Law school plan nears reality

Debra D. Bass

Tuesday, Aug. 6, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

With $7 million in pledges, UNLV is banking on the support of the 1997 Legislature to make the new law school a reality.

UNLV President Carol Harter said "the new, we hope, soon-to-be-realized law school" will bear the name of William S. Boyd in honor of his $5 million pledge.

"There were many contributors, but without this one single person, this program would not be possible," Harter said.

Boyd is chairman and chief executive officer of Boyd Gaming Corp. He contacted Kenny Guinn, who sits on the UNLV Foundation and acted as interim president before Harter's appointment, a few months ago with plans to raise $8 million in two months.

"He said he was more of a professional giver, not a fund-raiser and asked for my help," Guinn explained of the monumental task of raising millions in a few months. "Then he said he would start with $5 million out of his pocket and I said I can definitely work with that."

Guinn said the time is right for UNLV to have a law school and Boyd should be commended for leading the effort.

"This is a very exciting day, not just for me, but for the state of Nevada," Boyd said.

He said the studies and questions about whether a law school is needed should now take a back seat to coordinating a school the state can be proud to sponsor.

"Students undertake a tremendous financial burden to attend law school out of state," said Boyd, who attended law school in Utah. "The creation of a law school at UNLV will curtail those costs."

He said it is about time Nevada students had a "quality, affordable, first-class institution in their own state."

The additional $2 million in pledges came from James E. Rogers, president and chief executive officer of Sunbelt Broadcasting Co. (KVBC Channel 3); the Marnell family; Michael Gaughan, chairman and CEO of Coast Resorts; John "Jackie" Gaughan, president of the El Cortez hotel-casino; Warren Nelson, a member of Boyd Gaming's board of directors; Sam and Pat Lionel; and Boyd Gaming, represented by William Boyd.

Plans call for the law school to enroll its first class in 1998 and eventually to have a student body in excess of 400. There is no word on how soon the school could attain provisional and full accreditation to assure graduates are able to take the bar exam, but school officials say it would be done at the earliest opportunity.

The school would specialize in issues of local and regional importance, such as gaming, mining, water and environmental law.

"People keep asking, 'Who needs more lawyers anyway?'" said Harter of arguments against funding the school.

Her rejoinder is that "We have 4,400 lawyers in Nevada and we didn't train a single one. The point is we are going to have lawyers and we need to be training them on Nevada law."

In June, the Board of Regents endorsed a detailed implementation plan and directed the chancellor to include the law school in the 1997-98 budget request. The law school will appear as a separate line item for about $5 million, so that funding, if granted, will not take funding away from other programs.