold Winner best book of 2020 in Political and Social Sciences.

Mary LaFrance ⊲ Public Art, Public Space, and the Panorama Right, 55 Wake Forest Law Review 597 (2020) Joint Authorship and Dramatic Works: A Critical History, 45 Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts __ (forthcoming 2022) ⊲ Copyright Law in a Nutshell (West Academic Publishing, 4th ed. 2021) Ann McGinley ⊲ Feminist Judgments Series: Rewritten Employment Discrimination Opinions (editor, with Nicole Porter) (Cambridge University Press) (2020). ⊲ “Masculinities Theory as Impetus for Change in Legal Theory and Doctrine,” in The Oxford Handbook of Feminism and Law in the United States (Deborah L. Brake, Martha Chamallas, and Verna L. Williams, eds.)

(Oxford University Press) (forthcoming 2021). ⊲ Academic Committee, Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, Santiago de Chile, S.A., master’s degree program in Labor and Social Security Law (August 2021-present)

2021 | UNLV Law

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FACULTY FOCUS

Clearing New Paths to Justice THROUGH HER CONTINUED SCHOLARSHIP, PROFESSOR LYDIA NUSSBAUM DEMONSTRATES HER LIFELONG PASSION FOR—AND BELIEF IN—ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

BY PAUL SZYDELKO When Lydia Nussbaum was a first-year law student, she felt uncomfortable and even disillusioned with the often-binary approach to addressing legal problems. Rather than dwelling on the black-and-white limits, she became fascinated with the law’s gray areas—and more importantly, the stories of the people involved.

Her stint as a volunteer for a community mediation center in Baltimore opened her eyes to all the informal ways to achieve resolution and justice. “I loved it. It really resonated with me as a much more humane and much more effective way to address interpersonal problems,” Nussbaum says.

Since then, Nussbaum’s interest in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) has blossomed into a career passion—so much so that the William S. Boyd School of Law professor is also director of both the school’s Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution and Mediation Clinic. As a professor, the bulk of Nussbaum’s scholarship has centered on ADR. Representing various paths to settling conflicts outside of court, ADR began to gain momentum as a social and legal reform movement in the U.S. in the mid-1970s. The dispute resolution menu includes, among many other options, mediation, arbitration, negotiation, and early neutral evaluation.

Over the decades, ADR’s methods have been adopted by the legal system with varying degrees of effectiveness. In fact, in some instances, the positive attributes of ADR have plateaued or even diminished. One example Nussbaum offers is mediation.

“In some contexts, mediation has lost its ability to be flexible, to be informal, to have tailor-made remedies that the parties are able to develop on their own terms,” she says. “It’s become more formalistic and for34

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mulaic, and that is concerning.”

In her scholarship, Nussbaum studies the trend of state legislatures mandating mediation in response to social issues. She’s written about how states deployed mediation to stem snowballing foreclosures and to achieve medical malpractice reform.

Nussbaum also is working on how ADR can stop the disturbing “school-to-prison pipeline, in which schools turn to police and the criminal justice system to maintain order. She adds that the discipline policies schools enacted and implemented result in disastrous consequences for some young people, particularly those of color.

Rather than a punitive response to student behavior, ADR processes using a restorative approach offer a better way to prevent and address disciplinary issues. However, Nussbaum notes that if lawmakers mandate restorative justice in schools, then stronger regulation is needed to clarify what “restorative justice” means and to define standards of training and expertise for facilitators.

This principle applies whenever ADR is mandated as public policy, she says. Laws should be passed to ensure that participants embroiled in a dispute have adequate access to legal counsel or other advocates so they

understand their legal rights and obligations, as well as the potential outcomes.

“If these dispute-resolution processes are going to be part of our legal system,” Nussbaum says, “they need to be buttressed in the same way that other forms of litigation process would be.”

Recently, the ADR field has undergone a generational shift, and Nussbaum has made it her mission to support the next wave of scholars. As this year’s chair of the ADR section of the Association of American Law Schools, her goal is to identify and support new voices in the field. Another priority is to better integrate ADR techniques in classrooms.

After all, as Nussbaum asserts, many of the skills that make a quality dispute-resolution practitioner—asking open-ended questions, listening without judgment, redefining the problem, reordering priorities—are the same skills that make a quality attorney.

“Few students are interested in becoming mediators,” she says. “But most will have cases that go to mediation. So our students need to know [how] to prepare clients for mediation and how to select mediators that are a good fit for the specific issue, as well as the particular needs of their clients.”

FACULTY FOCUS

Worldly Wisdom

David Orentlicher ⊲ David Orentlicher & Tamara K. Hervey, The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Health Law (2021).

PROFESSOR MARKETA TRIMBLE’S GLOBAL IMPACT ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW GROWS DURING PANDEMIC Professor Marketa Trimble, whose professional footprint reaches beyond the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law and the United States, has only enhanced the international dimensions of her work amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

At UNLV Boyd Law since 2010, Trimble specializes in international and comparative intellectual property law. She has contributed to many international projects, and collaborates with universities and research institutions in several countries.

Trimble has fostered relationships throughout the pandemic with two institutes of the Max Planck Society, which is Germany’s primary research institution. In addition to being a visiting professor at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, she has served on the scientific advisory board of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition since December.

The board is at the forefront of research on many important aspects of intellectual property, including artificial intelligence and standard essential patents.

Earlier this year, Trimble helped draft the institute’s position statement on COVID-19 and the role of intellectual property. The statement was a response to multiple countries proposing that the World Trade Organization waive intellectual property rights to facilitate global access to COVID-19 vaccines.

“The statement notes the positive role that intellectual property rights play in incentivizing and facilitating complex vaccine development,” Trimble says. “It also lists a number of factors other than the existence of intellectual property rights that have been responsible for inequitable access to the vaccines.”

During the pandemic, Trimble also contributed to the work of an International Law Association committee that led to the adoption of the Kyoto Guidelines in December. The guidelines are designed to help attorneys, judges, and legislators navigate

FACULTY SCHOLARSHIP & ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Nancy Rapoport ⊲ Bernard A. Burk, Veronica J. Finkelstein & Nancy B. Rapoport, Ethical Lawyering: A Guide For The WellIntentioned (Wolters Kluwer 2021). ⊲ Joseph R. Tiano, Nancy B. Rapoport & William J. Siroky, The Specter of Malpractice: When Law Firm General Counsel and Risk Management Professionals Are Confronted With Potential Malpractice Claims and Ethics Violations, 81 Maryland L. Rev. (Online) 1 (2021) ⊲ Nancy B. Rapoport & Joseph R. Tiano, Jr., The Legal Industry’s Second Chance to Get It Right, 57 Willamette L. Rev. 1 (2021) Addie Rolnick ⊲ Addie Rolnick, Indigenous Subjects, 131 Yale L. J. ___ (forthcoming) Kathy Stanchi ⊲ “Images of Women in Justice Kennedy’s Jurisprudence,” in Justice Anthony Kennedy: The Rhetoric of Liberty (Penn State Univ. Press, forthcoming 2021) ⊲ The Rhetoric of Racism in the United States Supreme Court, 62 B.C. L. Rev. 1251 (2021)

complex procedural issues in transnational intellectual property litigation.

Since the committee was truly international, Trimble says it had to reconcile a variety of diverse legal traditions, experiences, and expectations. It was also a challenge for the committee to go beyond a mere restatement of current principles to propose modern approaches to improve the transnational litigation of intellectual property cases.

“Of course, pushing the envelope too far could be problematic because courts and governments might be deterred from accepting and adopting the guidelines,” says Trimble, who has presented the guidelines at different events with her committee colleagues.

Beyond the impact she has had through her research on intellectual property law, Trimble—the Samuel S. Lionel Professor of Intellectual Property Law—continues to share her expertise with students at UNLV Boyd Law and abroad. In the past year, she has advised master’s and doctoral students from several countries, including in the LL.M. program in Intellectual Property organized by the University of Turin (Italy) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (Geneva).

Jean Sternlight ⊲ Psychology for Lawyers: Understanding the Human Factors in Negotiation, Litigation, and Decision Making, second edition. (ABA Publications, 2021) (with Jennifer K. Robbe) ⊲ Justice in a Brave New World? 52 U. Conn. L. Rev. 21 (2021).

Anne Traum ⊲ Distributed Federalism: The Transformation of Younger, 106 Cornell L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming).

Marketa Trimble ⊲ Appointed to the Scientific Advisory Board of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition (Munich, Germany) ⊲ “Intellectual Property Law and Geography,” in Handbook on Intellectual Property Research (Irene Calboli & Maria Lilla Montagnani eds., Oxford University Press, 2021) ⊲ Marketa Trimble & Pedro de Miguel Asensio, International Law Association’s Guidelines on Intellectual Property and Private International Law (“Kyoto Guidelines”): Recognition and Enforcement, 12(1) JIPITEC 74 (2021).

2021 | UNLV Law

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WHAT HAPPENS AT BOYD ... IN PICTURES

THE GALLERY

COMMENCEMENT

The Honorable Brenda Weksler, class of 2002, delivers the keynote address to more than 135 J.D. and LL.M. graduates at the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law Commencement on May 14, 2021, in the Thomas & Mack Center.

UNLV Boyd graduate John Bays (left) receives the James E. Rogers Outstanding Scholastic Achievement Award from Dean Frank Durand.

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THE GALLERY

Garman Turner Gordon Professor of Law Nancy Rapoport delivers the faculty remarks to the Class of 2021.

Student Bar Association president and Boyd School of Law graduate Reema Hassanieh welcomes faculty, graduates, family, and friends to the 2021 UNLV Boyd Law Commencement Ceremony.

UNLV Boyd Law graduate Jazmine Thompson is hooded by professor Eve Hanan and Dean Brian Wall as professor Nancy Rapoport (far left) looks on.

2021 | UNLV Law

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KEEPING UP WITH BOYD ALUMNI

CLASS ACTIONS

2001 Brooke (Burch) Borg opened the second location of Borg Law Group on May 1, 2021, in Henderson. The firm focuses its practice on Estate Planning, Probate, and Business Law. Boyd graduate, Whitney Short, ’15, will manage the new Henderson office.

Cory A. Santos, Sr. was appointed by the World Boxing Council to judge the Julio Cesar Martinez vs. Joel Cordova flyweight world championship bout in Guadalajara, Mexico, that was broadcast internationally on DAZN. He has judged nine title fights over a 10-year professional judging career. Santos recently received an AV Preeminent rating by Martindale-Hubbell and was admitted into The National Trial Lawyers Top 100. He continues to practice in northern and southern Nevada mainly in Workers’ Compensation, Entertainment Law, and Personal Injury.

2002 Marjorie (Pinto) Hauf, founding member of Ganz & Hauf, merged with Matt Pfau Law Group to form H&P Law. Marjorie is a trial lawyer specializing in high-end personal injury matters, including car crashes, products liability, and premises liability.

2004 Shane Jasmine Young was featured in Vanity Fair as a Top Businesswoman in Nevada; a Best of Las Vegas Winner for Estate Law, Long Term Care Planning, Elder Law, Personal Injury, Best Law Firm, and Customer Service; Super Lawyers 2021; Vegas Inc. Top Lawyer; MYVEGAS Top 100 Women; MYVEGAS Top 100 Lawyers.

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A Firm Commitment WITH A FOCUS ON FAMILY AND COMMUNITY, SHANE JASMINE YOUNG OPENS HER OWN PRACTICE AND FINDS CAREER FULFILLMENT ON HER TERMS

BY CAMILLE CANNON Shane Jasmine Young was 9 years old when her family moved to Las Vegas after her father, who worked in the airline industry, started his own business. Diligently, he hired a lawyer with the intention of protecting a legacy for his family. Unfortunately, the opposite happened.

“The attorney and third parties pushed my dad out of control,” Young says. “We lost everything, financially and otherwise.”

Witnessing her family’s devastating loss inspired Young to seek a career in law. Today, she runs Young Law Group, which specializes in personal injury, business, and estate planning, including wills, trusts, and kids’ protection planning for families.

Family is also what led Young to the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law. After graduating magna cum laude from Pepperdine University with a business administration degree while five months pregnant with identical twins, she and her husband returned to Las Vegas to be surrounded and supported by their extended families. Once Young began pursuing her dream career at UNLV Boyd Law, that support extended to the law school’s community.

“The faculty, the staff—I felt so welcomed and supported at one of the hardest points in my life. I remember taking my babies to meetings with Dean [Christine] Smith and Dean [Frank] Durand,” Young says. “I never felt like I was figuring things out on my own.”

Even while dealing with the challenges that come with raising twin daughters, Young excelled as a student. She won multiple CALI awards—which are given to students who earn the top grade in a class— in courses such as commercial law, real property, and lawyering process III. She also served as a judicial extern for U.S. District Judge Lloyd D. George, wrote for the Nevada Law Journal, and was Nevada Law Editor for the Law Review.

Young credits the extracurricular opportunities offered at UNLV Boyd Law for giving her a leg up in the job market. “Law Review enhanced my writing skills and gave me the opportunity to work with my peers on major projects,” she says. “I would encourage any

student to do that.”

Upon earning her juris doctor in 2004, Young landed a job with the national firm Snell & Wilmer. However, while enjoying her work as a young attorney, Young quickly sensed that something was missing. “I soon realized that I wasn’t doing what I was called to do or giving all the value I could give,” she says.

So Young balanced her portfolio with pro bono cases, including work with the Children’s Advocacy Project, an organization she connected with during her time at UNLV Boyd Law. She continued offering free legal services at her next role with Ballard Spahr and was instrumental in getting pro bono hours recognized in attorneys’ annual quotas at both firms.

Even as she did important legal work with two prestigious firms, though, Young had long considered opening her own practice. It wasn’t until 2017 after being laid off from an in-house counsel role with a financial services company that she finally took the leap and bet on herself.

“We made the decision as a family,” says Young, who had since welcomed three more daughters. “It was scary at first, but I feel very fortunate and blessed how things worked.”

The Young Law Group is a true family affair: Her husband, Charles, is the chief operating officer, and their twin daughters work as summer interns. “I’m so much more fulfilled in the work I’m able to do and doing it on my terms,” Young says.

That work includes meaningful contributions to the Las Vegas community. For instance, Young is recognized for donating more than 100 pro bono hours annually; she developed the Women Decision Makers networking group; and she hosts on-demand webinars and live events to help educate and connect with local families who have legal needs.

“My goal is to build something that lasts for my children and my team members,” Young says.

As for those twin babies who accompanied Young to campus? They’re now young women who are looking to follow in their mom’s footsteps, starting with their legal education: Young says they plan to attend the UNLV Boyd School of Law, extending a more positive legal legacy in the family.

CLASS ACTIONS

2007 Ryan Hicks was promoted to Partner at Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman

2008 Chris Kircher was recognized as Mountain States Super Lawyer by Super Lawyers Magazine, Legal Elite by Nevada Business Magazine, and Top Lawyer

by Vegas, Inc. James Robertson joined McDonald Carano LLP as a partner and a member of the firm’s Business Entities & Transactions Practice Group and its Gaming & Administrative Law Practice Group.

2014 Brittany Llewellyn was promoted to Member at Weinberg, Wheeler, Hudgins, Gunn & Dial.

Brittnie Watkins was named to the Nevada Gaming Control Board by Governor Steve Sisolak.

2015 Lindsay Liddell was appointed to serve as a Lawyer Representative for the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.

2017 Andrea Orwoll began working with Nye County as a prosecutor under the Violence Against Women Act (“VAWA”). She specializes in prosecuting cases related to intimate partner violence, and has been working on building the “grant program” in the county to facilitate better community communication and victim assistance.

Shane Jasmine Young (‘04) 2021 | UNLV Law

39

CLASS ACTIONS

2018 Alex Velto received the 2020 Volunteer of the Year Award from the Nevada State Bar.

2019 Richard V. Foster was awarded Pro Bono Attorney of the Month by Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada.

He will also be presented a Champions of Justice Award

by Nevada Legal Services in the solo practitioner category for his pro bono work and participation in the ask-alawyer program.

Caleb L. Green was named a Best Up & Coming Attorney by Nevada Business Magazine and featured on the cover of the Legal Elite 2021 edition; selected to be a Young Lawyer Fellow with the American Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Section; presented with a leadership recognition from the American Bar Association for his work on behalf of the Section and the Law Student Action Group; included in the Lawyers of Color “Hot List” 2020; and named as an inaugural Presidential Fellow with the National Bar Association.

2020 Camilla Dudley passed the California Bar Exam and moved to Los Angeles to work on the homelessness crisis on Skid Row. Carmen Johnson is an Assistant District Attorney in Anchorage, Alaska.

ALUMNI REMEMBERED We wish to recognize Sterling Max Doubrava, ’03, who passed away since our last issue.

40

UNLV Law | 2021

Resting Her Case AFTER A SUCCESSFUL 20-YEAR CAREER AS A PRACTICING ATTORNEY IN WASHINGTON, JENNIFER ANDREWS MAKES THE MOVE TO THE BENCH AS SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE

BY CAMILLE CANNON Jennifer Andrews has arrived at a pivotal moment in her career. After practicing family law in Washington state for almost 20 years, the Las Vegas native and 2002 graduate of the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law recently transitioned from the bar to the bench.

The career shift was first revealed in mid-August, when Washington Governor Jay Inslee appointed Andrews to replace retired Judge Stephanie Arend on the Pierce County Superior Court.

The move became official October 18 when Andrews was handed the gavel for Department 12.

“I was a bit in shock when I got the call, because it was my first time applying [for a judgeship], and there were many other really great candidates,” Andrews says.

One look at Andrews’ credentials explains why the governor selected her. A partner at The Narrows Law Group for the past 10 years, Andrews also has served as a commissioner pro tem handling family law matters for the Pierce County Superior Court since 2019. She is dedicated to her local community as well, having volunteered in roles such as board member of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound, president of the Robert J. Bryan American Inn of Court, and treasurer and president of the Pierce County Chapter of Washington Women’s Lawyers.

Andrews began building her impressive law résumé shortly after arriving among the second class of UNLV Boyd Law students in 1999.

In addition to other activities, she worked as a student teaching assistant for former professor Annette Appell.

“Working with her helped me develop confidence and an interest in adoption law, as well as social issues surrounding mothers and the foster care system,” says Andrews, whose article “Minor Mothers and Consent to Adoption: An Anomaly in Youth Law,” was published in Adoption Quarterly while she was still a student. “I’ve always been a good writer, but Boyd’s writing program helped me so much.”

Another benefit: At the time she arrived on campus, the fledgling law school had a limited student body. “The fact it was such a small school helped me experiment and create a path for myself,” she says.

Motivated by a passion for social justice, Andrews co-founded the campus’ Public Interest Law Association. As president of PILA, she discovered the opportunity to apply for the competitive Goldmark Internship. She subsequently was offered an internship with the Legal Foundation of Washington, a

“I view the law as a really powerful tool to effect change. The ability to practice law and get in front of a judge puts you in a position of privilege and power. It’s important to remember that and never abuse that as a practitioner.”

Jennifer Andrews 2002 UNLV Boyd graduate

public interest nonprofit.

Andrews describes her internship in Washington as a “sliding door” moment, in reference to the 1998 film of the same name. “If you go one route,” she says, “your trajectory will look so different.”

It didn’t take much time for the lifelong Las Vegan to fall in love with the Pacific Northwest’s climate, notably the beautiful summertime weather and lush landscapes. So after graduating from UNLV Boyd Law, Andrews accepted a job with the firm of her internship’s supervising attorney.

That launched a career that has since included a lot of pro bono work, some of which involved representing same-sex couples with children. Before the U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the legality of same-sex marriages, many couples who had children through artificial insemination worried that their parental rights wouldn’t be recognized if their families left Washington. Andrews did at least a dozen no-fee adoptions to help protect those rights.

“I view the law as a really powerful tool to effect change,” she says.

“The ability to practice law and get in front of a judge puts you in a position of privilege and power. It’s important to remember that and never abuse that as a practitioner.”

As she enters the next chapter of her career, Andrews also is looking forward to change in her personal life. Because working on the bench offers a more structured schedule, she’s hoping to have more time to spend with her 13-year-old son and her mother, as well as expand her community engagement.

And of course, more time to appreciate and explore the state she first fell in love with almost 20 years ago.

CLASS ACTIONS

Jennifer Andrews (‘02) 2021 | UNLV Law

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RECOGNIZING BOYD’S SUPPORTERS

DONORS

Boyd Alums Tee Off for a Cause LED BY PRESIDENT AMANDA STEVENS, THE UNLV BOYD LAW ALUMNI CHAPTER WELCOMES BACK ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT TO FUND SCHOLARSHIPS

BY PATRICK MCDONNELL Just like rolling in a 25-foot putt on the first hole of a round can generate momentum for a weekend duffer, success on the golf course has created a lot of financial momentum for the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law’s Alumni Chapter.

For the first time in two years, the chapter hosted its alumni golf tournament— the group’s largest annual fundraiser—at Bear’s Best Las Vegas. Golfers and guests gathered on the Jack Nicklaus-designed course on September 17 to raise money for endowed scholarships for students, while also reconnecting with one another.

The sixth edition of the important event attracted 80 golfers and raised more than $14,000. That total was down a bit because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the tournament was nonetheless a big success and invigorating for alums, says Alumni Chapter president Amanda Stevens (’15).

“It’s the first event that brought the alumni back together [since the pandemic],” says Stevens, who is president of Las Vegasbased Battle Born Capital, a hard-money lender that works with private investors to fund loans for local developers.

Part of the proceeds from this year’s golf tournament will help fund the Law Alumni Chapter Scholarship, a $1,500 award given annually to a law school scholar at the beginning of the school year. Madeleine Coles, a 3L and editor-in-chief of the Nevada Law Journal, is this year’s recipient.

Another scholarship Stevens is quick to laud is the Strive Grant, a new Alumni Chapter initiative that will award $1,200 to an individual who is retaking the bar exam.

Stevens says students navigating the financial challenges of additional bar-exam preparation could use the Strive Grant to pay for tutors or support materials.

Stevens, who moved to Las Vegas in 1999 and has earned all four of her degrees 42

UNLV Law | 2021

From left: UNLV Boyd alums Amanda Stevens (’15), Ray Smith (’03), Melissa Corral (’14), Monique Jammer (’19), Jessica Gandy (’16), and Stacy Newman (’16), and professor/faculty liason Lori Johnson. from UNLV, is excited about both the law school’s progress since its opening in 1998 and its future.

She notes that U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Brenda Weksler, who delivered this year’s law school commencement address on May 14, is among the law school’s 2,748 alums (as of December). So too are Nevada Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and Speaker of the Nevada Assembly Jason Frierson—not to mention hundreds of members of the Nevada Bar. “Boyd is still young, and there are a lot of [practicing] attorneys in Nevada who didn’t even have the opportunity to attend the school,” says Stevens, a native of Storm

Lake, Iowa. “So it says a lot that 20 percent of the Nevada Bar is [comprised of] Boyd grads.”

Stevens, who helped found Battle Born Capital in 2017, received her undergraduate degree in finance and international business from UNLV in 2002. She attended law school’s night program at a time when she also worked. The fact that night classes were offered was a big factor in her decision to return to her alma mater for law school.

“I wanted to stay local,” she says. “The night school program is great for working professionals. It took me four years to get through it, and there were a lot of students just like me.”

“Boyd is still young, and there are a lot of [practicing] attorneys in Nevada who didn’t even have the opportunity to attend the school. So it says a lot that 20 percent of the Nevada Bar is [comprised of] Boyd grads.”

Amanda Stevens UNLV Boyd School of Law Alumni Chapter president

DONORS

“These initial events were very well-attended and well-received. I know how passionate Governor Sandoval is about Nevada and public policy. The creation of the center was all about that passion and his vision for the future.”.”

Greg Brower Wynn Resorts chief global compliance officer

Former FBI Director James Comey, left, and former Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval speak at the 2019 Law and Leadership symposium series.

Leading the Charge LAUNCHED BY TWO NOTABLE NEVADANS, THE CENTER FOR LAW AND LEADERSHIP TOUTS THE BENEFITS OF LEGAL CAREERS IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE

BY PATRICK MCDONNELL Two parallel paths recently converged into a vision of success for the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law’s Center for Law and Leadership. It’s a convergence that featured two prominent Nevadans: former Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval (now president of the University of Nevada, Reno) and Greg Brower, Wynn Resorts’ chief global compliance officer.

Both executives grew up in Nevada, served in the Legislature, and rose to important positions in federal law adjudication and enforcement, respectively. And both profoundly influenced Nevada gaming and higher education.

Now, Sandoval, the law school’s first Distinguished Fellow in Law and Leader-

ship, and Brower, a member of the center’s advisory board, are helping law students understand how public service and government involvement can play an important role in building their careers. Specifically, Brower says the Center for Law and Leadership aims to help students recognize the inherent value of applying their legal education to careers in public service.

“Public service as a lawyer can take many forms, all of which are critically important to making our federal, state, and local governments work,” Brower says.

Sandoval kicked off a Law and Leadership symposium series in September 2019, attracting several Western governors, U.S. senators, and former and sitting judges. Two weeks after the symposium series debuted, former FBI Director James Comey spoke at the center’s keynote event.

“These initial events were very wellattended and well-received,” says Brower, who has been an adjunct professor at the Boyd School of Law for more than three years. “I know how passionate Governor Sandoval is about Nevada and public policy.

The creation of the center was all about that

passion and his vision for the future.”

Brower, who was once Nevada’s top federal prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice and FBI deputy general counsel under Comey, has helped public policy-minded law students connect with numerous government leaders and elected officials. Retired U.S. Senator Harry Reid, former Nevada Lieutenant Governor Mark Hutchinson, and school namesake Bill Boyd also have helped maintain the Center for Law and Leadership’s momentum.

Reid’s involvement includes lending his name and prestige to the center, while Boyd has generated stability for the center’s programs through generous financial support.

Meanwhile, as a member of the advisory board, Hutchinson has consistently offered advice on strategies to ensure the center provides value to the community.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has temporarily short-circuited some of the in-person connections that big events provide. However, Brower says he remains hopeful that the center remains on track to achieve its goals and fulfill the founding vision. “The relationships and opportunities that the center can create for law students are key parts of its mission,” he says.

When it comes to law and leadership and the center’s success, Brower says he follows a simple philosophy of encouraging input from others around him, something that has been one of Sandoval’s management hallmarks.

“We were very fortunate, under the leadership of Governor Sandoval and former law school Dean Dan Hamilton, to assemble an outstanding advisory board for the Center for Law and Leadership,” he says.

“But we are also open to ideas that others may have for making the center a success.”

2021 | UNLV Law

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RECOGNIZING BOYD’S SUPPORTERS

* indicates Alumni Leadership Circle member ** indicates UNLV Boyd Law faculty and staff

DONORS

The law school is grateful to the following donors for their support in Fiscal Year 2021 (July 1, 2020-June 30, 2021):

$1 MILLION+

• William S. Boyd & The Boyd Foundation

$500,000-$999,999 • San Manuel Band of Mission Indians

$250,000-$499,999 • The Entain Foundation US, Inc.

$100,000-$249,999 • Lynn and Foster Friess

$50,000-$99,999

• Ed and Claudia Bernstein • Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP • Edward M. Bernstein & Associates • Dan Hamilton and Mary-Ann Winkelmes • Samuel and Lexy Lionel & The Lionel Trust • The Lionel Trust • James E. Nave • United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America

$25,000-$49,999

• Jeneva Bell • The E. L. Cord Foundation • Garman Turner Gordon, LLP • Yvonne and Gerald Gordon • NV Energy • Michael and Sonja Saltman • The Schwab Fund For Charitable Giving • Wilkes & McHugh, P.A.

$10,000-$24,999

• Lynnda Brown ’04 • Eglet Adams • Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund • Nevada Community Foundation • John F. O’Reilly • Southern Nevada Association of Women Attorneys • UNLV Alumni Association • Ernest Zacher ’20

$5,000-$9,999

• Andras F. Babero • Laurel E. Babero • David R. Belding • De Castroverde Law Group • Perry Friedman ’16 • Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund • Morgan Stanley 44

UNLV Law | 2021

• Nevada Attorneys for Criminal Justice, Inc. • Nancy B. Rapoport** • Henry L. Schuck • State Bar of Nevada • Mark G. Tratos • John Valery White** and Jocelyn Cortez

• Thomas & Mack Company • Thomas A. Thomas • Sandy Van ’07 • Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program • Ann Ward* ’02 • Steven Yeager

$2,500-$4,999

$500-$999

• Travis N. Barrick • Mary Beth Beazley** • Frank** and Veronica Durand • Anna Kraus • Sean McClenahan ’05 • Ann McGinley** and Jeff Stempel** • Patrick N. Chapin, LTD. • Philip & Dori Pro Family Trust • Schwartzer & McPherson Law Firm • Christine Smith** • UpRight Law

$1,000-$2,499

• Chris Arabia • Paola Armeni Androvandi* ’03 • Leigh and Phillip Aurbach • Beasley Allen Law Firm • Bret Birdsong** and Anne Traum** • Ogonna Brown* ’01 • Barbara Buckley • Holly Cheong* ’10 • Daron Dorsey* and Hon. Jennifer Dorsey • Hon. Michael Douglas and Anne Douglas • Firstline Securities Limited • Puneet Garg ’05 • Carmen Gilbert ’19 • Leslie Griffin** • Kimball Hakes* ’04 • Marjorie Hauf* ’02 • Kara Hendricks* ’01 and Jean-Paul Hendricks* ’06 • Nicholas Hickly* ’12 • Peter Kraus ’12 • Jenny Lee ’12 • Hon. Peggy A. Leen • Thomas O. Main • Richard J. Morgan • Sandra Morgan* ’03 • Moss Berg Injury Lawyers • Mullins & Trenchak, Attorneys at Law • Jessica Murphy* ’03 and James Murphy ’03 • Marsha Peterson ’07 • Ngai L. Pindell** • Rosa Solis-Rainey* ’01 and Dayne Rainey • Quinton Singleton* ’07 • Raymond Smith ’03 • Snell & Wilmer, LLP • Southern Highlands Golf Club • Spencer Fane LLP • Cassie Stratford* ’08

• Rachael Adair** • Michael Ahlander ’05 • Richard Andrews ’13 • Christian Augustin* ’15 • Anthony Baker • Brian Blaylock* ’12 • Joseph Brown • Hon. Bonnie Bulla • Caesars Entertainment Corporation • Justin Carley* ’06 and Anna Carley • Peggy Daly-Crabtree • Aleem Dhalla* ’16 • Kelly Dove and Ian Dove • Eagle Eye Produce Inc. • Mark Fine and Gloria Fine • Charles R. Ford • Friends for Harry Reid • Tom and Mary Gallagher • Steven Wolfson and Hon. Jackie Glass • Adriana Guzman Fralick • Tal Hackmey • Hutchings Law Group • Insomniac Holdings, LLC • Jenny Legal • Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada • Mackedon Law P.C. • Roberta Martin • Modo Yoga • Ann Morgan • Nevada Legal News • Leslie Nino-Piro ’09 and John Piro ’10 • Patagonia • Jeanne F. Price** • Keith A. Rowley** • Hon. Brian Sandoval** • Erik C. Severino ’06 and Karen Severino ’06 • Scott A. Sibley • Sidley Austin, LLP • Doreen M. Spears Hartwell • Jean Sternlight** and Sylvia Lazos** • Hon. Lidia S. Stiglich • William Sykes ’05 • Lisa Symanski and Leon Symanski* ’01 • Hon. Brenda Weksler* ’02 • Valerie Wiener • Frank R. Woodbeck

$250-$499 • Vince M. Alberta

DONORS

• Rachel J. Anderson** • Andrew Artusa • Mary Bacon • Ballast Financial • Jeanette Barrick** ’13 • Ian Bartrum** • Linda Berger** • Anthony Cabot** • California Hotel & Casino • Angelo Cassaro • Carolina Chacon • Alissa Cooley ’14 • Frank Rudy Cooper** • Melissa Corral ’14 • Valerie Diaz • Lydia R. Nussbaum** and Maxim Gakh** • Sara Gordon** • Ryan Gormley ’14 • Margaret Hanan** • John Harney • Jorge Haynes • Michael Higdon ’01 • Raymond Jereza ’09 • Lori Johnson** • Gil Kahn ’16 • Canella Kircher • Rosa Lucero • M Resort Spa Casino • Daniela Madrid Hadges • McConnell Law Office • Jean-Lionel Mésidor • Frank Nemec • Dawn Nielsen** ’16 and Robert Nielsen • Michael Ooley • Michael Paretti* ’15 • Joseph Regalia** • Lauren Robinson • Ruby 360 Lodge • Rebecca Scharf** • Kathy Shalmy and Michael Shalmy ’06 • Howard Siegel • Cristina Silva • The Coder School • Frank Fritz** and Kathy Stanchi** • Marketa Trimble** • Adrian Viesca ’17 • Dan Waite • Trevor Waite* ’14 • Beverly Wesner-Hoehn • I-Chang Yang ’08 • Shannia Young ’04

$100-$249 • Kimberly Abbott • Cheryl Abramoff • Sarah Aguero ’09 • David Alexander

• Lisa Amsler • Madeline Arcellana ’15 • Heather Armantrout ’17 • Boomtown Casino Hotel • Brooklyn Bowl • Wade Brynelson • Brenda Buck • Travis Burke • Arthur Burns ’20 • Cafe Lola • Casita Uno, LLC • Elva Castaneda ’20 • Clark County Museum • Clark Hill, PLC • Teresita Clemmer • Benjamin Contine • Valerie Cossio • Crepe Expectations • Joseph Dagher ’19 • Elizabeth Davenport ’21 • Michelle Di Silvestro Alanis ’06 • Angela Doran** • Janet Feldman • Frances-Ann Fine • Richard Foster ’19 and Lynda Foster • Eric Gannon ’08 • Phillip Gingell • Kimberly Goodnight ’06 • Cheryl Grames ’12 • Stella Griffith • James Hammond • Julian Helguero-Kelley • Keith Hightower ’17 • Mary Ella Holloway • In-N-Out • Jacqueline Islas • Isaiah Jerez ’09 • Anna Marie Johnson • Darcy Johnson ’02 • Terry Johnson ’11 • RoSand Johnson-Parker • Kendra Scott, LLC • Cindy Kerben • Kay Kindred** • Brian Knudsen • George Kunz ’09 • Marc Kustner ’19 • Kuzemka Law Group • Margaret Lambrose ’09 • Edgar Lampkin • Law Office of Kathleen M. Paustian Chartered • Evangelin Lee ’06 • Patricia Lee • The Legacy Golf Club • Lion Habitat Ranch, LLC • Raeanne Lopez Little • Allison Mann • David López-Negrete

• Cameron Lue Sang** • LunchboxWax • Emily Lundahl • Elizabeth MacDowell** • Ivette Maningo • Monica Martinez ’17 • Ian Marx • Mary McCarthy • Erica Medley • John Mishler • Pranava Moody • Matthew Morris ’13 • Hon. Cheryl Moss • John Mowbray ’17 • William Mullen • Angela T. Nakamura Ochoa ’06 and David Ochoa ’06 • Christian X. Narvaez • Rebecca Nathanson** • Brad Neumann • Nevada Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission • Ashley Nikkel ’12 • Robert O’Brien • Cristina Olson ’10 • Maren Parry ’05 • Jessica E. Perlick ’13 • Ari Peskoe • Mary Pickering • Pinot’s Palette • Adam Plumer • Chandler Pohl ’14 • Heather Procter ’03 • Raising Cane’s Restaurants, LLC • Mirna Ramos • Brenda Reeh • Francesca Resch ’12 • Timothy Revero ’16 • Samantha Reviglio ’16 • Trudy Robles • Marisa Rodriguez ’13 • Thomas Rodriguez • Stephanie Rojo • Jenny Routheau ’08 • Freddy Saavedra • Mark Sakurada • Ellen Schulhofer • Terra Shepard • Stacy Shiroma** • Rick Shukis • Daniel Siciliano • James Silvestri • William Simpson • Jeffery Skov ’04 • Vickie Smith • Kara Spoelstra • Amanda Stevens ’15 • Damion Stodola • Hon. Gloria Sturman • Valorie and Howard Stutz 2021 | UNLV Law

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RECOGNIZING BOYD’S SUPPORTERS

DONORS

• Greer Sullivan • John Swendseid • David Tanenhaus** • The Adair Family Foundation • The Miller Law Firm • Jonathan Ullman • Julianne Marie Unite ’14 • Laura Valencia • Jane Vargas • Brian Wall** • Amber White-Davidson ’09 • Drew Willison • Scott Wrye • Danielle Yarbrough • Jennifer Yee ’20

$1-$99

• Diana Aguayo • Timothy Alau ’18 • Hazel Alejandro • Malia Alo-Sajor • Jacqueline Alvarez-Bright ’21 • Heather Anderson-Fintak • Gabrielle Angle ’10 • Dallas Anselmo ’21 • Reza Ayazi • Barre 3 • Bar Parx • Brady Bathke • John Bays ’21 • Leonardo Benavides ’18 • Kyra Bergsund • Kelly Boan** • Shannon Borden ’19 • Bailey Bortolin ’15 and Alexander Quagge ’15 • Brendon Brandao • Craig Brenner • Christa Broka • Angela Brown • Emily Buchwald ’14 • Jennifer Carr ’06 • Shani Coleman ’16 • Madeleine Coles • Crumbl Cookies • Tony Dane • Kathleen Dickinson • Shay Digenan • Discovery Children’s Museum • Adele Doctor • Richard Dutro • Athena Eliades ’19 • Kathleen England • Ethel M Chocolates • Alicia Exley ’16 • Shawn Flaherty • Augustine Flores • Stephanie Flores 46

UNLV Law | 2021

• Noemi Flores-Sahagun • Steven Friskel • Jessica Gandy ’16 • Nina Garcia • Sara Garcia Paez • Rosalie Garcia • Dawn Gearhart ’07 • Amanda Grathwohl • Teresa Green • Grime & Punishment Bath Essentials • Kate Groesbeck • Adrianna Guida ’20 • Edward Halstead • Molly Harbour • Kiley Harrison • Kyle Helton • Romero Hidalgo • Madyson Hinkel • Jordan Hollander ’16 • Kristina Holmstrom ’04 • Jessica Horani • Victoria Horseman • Emily Irwin • Karla Irwin • Monique Jammer ’19 • Steve Jimenez ’18 • Asha Jones • Pamela Jones • Yoosun Jun • Michael Kagan** • KAS Law, LLC • Asma Khan • Malani Kotchka • Jennifer I. Kuhlman ’06 • Andre Labonte ’21 • Las Vegas Aviators • Amanda Laub ’18 • Law Office of Richard V. Foster • Caroline Lee • Charlotte Leese • Robert Lemus • Akke Levin ’04 and Ari Levin • Liberty Food and Wine Exchange • Alexander Loera • Ellsie Lucero ’19 • Briana Martinez ’18 • Joel Martinez • Thomas McAffee • Ryan McConnell ’20 • Kaitlin McCormick-Huhn • Stephanie McDonald ’07 and Steven McDonald ’01 • Kevin McGovern • Hugo Meier • Martha Menendez • The Mob Museum • Peter Mueller • Cherae Muije ’21

• National Atomic Testing Museum • Dean Navalta ’20 • Gabriella Nellis • Hannah Nelson ’21 • Stacy Newman ’16 • Chapman Noam • David Nourse • Alma Orozco ’19 • Anthony Ortiz • Megan Ortiz ’20 • Romeo Perez • Elisabeth Peyer • Pigeon Head Brewery • Arlette Pineda • Shaina Plaksin ’15 • Alicia Portillo** • Elizabeth Protass • Rachel’s Kitchen • Amalia Rainey • Allison H. Reese • Sandra Rodriguez** • Gloria C. Romeo • Jacklyn Rosen • Mayra Salinas-Menjivar ’17 • Seth Samuels • Samantha Sato • Ashley Schobert • Katherine Schreiber • Andrea Shafer** • Courtney Sinagra • Scout Sique • Slater’s 50/50 • Maricruz Soto-Valdez** • Star Nursery Inc. • State 36 Clothing Co. • Emily Strand ’19 • Keyonna Summers • Daniel Tafoya ’20 • Alexis Taitel ’21 • Rosalie Taylor • The Refuge Climbing and Fitness • Maria Thompson • Casey Turi ’21 • Melissa Urbieta • Heron Vasquez III ’20 • Sarah Voehl • Susan B. Wainscott • Marcianne Waters • Brittnie Watkins ’14 • Jermara Watkins ’21 • Michael Wendlberger ’07 • Whispering Vine Wine • Michelle Wilson • Catherine Wresche • Angelina Yount • Andrea Zengion

DEAN’S COUNCIL Michael Bonner, Greenberg Trauig Judge Richard Boulware, U.S. District Court William S. Boyd, Boyd Gaming Joseph Brown, Kolesar & Leatham Ogonna Brown ’01, Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie Senator Richard Bryan, Fennemore Craig Barbara Buckley, Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada Jennifer Carleton, Howard & Howard Miles Dickson ’11, Nevada GrantLab

Timothy Donovan, Caesars Entertainment Corporation M. Daron Dorsey ’01, Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers Robert Eglet, Eglet Adams Speaker Jason Frierson ’01, Clark County District Attorney’s Office Alex Fugazzi, Snell & Wilmer Gerald Gordon, Garman Turner Gordon Brian Irvine ’01, Dickinson Wright Samuel Lionel, Fennemore Craig Judge Gloria Navarro, U.S. District Court

Michael Saltman, The Vista Group Ellen Schulhofer, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck Jeff Silvestri, McDonald Carano Tom Thomas, Thomas & Mack Company Dan Waite, Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie Melissa Waite ’07, Dickinson Wright Judge Brenda Weksler ’02, U.S. District Court of Nevada Steve Wolfson, Clark County District Attorney’s Office Kendelee Works ’05, Christiansen Law

M. Daron Dorsey ’01, Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers Kelly Dove ’07, Snell & Wilmer Erin M. Gettel ’15, Federal Public Defender’s Office Charles Gianelloni ’12, Snell & Wilmer Dennis Gutwald ’03, McDonald Carano Keith Hansen ’09, Allegiant Air Marjorie Hauf ’02, Ganz & Hauf Kara B. Hendricks ’01, Greenberg Traurig Jean-Paul Hendricks ’06, Maier Gutierrez & Associates Nicholas Hickly ’12, The Investment Counsel Company Kirk Homeyer ’11, Fertitta Enterprises Brian Irvine ’01, Dickinson Wright Matthew I. Knepper ’12, Knepper & Clark Kfir Levy ’03, Mayer Brown Michael B. Lee ’06, Michael B. Lee, PC Sandra Douglass Morgan ’03, Fidelity National Financial Terry A. Moore ’01, Marquis Aurbach Coffing

James E. Murphy ’03, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith Jessica W. Murphy ’03, Clark County Public Defender’s Office Michael Paretti ’15, Snell & Wilmer Kathia Pereira ’03, Pereira Law Group Casey G. Perkins ’10, EMC Insurance Companies Becky Pintar ’01, Pintar Albiston Robert Potter ’02, Affordable Concepts Quinton R. Singleton ’07, Predicate, LTD Rosa Solis-Rainey ’01, Morris Law Group Cassie Stratford, Boyd Gaming Leon Symanski ’01, Craig P. Kenny & Associates Melissa L. Waite ’07, Dickinson Wright Trevor Waite ’14, Alverson Taylor Mortensen & Sanders Ann Ward ’02, Retired Judge Brenda Weksler ’02, U.S. District Court, District of Nevada Kendelee L. Works ’05, Christiansen Law Ryan Works ’04, McDonald Carano Lilith Xara, Akerman, LLP

ALUMNI LEADERSHIP CIRCLE The Alumni Leadership Circle is a group of dedicated alumni who have pledged a minimum of $5,000 in support of the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law. Paola Armeni ’03, Clark Hill Christian Augustin ’15, Claggett & Sykes Brian L. Blaylock ’12, Snell & Wilmer Alison Brasier ’07, Richard Harris Personal Injury Law Firm Ogonna Brown ’01, Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie Adam Bult ’04, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck E. Joe Cain ’01, Fifth Street Gaming Justin L. Carley ’06, The Howard Hughes Corporation Holly E. Cheong ’10, Snell & Wilmer Sean K. Claggett ’03, Claggett & Sykes Zachary B. Conine ’13, Nevada State Treasurer Aleem A. Dhalla ’16, Snell & Wilmer Miles Dickson ’11, Nevada GrantLab

BOYD ALUMNI CHAPTER BOARD OF DIRECTORS Bailey Bortolin ’15 Jennifer Carr ’06 Melissa Corral ’14 Joseph Dagher ’19 Myrra Dvorak ’20 Jessica Gandy ’16 Monique Jammer ’18 Evie Lee ’06 Brittany M. Llewellyn ’14

Erica Medley ’15 Matt Morris ’13 Stacy Newman ’16 Jessica Perlick ’13 Chandler Pohl ’14; LL.M. ’18 Francesca M. Resch ’12 Nathaniel Saxe ’20 Whitney Short ’15 Ray Smith ’03

Amanda Stevens ’15 Emily Strand ’19 Silvia Villanueva ’14 Judge Brenda Weksler ’02 Sara Gordon, Interim Dean Lori D. Johnson, Faculty Liaison Kiley Harrison, Student Liaison Kegan McMullan, Student Liaison 2021 | UNLV Law

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CLOSING ARGUMENT

A Modern Approach to Dispensing Justice COVID-19 PANDEMIC FORCES THE COURT SYSTEM TO ADAPT TO THE TIMES. WE ALL WILL BE BETTER FOR IT

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our favorite GPS app will tell you that only 320 miles separate Hawthorne, Nevada, from the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law. I’m here to tell you that distance might as well be 320,000 miles. I know, because I grew up in Hawthorne, a rural town in the middle of the state that abuts the California border.

How rural? With a population that barely eclipses 3,000, my childhood hometown has fewer residents than some Las Vegas Strip resorts have hotel rooms. So, needless to say, I encountered a bit of culture shock when I arrived on the UNLV Boyd Law School campus in summer 2003. It didn’t take but a day to realize that acclimating to my new environment wouldn’t be my only challenge.

Learning to navigate law school—how to study, when to study, where to study, what to study—is different than any other stop along the educational journey. And it was up to me to figure out a system that worked best.

Looking back, adapting to life as a law student during those first days and weeks was almost as difficult as the coursework itself.

I hardly knew it at the time, but the adaptation skills I developed early on at the law school would serve me well throughout my career as both a practicing attorney and, for the past four years, as a district court judge. Never was this more evident than when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and instantaneously altered how we lived and worked.

I’ll never forget the meeting we had on that Friday in mid-March 2020 when we decided to close the courthouse doors the following Monday. Just like that, the perpetually spinning wheels of justice ground to a halt.

At the time, it was unclear just how long the pause would last. But one thing was clear: The pandemic would require all of us—judges, attorneys, administrative staff, etc.—to adjust to a new way of conducting business. And that’s when another important skill I honed during my time at UNLV Boyd Law kicked in: the art of collaboration.

Working together, the court embraced technology like never before. For instance, we transformed into a paperless court overnight; we conducted hearings and permitted witness testimony via videoconference; and we streamed proceedings online to accommodate those who weren’t allowed to be in the courtroom. There 48

UNLV Law | 2021

were challenges, of course—after all, not everyone readily welcomes technology, especially in the legal world—but in the end, there was an overwhelming consensus that these changes were necessary to efficiently dispense justice at a time of global chaos.

Those changes weren’t limited to technology. When jury trials resumed in earnest on February 1, 2021, two of our courtrooms looked completely different. To adhere to health and safety protocols, all public seating was removed and clear partitions were installed at counsel tables, around the judge’s bench, and in the jury box.

Yet another sign of adaptation and collaboration working in tandem: While criminal trials took place in these redesigned “COVID courtrooms,” civil trials were relocated to makeshift courtrooms at the Las Vegas Convention Center, which had plenty of space to lease because of the pause in convention business.

Thankfully, just like in other facets of life, the justice system is ever-so-slowly returning to some semblance of normalcy—and just like in other facets of life, it’s a “new normal.” Because one thing the pandemic did was force the justice system to accelerate its long-overdue leap into the 21st century. There’s no question we operate more productively and efficiently—and with greater flexibility—than we did before March 2020. Not only is that a win for society at-large, but it will prove particularly beneficial to current and future law school students who pursue careers in civil and/or criminal law.

Speaking of students, I offer all of you—regardless of where your J.D. may take you—these parting words of wisdom: Your law school experience isn’t only about learning case law, writing papers, and marathon study sessions. It’s also about forging bonds with fellow students, faculty, and staff, and leaning on each other, especially during challenging times.

Maneuvering through the past year reminded me just how strong and valuable UNLV Boyd Law’s support system is. Trust me when I tell you that support system will be there for you, too—no matter if you come from a big city or little ol’ Hawthorne.

Judge Tierra D. Jones is a 2006 graduate of the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law and a District Court Judge in Department 10 of the Eighth Judicial District Court.

UNLV’s Gaming Law Curriculum Is Now More Accessible.

Online Executive Education In partnership with Entain, the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law announces new online training programs in gaming law and regulation. This online training program is designed for operators, regulators, lawyers, and non-lawyers working in the gaming industry.

Participants are not required to hold a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in order to enroll.

Courses include: • • • • • •

Introduction to Gaming Law and Regulation with Anthony Cabot Resort Hotel Casino Law with William Buffalo Introduction to Indian Gaming Law with Kathryn Rand and Steven Light Player Accountability & Corporate Social Responsibility in Gaming Law with Alan Feldman and Dayvid Figler Public Policy and Comparative Study of Gaming Laws and Regulations with Simon Planzer The Legal and Operational Environment for Sports Betting

law.unlv.edu/gaming-law/ executive-education

gradlaw@unlv.edu

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID

UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS WILLIAM S. BOYD SCHOOL OF LAW 4505 S. MARYLAND PARKWAY BOX 451003 LAS VEGAS NV 89154-1003

LAS VEGAS, NV

P RESE N TS THE

23RD ANNUAL SILVER STATE AUCTION FEBRUARY 24, 2022

IN-KIND DONATIONS Email PILA@unlv.nevada.edu to donate items for the auction

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PROCEEDS SUPPORT SCHOLARSHIPS FOR WILLIAM S. BOYD SCHOOL OF LAW STUDENTS WORKING IN PUBLIC INTEREST