Friday, May 11, 2001 | 10:44 a.m.
A millionaire reached deep into his pockets, professors came from all over the country with the intention to build something great and students took a chance on the unknown.
After three years, 79 students, members of the school's inaugural class, will walk across a stage at UNLV on Saturday to receive the state's first law degrees.
"It is the success of our alumni that will bring credit to our law school," said Richard Morgan, dean of the Boyd Law School. "That is how law schools create good reputations."
These graduates' careers depend, in large part, on passing the Nevada State Bar. On average, the state has a 60 percent pass rate and is considered on par with California in regard to difficulty, Morgan said.
Wade Kelson, 32, remembered his first day of class as clearly as if it occurred just five minutes ago.
"Pierson vs. Post," he repeated with clarity. "I still remember the case. I was sitting there my first day of class and the professor turned to me and said, 'Mr. Kelson, tell me the facts of the case,' and I froze."
Kelson was not alone.
"Oh, it was extremely challenging my first year," said Mariana Meter, 26. "At times I was like, My God, am I going to be able to make it? Now, it's almost as if it hasn't sunken in yet that I'm done."
The first year of law school is usually thought to be so challenging, in fact, that a large percentage of the class drops out. But in the case of UNLV's Boyd Law School, there was very little attrition and no one failed. This caused some to worry that the school may not have been sufficiently challenging.
That old school, "Paper Chase" mentality, where law schools employ gruff professors who ride roughshod over students until the weakest ones drop out, isn't the case any more, Morgan said.
"Where law schools earned a reputation of being a dog-eat-dog, flunk out every student kind of place was something that happened 30 years ago," Morgan said. "In those days the way law schools separated the wheat from the chaff was to admit everyone, pit them against each other and flunk a lot of them out."
The Boyd Law School admission process constitutes a series of factors. One obvious measure is the Law School Admission Test. But the school also pores over students' transcripts from previous colleges and weighs each grade. Background, previous job experience, honors and awards also are factored in.
What's more, students, after they are admitted, receive more academic support and tutoring than was available two decades ago, Morgan said.
It also doesn't hurt that the law school has a solid faculty, which includes a nationally-known bankruptcy attorney, a former Stanford Law School teaching fellow and an author on constitutional law.
In their final year of school, a select group of students, such as Kelson and Meter, were able to join a clinic designed to provide students with real-life experience.
Students represent real clients in real cases in family court. Because Clark County is so inundated with criminal cases and adult proceedings, they are often unable to appoint a public defender in a case in which a child is abused or for a relative who wants to gain custody.
Annette Appell, an associate professor who helps run the school's law clinic, guides each student through the case. Students do factual research, legal research and, eventually, address the client.
"The kind of education the clinic gives to students is a hands-on approach," said Appell.
"There's a point in the class where your motivation changes," Kelson said. "All of a sudden, you can't mess up. You have a client that depends on you."
Law students also learn how to cope with the emotional side of lawyering, Kelson said.
"I had one case where the kids needed to be adopted," he said. "You just want to step in and take them away for a week, but you can't."
The law school began with a $5 million from gaming tycoon William Boyd.
"It was a dream of mine to to be able to have our own law school in Nevada,"he said.
Boyd attended law school in Utah because Nevada had no such institution. After years of practicing law, Boyd entered into his family's line of business; he later took over the Stardust hotel-casino. The gift to the law school, he said, came from a desire to see young students stay in the area.
Programs such as the law school are important steps in regard to UNLV's continued progress, said UNLV President Carol Harter.
"I think it has the potential to move us to another level," she said. "We've really turned a corner."
So far, 32 out of 70 students have obtained clerkships at the U.S.District Court, the Nevada Supreme Court and in private legal firms.
Other schools are now being asked to pattern themselves after Boyd Law School, Morgan said.
"The folks that run the American Bar Association's accreditation office are clearly referring all start-up law schools to us to seek advice on how to get started."
Delegations from Michigan and California have toured the UNLV facility.
"I don't know if this is the end of a phase or the beginning of one," Meter said. "It's the end of law school and the beginning of a career. When I started this, I thought this may be a charter school now, but when it becomes really great, I'll be walking around with all this prestige."
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