Boyd $chool of Law

It appears that our own Boyd School of Law may be hit pretty hard if Gov. Jim Gibbons proposed budget is passed. From Law.com:

While some schools are just starting to deal with the ramifications of smaller budgets, others have been in cutting mode for some time.

The William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas has seen its state funding shrink by 9% through two cuts since December 2007, said Dean John Valery White. The housing crisis hit Nevada earlier than many other states, prompting legislators to cut higher education spending sooner.

"You have to cut a little bit of everything in order to get up to a pretty big number," White said. The law school has left some positions empty, cancelled some staff training and faculty travel, decreased its library staff, reduced the number of course sections and switched to more electronic publications to reduce library costs, he said.

The law school also is using some donation money to cover a portion of operational costs, such as staff salaries. In better times, that donation money would go to things such as capital projects or student travel.

"It's really just a stop-gap," White said.

The Governor's move even sparked a rally at UNLV (don't be too impressed, you can get thousands of college students to show up and rally against democracy if you hand out enough flyers). Thomas Mitchell put the "rally" in perspective calling it: "as persuasive as a temper tantrum." Students showed both their intelligence level and seriousness concerning the matter by holding up signs that read: "Kiss My Butt, Budget Cuts," "Please wear 2 condoms when U screw our education," and "We Are Your Future." There's a scary thought.

We were feeling pretty bad for the law school (which we hoped was not involved in the rally shenanigans) ... until we came across this website that lists Boyd faculty salaries and realized they are making more than most actual lawyers in this town.

For instance, the aforementioned dean, John Valery White, is currently pulling in $339,560.00. The dean's "Executive Assistant" (read: secretary) is making $100,848.00. The next four highest paid law professors are making $184,203.00, $183,755.00, $182,413.00, and $180,733.00, respectively. Any of you associates out there pull in $180 G's last year? We didn't think so.

We're no socialists, and we have no problem with people making money (even in these "troubling times"). However, it seems to us that before higher education starts pointing the finger at the Governor, they need to look in the mirror ... and remove some of that "bling" they see.

(Law.com, RJ)

Lynette Boggs - 1L

If you haven't already heard, Judge Mosley gave Lynette Boggs McDonald a hefty $2,000 fine for her role in committing voter fraud back in 2006, further cementing Nevada's status as tough on corruption. Unbeknownst to her, however, the punishment doesn't end there. You see, it seems that Ms. Boggs has aspirations beyond mere politics, she wants to be a lawyer! From the RJ:

After sentencing, Boggs appeared upbeat and relieved to have the case -- and Las Vegas -- behind her. She's now living in Texas with her parents and is considering going to law school. She wants to be a criminal defense and civil rights lawyer.

We can't think of a better punishment for Boggs than having to go through law school as the "old has-been" in class. We're sure students will be mystified by quotes such as "this is how it was in Vegas ..." and "back when I was on trial ..." Maybe she'll miss our great state and put in an application over at Boyd. We bet they would admit her with an LSAT in the 140's.

Here's hoping the character and fitness committee runs a Google search before admitting her.

(RJ)

Anyone In The Market To Buy A Pink House?

Could this be the end of the line for Las Vegas "ticket busting" law firms? Rumor has it that our new Chief Judge, T. Arthur Ritchie, Jr. Ann Zimmerman, will be raising the attorney traffic rates for Justice Court to be more in line with the (grab your ankles) Municipal Court rates. The rumor goes on to say that Judge Ritchie Zimmerman is also looking to make sure that everyone gets traffic school and/or points, whether or not they have an attorney.  It is additionally rumored that the Judge has voluntarily placed a governor on his her own vehicle, capping the speed at 35 mph, just to show how serious he she is about speeding. (OK, we made that last part up)

Apparently, Judge Ritchie Zimmerman isn't too keen on the idea of law firms in town making money off of speeders. We feel it is certainly a bold move ... one which will virtually assure that his her stint as Chief Judge will be a one-term deal. After all, for more than a few firms here in town, traffic tickets are their bread and butter, and we can't see how this move will win him her over with voters, of whom many take advantage of the fact that they can avoid points by using an attorney.

What say you, commenters? Is it fair that attorneys get special treatment when it comes to traffic fines? Is it too pretentious to use both a first initial and the surname suffix "Jr." in your name? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Edit: Judge Ritchie has nothing to do with Justice Court, the call is coming down from Judge Zimmerman. As the kids say: our bad. You may, however, continue to discuss the pretentiousness of Judge Ritchie's name, if you wish.

NSC Benchslaps Another Attorney

Drunk with power after handing The Heavy Hitter a slap on the wrist (shockingly, not for his advertising practices), the Nevada Supreme Court has temporarily suspended attorney Philip Singer. You may remember Mr. Singer as the attorney who represented Nicolas Serrano-Villagrana, the drunken driver whose pickup plowed through a bus stop in 2004, killing a 4-year-old boy.

According to the order of suspension, "Singer appears to have misappropriated funds from clients and third-party lienholders, accepted and cashed retainer checks without performing any services, and commingled client and personal funds." The bar attributed Singer's lack of response to his "flippant attitude." Singer handled divorce, personal injury and criminal cases.

For those of you worried about Mr. Singer's future, don't. If history is to be our guide, he will likely receive a private reprimand or, at worst, a public reprimand (which nobody will read). 

You see, here in Nevada, we view our rules of professional conduct more as general guidelines, only to be used against you if you piss somebody off who is higher up on the totem pole than you. Disbarment in Nevada is reserved only for those attorneys who murder innocents or have sex with clients (on tape).

(RJ)

Greetings from a fellow blogger!

Thanks to your generous invitation to post on your blog, I wanted to introduce myself (here) and highlight a few of my recent posts on my own blog. First, a shout-out to Jim Shea, local Las Vegas bankruptcy guru and a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute's executive committee, who speaks about our current bankruptcy crisis in today's Las Vegas Sun (see here). Second, my own thoughts (written before the governor's draconian budget proposal) about the usefulness of higher education to Nevada (see here). I'm looking forward to getting to know "all y'all" (as we say back in my native Texas).

(Posted by Nancy Rapoport)

Evil Ed Gets 3-10 Years

Elizabeth Halverson has finally won one in court, but not without leaving a few quotable statements on the record. Let's start with Ed, from SFGate:

Before he was sentenced, Edward Lee Halverson, 49, stunned a Las Vegas courtroom with a claim that he struck Elizabeth Halverson at their home Sept. 4 because his wife, who must use a scooter to get around, threatened to stab him.

"If she wouldn't have pulled a knife on me and threatened me, I wouldn't have clocked her," [Ed] Halverson said. "I defended myself."

"Clock?" Classy, Ed. We're not real current on our affirmative defenses, but we're pretty sure that it would be difficult to claim you were in imminent danger because Liz was chasing you with a knife. It would play out like the world's slowest joust.

Ironically, Liz was appearing in the same courtroom where she used to practice as a Judge (you know, the one with the reinforced stand), and she couldn't leave the courtroom without tasting her foot a little, from KVBC:

"With everything that happened, what I had left was my brain and my ability to go back and work as an attorney and produce stuff. And with this brain injury, I can't go back and do that right now."

Yeah, we're sure potential clients were lining up outside Liz's door. After all, in addition to her

disgraced dismissal from the bench, she has 9 cool years of clerking experience to offer. 

Hopefully, this is the last we will see of either of them, but we doubt it. Liz let everyone outside the courtroom know that she was appealing the Nov. 17 order by the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline that permanently barred her from the bench. See you soon, darling.

(KVBC, SFGate, ATL, Thanks MB!)

Jack Bauer Would Not Be Pleased ...

Does a fate worse than waterboarding await a Boyd School of Law Professor? Someone has it in for 9th Circuit Judge (and part time Boyd School of Law Senior Fellow in Constitutional Law) Jay Bybee. Ivory tower surrender monkey esteemed academic Bruce Ackerman called for Judge Bybee's impeachment yesterday in Slate.  Seems Mr. Ackerman wasn't too keen on Bybee's role in the infamous "torture memos," though our friend from Yale reportedly had no problem with the last 7+ years without another attack on the homeland. 

WWL isn't here to take a stand for or against the torture memos (we'll leave that for you in the comments), but we are adamantly against impeaching Bybee.  After all, Nevada already holds the dishonorable distinction of producing the last federal judge to be impeached.  Why burden the local law school with similar bad press? 

At the end of the day, Ackerman knows Bybee isn't going anywhere.  Impeaching a Judge is about as easy as dislodging a tenured professor.  We're stuck with both of these guys ad infinitum.  Which is why they should settle this like real men instead of writing "memos" and "online posts."  How about a duel (think Hamilton v. Burr), or a no holds barred MMA brawl in the octagon?  We're guessing Bybee would open as a heavy favorite in the sports books. 

(Slate)

Tightening The Belt

We've received a tip over in the forums that local punching-bag Alverson Taylor may have done away with their parking reimbursement for associates who meter park at the RJC.  Apparently, an ATMS partner calculated that it only takes 15 minutes for associates to park at a nearby casino and get their ticket validated (after first dropping a few coins into the slot machines, of course).

Why would ATMS stop reimbursing $2-$3 parking fees in exchange for 15 minutes of associate billable time? Even ATMS associates must be making more than $3 every 15 minutes ... right?

We're wondering if other firms have started to cut back on supposed "perks" during these troubled financial times. Have any of you noticed a lower grade of coffee being substituted for your usual morning brew? Let us know in the comments.

Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes ....

It is a New Year, and in celebration we are introducing something that we believe will help all of us get the gossip and information we desire in a much more efficient manner. Introducing ... the Wild Wild Law Discussion Board.

OK, so maybe it isn't that big of a deal, but we see many benefits to having a discussion forum in addition to the blog.

First (and most importantly), it allows readers (that's you) to direct the discussion and ask the questions. No longer are you tied to discuss what we think is relevant.

Second, the forum has guest posting enabled (for the time being), so even you anonymous chickens can feel free to post.

Third, the former go-to salary and information discussion board, Greedy Wild West, appears to be dead. RIP, GWW.

Finally, it allows the WWL Blog to focus on more post-worthy news instead of scrambling to make news out of whatever the RJ and other news sources find interesting. The forums will (hopefully) also serve to tip us off to such post-worthy news.

We hope you all see the value in such a community, and we are happy to provide it for you, our loyal readers.

Bonus: You may now access the blog directly at wildwildlaw.com. WooHoo!

Bonus Round

Now that a New Year is upon us, it is time to (once again) prod all of you for information regarding firm bonuses. Hopefully you have all received yours by now, so here are our questions: What firm do you work for? How does your firm calculate bonuses? Did you get one this year? How much was it? Did your firm cut bonuses due to "economic concerns?"

Let us know in the comments!