LL.M. Curriculum

Students choose between a journal quality writing project, and practice experience through the externship program.

This course is designed to provide a practical look and application of major gaming law skills. Students will have the opportunity to understand the attorney's role in representing client's best interest. Students will have the opportunity to understand the attorney's role in representing clients, how to prepare a gaming application, conducting an initial interview and opening statement, preparing a regulatory amendment, understanding disciplinary actions, and amendments to a compliance plan. Course will be taught through various moot court processes, and selected students will have the opportunity to propose an actual regulatory change suggested by either the Gaming Control Boar or the State Bar, Gaming Committee. Some of the major exercises will be conducted in collaboration with the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

This course covers matters encountered by general counsel of gaming resorts, such as compliance committees, internal investigations, disciplinary actions, employment issues, entertainment contracts, innkeeper rights and responsibilities, land use approvals, casino credit and debt collection, and gaming patron disputes.

U.S. Federal Gaming Law This course will provide basic information about federal gambling law, including laws concerning Native American casinos, interstate wagering, international wagering, transportation of wagering devices, sports wagering and online wagering.

Comparative Gaming Law This course will compare gaming law and policy in major gaming jurisdictions with an emphasis on examining how companies can comply with regulations in multiple jurisdictions. The course will also explore the historical development of laws in other regions, analyze trends, and identify best practices.

Examines the legal structure of federal and state government agencies; how they may be structured under the Constitution; how they issue and enforce regulations; and how they make decisions.

This two-week study tour is designed to provide students with a unique and intensive experience exploring the gaming industry in Macau, Singapore, and Japan. Students will explore the different public policies and goals that lead to the creation of the gaming industries in each jurisdiction and the successes and failures of the implementation of these goals. Students will have the opportunity to take a deeper look at the integrated resorts debate in Japan, get a tour of the leading gaming technology provider in Japan, and visit with major casinos in Singapore and Macau. Tour participants will meet with casino executives, prominent gaming professionals, the Ministry of Tourism in Japan while having the opportunity to experience the local culture.

This course is designed to provide students with a solid grounding in U.S. copyright law, a profound understanding of the policies that have shaped U.S. copyright law, and an awareness of the international influences that have affected U.S. copyright law. Students will learn to analyze and solve challenging current issues in copyright law, including problems associated with the Internet.

Principle subjects covered in the employment law course include: breach of employment contracts, wrongful discharge, workplace health and safety, employee testing, arbitration, post-employment restrictions and workplace privacy rights.

This course examines the law of employment discrimination, focusing on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Age Discrimination Employment Act of 1967 and other federal and state statutes, case law, and regulations protecting the civil rights of employees and job applicants.

Surveys a wide range of legal issues pertinent to live and recorded entertainment, including intellectual property rights, contract formation and breach, regulatory schemes, labor issues, and First Amendment considerations. (Note that Copyright is a prerequisite.)

Anthropological, historical, and legal study of the American Indians, including a focus on American Indian traditional law and values, federal policy and current legal issues.

* This class is a cross-enrolled class offered by UNLV
The annual gaming innovation class is one-of-a-kind educational and entrepreneurial experience where world-class industry and faculty experts help students to develop their ideas. Led by Dr. Mark Yoseloff, former CEO of Shuffle Master, the class offers a unique learning environment for students from both the campus and the community/industry to develop game ideas.

A study of the law and regulations relating to gaming activities with an emphasis on the policies, and procedures that have developed through legislative actions, court decisions, and the regulatory activities of administrative agencies. This course requires all students to do projects and papers in lieu of a final examination.

This course explores the intense regulatory environment in which the $13 billion gaming equipment industry operates, and its effects on relationships between manufacturers of slot machines and other casino equipment and regulators, casinos, and gamblers. Topics include comparative regulatory approaches applicable to companies operating in hundreds of state, tribal, and international jurisdictions; selected laws and regulations and their effects on technology and business; contracts between gaming manufacturers and their customers and vendors; the creation and uses of intellectual property in the gaming industry; employment law issues peculiar to gaming manufacturers; and the roles of in-house legal departments and outside law firms. The course will emphasize best practices for responding to practical problems faced by lawyers who represent, work for, and deal with gaming equipment manufacturers and other gaming industry players.

Examines the historical development of casino gaming from the renaissance to the present.

This course is designed to cover the growing area of Indian Gaming Law. Revenues from 494 tribal gaming facilities exceed $32.4 billion dollars a year. This course will provide students with a background on the growth of tribal gaming in North America, the substance and application of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), the powers of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC), and issues of tribal sovereignty.

Explores a wide range of legal problems involving international trade, licensing, and investment issues.

This course covers the principles, treaties and mechanisms that regulate intellectual property at the international level (particularly copyright, patents, trademarks and internet domain names) and surveys the differences in the intellectual property laws of various countries.

This course explores the employer-employee-union relationship, its historical and economic development and its modern statutory framework.

This course covers patents, trademarks, unfair competition, false advertising, and trade secrets, plus a brief look at idea protection and noncompetition agreements. The goal of the course is to introduce you to the major concepts underlying (1) the federal patent laws which protect qualifying inventions, (2) state laws protecting ideas and information, and (3) state and federal laws protecting indications of the source of a product or service (i.e., trademarks).

This course will examine the laws and cases addressing sports betting and daily fantasy sports contests in the U.S. With the recent overturn of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) in May 2018, sports betting has jumped into the forefront of gaming law. Students will learn the impact of these changes and address questions relating to federalism and institutional competence in sports betting.

This course will examine the impacts of technology innovations on land-based and online gaming environments. The course will also examine the many forms of online gaming (poker, casino games, lotteries, sports betting, bingo, and social games) and the particular legal and policy challenges that internet gaming raises including player protection, geolocation, financial controls, licensing, and data privacy.