Boyd Leaps In the Rankings!

Um ... not those rankings. This is much more important.

Boyd has jumped 13 spots in a single year and is now tied for 9th in the Second Annual Party Law School Rankings. Here are the top ten schools overall:

1. University of Arizona
2. Tulane University
3. Florida State
4. Arizona State
5. UC Berkeley
6. University of Virgina
7. University of Michigan
8. Seattle University
9. Boyd
9. University of Hawai’i

Where Boyd really shines, however, is in the specialty rankings:

The Real Party Rankings (Most Nights Spent Out)

1. Tulane University
1. Boyd
3. Arizona State
3. University of Arizona
3. University of Georgia

Life is Good (Happiest Student Body)

1. Arizona State

1. Louisiana State University
1. Stanford University
1. Tulane University
1. UC – Berkeley
1. University of Hawaii
1. University of Georgia
1. Boyd

Future Twelve Steppers (Most Alcohol Consumption)

1. Arkansas – Fayetteville
1. Georgetown University
1. Tulane University
1. University of Arizona
1. Boyd
6. Boston College
6. Harvard University
6. Pepperdine University
6. St. Johns University

Right on Boyd - even if you can't out-LSAT those T14 snobs ... at least you can drink them under the table!

(Party Law School Rankings; Thanks, Tipster!)

Boyd Holds Steady In USNWR Rankings

The USNWR rankings have leaked, and our local lawyer factory is holding steady at number 78 - still comfortably in the second tier, but down slightly from last year's 75.

Impressively, Boyd currently has the fourth best legal writing program in the nation, and the tenth best dispute resolution program. Boyd's part-time program came in at 21 out of the 50 schools ranked.

Boyd also made the list of the most diverse law schools, with Asian-Americans making up the bulk of their minority population at 10%.

Boyd's 25th-75th percentile GPA was 3.18-3.66, and their LSAT was 155-160. The 2009 acceptance rate was 22%, and the student/faculty ratio was 16.8/1.

Boyd reported 86.7% of grads employed at graduation, with 97.8% employed nine months after graduation. Bar passage was reported at 81.5%, with the overall passage rate for the Nevada bar being 77%.

All in all, we'd say it's a pretty good showing. Congrats, BSL!

(The Bright Coast)

Sidebar: Boyd

In open threads and many other conversations, the comments turn into discussion about Boyd. A lot of the time, people are not very pleasant about Boyd.

I didn't go to Boyd. Many of my Delta Nu sisters did. I know many Boyd graduates and have seen them in action and think their performance seems to be the same as other lawyers. (Although perhaps the Boyd grads do not fall into the category of the most arrogant lawyers I've seen, so they are remiss there.)

I want to hear both sides. Law Students, this one is for you. What is good or bad about Boyd? Alums, what are your thoughts on Boyd? For the people who like to give Boyd a ton of crap in the comments, why? If it is a bad school, as you have previously alleged in the comments, what makes it that way?

I'd like to hear both sides of the story because it seems like there is nothing but hate in the comments most of the time. But I know some pretty happy and successful Boyd grads are out there. (Maybe they simply don't have the time to read the site...)

Boyd Raises The Bar

Say what you will about our local lawyer factory, they certainly are putting up the numbers.

A very respectable 86% (91 of 106) of first-time takers from Boyd School of Law passed the July 2009 bar. The pass rate for all first-time takers was 74%, and the overall pass rate was 63%.

This is the highest passage rate for Boyd to date. The previous high was 83% (paired with a 69% overall pass rate).

Congratulations, Boyd! Now, if you could just limit your next entering class to approximately 15 students, we're sure many of our currently jobless Nevada attorneys would appreciate it.

Here are the numbers:

Overall Pass Rate:
NV overall pass rate (includes both attorneys and students): 63%. In comparison, in July '08, the NV overall pass rate was 69%, while in February '09, the NV overall pass rate was 56%.
Boyd overall pass rate (includes both first-timers and repeaters): 74% (101/136) In comparison, in July '08, Boyd's overall pass rate was 75%, while in February '09, the Boyd's overall pass rate was 58%.

First time Student Takers:
NV pass rate for first-time student takers: 74% In comparison, in July '08, the NV pass rate for first-time student takers was 70%, while in February '09 the NV pass rate for first-time student takers was 46%.
Boyd pass rate for first-time student takers: 86% (91/106) In comparison, in July '08, the Boyd's pass rate for first-time student takers was 83%, while in February '09 Boyd's pass rate for first-time student takers was 58%.

Repeat Takers:
NV pass rate for repeating student takers: 28%. In comparison, in July '08, the NV Pass rate for repeating student takers was 34% and in February '09, the NV pass rate for repeating student takers was 29%.
Boyd pass rate for repeating student takers: 33% (10/30). In comparison, in July '08, the Boyd pass rate for repeating student takers was 48% and in February '09, Boyd's pass rate for repeating student takers was 55%.

Overall for Students:
NV overall pass rate for students (includes both first-timers and repeaters but excludes attorneys licensed in other jurisdictions): 69% In comparison, in July '08, the NV overall pass rate for students was 70% and in February '09, the NV overall pass rate for students was 46%.
Boyd overall pass rate (includes both first-timers and repeaters): 74%. (101/136) In comparison, in July '08, Boyd's overall pass rate was 75% and in February '09, Boyd's overall pass rate was 58%.

Those numbers certainly look good, what do you guys think?

(Thanks, tipster!)

Should Have Done More "Investigating"

Many Las Vegas natives will recognize Colleen McCarty as the pretty investigative reporter from KLAS-TV, Channel 8. Turns out that Colleen, with her fourteen Emmy nominations, has decided to self-destruct is reaching for the stars: she is now a law student at UNLV's Boyd School of Law.

Boyd has put up a nice little posting for Colleen. In it, she states her reason for diving head-first into the bowels of hell:

"I believe a law degree will enhance my understanding of the people and the issues I cover."

There's her first mistake: Thinking law school will "enhance her understanding" of anything.

We wish you luck, Colleen. Just in case you're considering ditching journalism to pursue a career as an attorney, here's some reading material for you.

(Thanks, tipster!)

Sidebar: Lessons for Law Students

After all of the publicity regarding Prof. Henderson and Boyd over the past week, I started reflecting on my time in law school. I remember when a P/F would have seemed like a crisis and I would have been concerned about whether it might impact my scholarship. Now, when I look back, there are so many things I wish I knew when I was in law school, which leads us to today's sidebar:

For the lawyers: What have you learned since you started practicing that you want to tell law students?

For the students: Got any questions? Knowing this bunch, I'm pretty sure we've got answers and opinions.

To reiterate, the purpose of the Sidebars is to start discussion in the comments. If you aren't into this type of post, please feel free to skip and we'll let you know as soon as we hear the next dirty rumor.

My own advice will be in the comments.

Prof Henderson comments to Above the Law [our feelings are hurt]

Coverage of the case of the disappearing ill Boyd School professor went national over the weekend with national legal gossip blog Above the Law and the Wall Street Journal's law blog reporting on the students' outrage in our overheated corner of the country.

Originally, we reported on the disappearance of an unnamed Boyd School professor who failed to grade her Con Law class' exams. Later, we confirmed that the professor was Professor Lynne Henderson who did not in fact completely disappear when Professor Henderson emailed her congratulations to the new Boyd School law review members. Well, Professor Henderson has come further out of hiding and offered this comment to ATL:

I can confirm that I was in very poor physical health. I can confirm that I was
working on the exams. I can confirm that I endeavored to tell the proper persons
at the law school that I would not have the grades in in timely fashion, but
apparently there were breakdowns in communication. I can confirm that I did not
just "disappear."

As ATL reports, Prof. Henderson's comment puts the weight back on Boyd School's administration, led by Dean John White. WWL's previous requests for comment from Dean White have gone unanswered. We expect the commentators vitriol will be appropriately redirected.

On a more important note: really Professor Henderson? Giving the exclusive to ATL over Nevada's leading legal publication, Wild Wild Law? Our feelings are hurt.

The Case of the Missing Professor

Update: the missing professor, who has been identified as Professor Henderson, has emailed to congratulate the students who made it onto law review. We have a request out to the Dean asking for comment on whether the changing of grades to Pass/Fail has disadvantaged the 1L students chances to get onto law review.

Sally Student is a "rising 2L" at Boyd School of Law, a state-run facility located in the state of Nevada. Sally studied for 10 hours a day, 7 days a week during her 1L year, and put up with a variety of pointless hypotheticals posed to her by various professors.

Sally had good grades and was hopeful that she would obtain a position on Boyd's "law review" so that she could obtain her dream job - corporate document review monkey at a large insurance defense firm.

Sally did well her first semester, and felt good about her second semester exams as well. During the summer, four out of Sally's five classes reported her grades, but more than a month after grades were due her Constitutional Law grade had not yet been posted. Sally heard rumors that her Constitutional Law professor, Annie Absentee, had "disappeared." Sally's fears were confirmed when she was sent the following email from the Dean:

From: John.White@unlv.edu
Date: July 9, 2009 11:28:54 AM PDT
Subject: Constitutional Law I grades

Dear Rising 2L's,

It is possible you have heard a rumor that some first year grades are not yet available and that those classes missing the grades may be graded on a pass/fail basis. I write to confirm the basics of this rumor and clarify what has occurred.

The BSL Registrar has received all grades except grades in two sections of Constitutional Law I. Despite efforts, we have been unable to determine the status of the grades for those two sections. We understand that this is a serious inconvenience to you and potentially disruptive to your plans. Consequently, we have taken the interim step of asking another Constitutional Law Professor to grade the papers on a pass/fail basis so that we may create rankings. We expect to have those grades by early next week at the latest.

It is our hope that the professor who has not turned in grades has in fact graded them or is nearing completion of grading them. However, we have no way to know at this time what the status of those grades is. Should we receive grades by Monday (when we expect to receive the pass/fail grades) we will use them. If we do not receive them by Monday, we will utilize the pass/fail grades, calculate rankings, and move forward.

Please accept my sincere apology for this most unfortunate situation. Please trust that we are taking all appropriate steps to see that grades for the missing classes are submitted in short order. I believe that grading exams in a timely fashion is among the faculty's most significant obligations; consequently, I am extremely troubled by this situation and am taking every step possible to remedy it and will be taking additional steps to ensure something like this does not happen in the future.

Regretfully,

Dean White

Sally reasonably expected to receive an "A" in Con Law. Now that she will be graded on a pass/fail basis, however, her class ranking, journal status, scholarship and job prospects are all likely to be affected. Sally has come to you seeking advice as to her rights and the possibility of filing suit against Boyd for losing her law professor.

Prepare a short comment discussing any and all possible legal implications for Sally, Boyd, Annie, White or any other prospective parties you can think of.

(Thanks Tipster!)

Boyd Raises The Bar

According to the LV Sun, our local lawyer factory is starting to smell the sweet odor of success with their recent USNWR ranking, and decided that the students who got them to that ranking just aren't quite good enough.

Boyd received 1,755 applications for the 2009 term, admitting 407 and enrolling 157 students. That works out to be about a 23% acceptance rate, and an 8% enrollment rate. We're not sure how to interpret those numbers, but the Sun reports that Boyd has become so competitive that even local applicants with "juice" are being turned away:

The growing competition to enroll in Boyd has left some seemingly well-placed applicants — including family members of local politicians, high-profile lawyers and judges — out in the cold, insiders say.

Yikes! If anyone can give specifics as to which politicos or judge's spawn got the cold shoulder from Boyd, we'd love to hear about it! Dean John V. White (you can't tell from the angle of that photo, but he is actually sitting on a pile of money) better watch out. Those politicians and attorneys may hold the future of his law school in their hands, you know, with the current "budget crunch" and all.

Joking aside, it is great to see Boyd making moves to better their reputation. However, we can't help but wonder what the consequence of making Nevada's only law school too exclusive may be. What do you think, readers? Do we actually want Boyd to crack the top 50?

(LV Sun)

Movin' On Up!

Our local lawyer factory has received some good news.

Last week, U.S. News and World Reports (a.k.a the BCS of the law school world) released their 2009 rankings of the top law schools in the country, and Boyd moved up (3) (13) places to (75) on the list, now sitting comfortably in second-tier territory. 

Boyd issued a press release touting the achievement that contained some curious language:

We are delighted that the good work we are doing at the Boyd School of Law is recognized by this survey, however imperfect the survey is.

The release went on to explain what exactly Boyd plans to do to continue their upward movement in the rankings. We're no experts on USN&WR optimization techniques, but we're pretty sure that slamming the methodology of the survey in a press release is one way to ensure that your upward movement won't continue. 

Still, a hearty congratulations is due to Boyd's students and staff ... good work. Looks like that $339,560.00 might be paying off after all.

(Boyd Press Release; USN&WR Rankings)

Moving On To Greener Pastures, Or Fleeing A Sinking Ship?

It looks like our own Boyd School of Law will be losing at least three professors this year to other schools. Professors Raquel Aldana, Tuan Samahon, and Michael Higdon have all given Boyd notice of their departure.

More alarming, however, is Samahon's revelation that he knows of an additional six professors who are interviewing elsewhere. Boyd only has approximately 40 faculty members, so losing nearly a quarter of them would not be good news.

One explanation for the departures comes from the current dean of the law school, who incredibly makes more himself than the three departing professors, combined ($339,560.00 vs. $324,823.00). From the LV Sun:

Boyd School of Law Dean John Valery White acknowledged the challenging environment. He said with so many talented young faculty, some turnover is inevitable. He said the law school is committed to attracting and retaining top talent.

“One of the components of my job is to build a strong faculty, but not under the assumption that we wouldn’t have any turnover,” White said.

Another component of Mr. White's job is, apparently, counting his money while cackling and smoking a cigar with his feet on the desk.

So, our question today is for all you Boyd students (or faculty ... we know you're reading): What's going on with your school? Is Boyd just experiencing "inevitable" turnover, or is there something bigger underlying this exodus? Please, enlighten us with your comments.

(LV Sun; Boyd Employee Salaries)

See, It's Not All Bad ...

We have a bit of good news today (although not for Boyd students). It looks like local firm Lionel Sawyer & Collins is actually adding attorneys. Wait! Don't all jump into your leased Beemer's and race to their office just yet ... the positions have been filled. LSC brought on five new associates recently:

Jing Zaho from Michigan;

Abigayle Dang from Washington University;

Greg Carlson from UC Hastings;

Brin Gibson from BYU; and

Elizabeth High, former D.C. Associate and Federal District Court Clerk.

If your name is not listed above, you may return to your job search ... sorry if we got your hopes up.

But seriously, it is good to see that LSC (for the time being, anyway) has shown an ability to manage itself in a financially responsible manner. When asked if there were changes taking place at LSC due to the current economic climate, our helpful tipster responded that there were "no real changes except for a smaller incoming class and smaller summer associate class." What? You mean to say that it isn't necessary to freeze salaries and nuke summer programs to stay profitable ... the hell you say!

When asked about the lack of Boyd hires, he responded:

While I'm not part of the hiring process, I think a large part of the Boyd thing is that there is a lot of competition among firms for the top of the class and not a lot for everyone else. So if we interview the top 10 - 15 students, probably 5 - 10 of them are a good fit, and those 5 - 10 probably have multiple offers. So it's not unreasonable to think that we might not end up with any Boyd students. And why dip lower in to the Boyd class when there are other well qualified
candidates out there (like the ones mentioned above)?

Ouch! That stings a little.

Come on, LSC ... let's show a little local love. Is there really that big of a difference between #15 and #30 at Boyd? Maybe you guys should drop the "law school grades = ability to practice" garbage and dig a little deeper for some local talent. You did, after all, hire their former dean.

(Thanks, VD)

Judge Bybee Lawyers Up

It look like things are getting pretty serious for 9th Circuit Judge, part time Boyd School of Law Professor, "Torture Judge," and (as we prefer to think of him) "Protector of the Homeland" Jay Bybee. Bybee is among the former Bush administration lawyers under review for war crimes by Baltasar Garzon , the same Spanish judge who once ordered Augusto Pinochet's arrest.

So, what prominent Nevada attorney has Bybee retained to protect his interests? Yeah, right. Bybee went big for this one, hiring Maureen Mahoney (pictured) from Vault 10 firm Latham & Watkins to negotiate the European inquiry and other probes into his role at the Justice Department, where he signed off on the so-called torture memos in 2002.

We were surprised that a Spanish judge was able to open an inquiry into the actions of a sitting appellate judge in the United States, especially one that the Judge would have to defend. Then again we skipped International Law in school, choosing instead to take Legal Blogging our last semester. You're welcome.

(Cal Law (free registration required) via CityLife Blog; Thanks, asdf)

UPDATE

Here's the article via How Appealing (no registration required). Thanks anon!

Number One at Something

While Boyd School of Law may be fledgeling in the law school rankings, a new list has our local lawyer factory coming in at numero uno. That's right, Boyd has been named the number one school in ... attracting Mormons.

More specifically, Boyd is number one out of the 2009 Top Ten Most Mormon Friendly Law Schools (outside of Utah). The criteria used for the list took into account multiple factors, including the number of Mormons attending the schools (80 at Boyd), and distance to the nearest Mormon temple (that's the really bright building perched up on Sunrise Mountain, 13 miles from Boyd).

Who knew that Boyd was such a Mormon-magnet? From what we've heard, faculty politics are closer to Berkeley than BYU. Above The Law also picked up the story, and the comments over there are a hilarious read. Our favorite:

Firms looking to save money should hire more Mormon summer associates because they do not drink.

There you go local firms, your way out of this economic mess. Green Jello is way less expensive than booze, right?

(MormonLawyers via ATL)

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)

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)

Weekend Roundup

• Law school prepares students for bar exam ... cats chase dogs, Satan buys a sweater. (In Business)
• Las Vegas woman sued for helping a "friend" escape from a burning car. (abc news)
• Quote of the week: "eBay, America's yard sale." (CNN)
• Judge Loehrer grants 'black widow' a new trial, hates men. (AP)

Sunday round up

All the legal news that's fit to blog:

UNLV will double law school tuition for residents and non-residents for 2009-10 (In Business Las Vegas) I guess when you break into the top 100 of law school rankings, you make the law students pay.

Congratulations to Dustin Clark on being hired on as an associate by Fisher & Phillips. [not bad Dustin, not bad] (Review-Journal)

News that Lake Mead will be dry by 2013, will probably start the next round interstate water rights litigation and Mayor Goodman leads the charge saying Vegas will just take California farmer water if it has to. (MyDesert.com)

The ACLU is challenging Nevada's new petition rules in federal court as Unconstitutional (Nevada Appeal). Sounds a lot like last time the Ninth Circuit struck down our petition rules (Review Journal).

In the meantime, Judge Maddox in Carson City tossed an ballot initiatives on this year's ballot allowing voters to choose whether to tax casinos to fund schools in the state because the ballot measures did not comply with state law (Reno Gazette-Journal)

And the Nevada Supreme Court held that the intent to felony inherent in felony murder must occur before the killing, reversing Justice Saitta's decision when she sat on the District Court that intent to rob after a killing can form the intent needed for felony murder (Nevada Appeal)