Adjunct Faculty

Course:
Trial Advocacy

Richard Boulware is a United States District Court Judge, in the District of Nevada. He sits in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate in 2014.

Judge Boulware graduated with honors from Harvard College. He received his law degree from Columbia Law School where he was a Stone Scholar and on the Law Review. Judge Boulware served as a law clerk to the Honorable Denise Cote in the Southern District of New York. Prior to taking the bench, Judge Boulware served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender for many years. He was a public defender in the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Las Vegas, Nevada and in the Federal Defenders Office of New York in New York City. 

Judge Boulware is a member of the American Law Institute. Judge Boulware is an adjunct professor at the Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. Judge Boulware is a past president of the Las Vegas chapter of the National Bar Association. He received a special President’s Award from the national president of the National Bar Association in 2011 as well as the Medal of Justice award from the State Bar of Nevada in 2012.

Course:
Law Practice Management

Sean Claggett graduated from University of Nevada Las Vegas (2000) with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Thereafter, Sean graduated cum laude from Boyd School of Law (2003). After graduating from Boyd School of Law, Sean was employed at a high profile criminal defense law firm. After working for this firm for over two and a half years, Sean made the decision to start his own firm. On January 1, 2005, Sean opened his law firm with a single client and one employee. Today Claggett & Sykes Law Firm has eleven employees, including three attorneys, who are all Boyd School of Law Alumni. Since 2005, Sean has resolved numerous multi-million dollar real estate disputes. Sean has also successfully settled millions of dollars in personal injury claims. Most impressive is the fact that Sean has obtained well over $30,000,000.00 in judgments for his clients through litigation. Since 2012, Sean has been an arbitrator through the Nevada Supreme Court Annexed Arbitration Program.

Sean has achieved an AV Preeminent rating with Martindale-Hubbell. The Martindale-Hubbell® PEER REVIEW RATINGS™ are an objective indicator of a lawyer's high ethical standards and professional ability, generated from evaluations of lawyers by other members of the bar and the judiciary in the United States and Canada. Martindale-Hubbell® PEER REVIEW RATINGS™ reflect a combination of achieving a Very High General Ethical Standards rating and a Legal Ability numerical rating. A threshold number of responses is required to achieve a rating. AV Preeminent is the highest possible ranking, and is a significant rating accomplishment - a testament to the fact that a lawyer's peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence.

Courses:
Policing Clinic

Alissa A. Cooley is a native Nevadan and graduated cum laude from the William S. Boyd School of law in 2014.   After graduating and passing the Nevada Bar, she accepted a justice AmeriCorps (jAC) fellowship at the Thomas & Mack Legal Clinic.  As a jAC fellow, she represented immigrant children, ages two to sixteen, who entered the U.S. without a parent or guardian, in their immigration court proceedings. Over the course of two years, she represented over one hundred children in immigration court and secured asylum, special immigrant juvenile visas, and residency for a significant number of them.  Several outlets in the Las Vegas Valley have highlighted Alissa’s and her jAC partner’s work.

In 2016, after Alissa completed her term as a jAC fellow, she joined the Law Offices of Martin Hart.  Alissa’s practice areas include immigration, appeals, record sealing, and family law.  Immigration—including family-based petitions, VAWA, Non-immigrant U and T visas, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), residency, naturalization, removal defense, and asylum—constitutes the majority of her practice.  Alissa is a dedicated advocate.  She is passionate about her practice and has helped hundreds of Nevada residents obtain immigration status.  Alissa has also helped shape Nevada law regarding SIJS in two published Nevada appellate decisions.

Alissa is licensed to practice in Nevada state courts, the Executive Office of Immigration Review, including all immigration courts across the country and the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  In addition to her practice, Alissa volunteers her time taking on pro bono cases for the Thomas & Mack Legal Clinic, Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, and Nevada Legal Services.  Outside the office, Alissa spends time giving back to the community by volunteering for the City of Las Vegas, UNLV, Mi Familia Vota, PLAN, and Asian Community Development Council.  She also volunteers for Al Otro Lado's Border Rights Project.
 

Course:
Writing for Judges

Judge Jennifer Dorsey was nominated by President Obama in September 2012 and was confirmed by the Senate in July 2013 as a U. S. District Court Judge for the District of Nevada. Judge Dorsey spent her entire lawyer life at the law firm of Kemp, Jones & Coulthard LLP, where she practiced in state and federal courts and litigated a wide variety of cases including complex commercial litigation and class actions. She particularly enjoyed her appellate practice, briefing and arguing matters in the Nevada Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. While in private practice, Judge Dorsey was selected to serve on the Nevada Supreme Court’s Committee on Professionalism, was listed among the Top Women in Litigation and Nevada’s Legal Elite, and held Martindale-Hubbell’s highest AV rating for competency and ethics. A native Nevadan, Judge Dorsey received her BA cum laude from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and she is a member of the UNLV Foundation’s Advisory Board. She received her law degree from Pepperdine University School of Law and is a member of its Board of Visitors. A grammarphile and Life Member of Scribes—the American Society of Legal Writers—Judge Dorsey is dedicated to improving the writing skills of young lawyers, eradicating rogue apostrophes, and preserving the serial comma.

Courses:
Trial Advocacy

Ozzie Fumo has practiced law in Las Vegas, Nevada for over 22 years. Ozzie has achieved an AV Preeminent rating with Martindale-Hubbell.  He has successfully tried every type of criminal case from misdemeanors to capital murder. Ozzie practices in both State and Federal Court.  He has successfully argued several cases to the 9^th circuit court of Appeals.

In 2014 Ozzie was selected as a Judicial referee in Justice Court Las Vegas.  In 2016 Ozzie was elected to the Nevada Assembly.  He serves on the Judiciary Committee, Transportation Committee and the Education Committee.  Ozzie’s interim committees, awards and associations include the following:

• Clark County District Court Jury Services Committee 
• Legislative Committee on Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice
• Advisory Commission on the Criminal Justice Information System
• Nevada Sentencing Commission
• National Conference of State Legislatures Nuclear Legislative Working Group
• Child Support Guidelines Committee
• Black Caucus Education Hero Award 2017
• The American Bar Association
• Federal Mentor CJA new applicants program 
• Nevada Trial Lawyers Association
• Nevada Attorneys for Criminal Justice
• The National Italian American Bar Association
• Past President of the Nevada Society of Italian American Lawyers
• National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
• Outstanding Service Award (2006) by the State Bar of Nevada
   

Course:
Business Law & Ethics

Thomas E. Gallagher is an honors graduate of Harvard Law School. He was for twenty years a partner in the law firm of Gibson Dunn and Crutcher, serving in the firm's Los Angeles and New York offices, and as managing partner of its London and Riyadh offices. During a leave from the firm, he was chief counsel for a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, handling nominations for Attorney General and Supreme Court. He was Merv Griffin's lawyer in the fight between Griffin and Donald Trump over Resorts International, later serving as CEO of The Griffin Group and of Resorts. After the merger of Resorts with Sun International, he joined Hilton Hotels Corporation as its Executive Vice President and General Counsel, leading the spinoff of its gaming businesses into a new NYSE company Park Place Entertainment. He subsequently became CEO of Park Place (renamed Caesars Entertainment), then the world's largest casino resort company. Gallagher now serves on the board of several non-profit organizations including the Guinn Center for Policy Priorities (a co-founder), the Black Mountain Institute, and Vegas PBS and is a trustee of the UNLV Foundation and the Desert Research Institute Foundation.

Courses:
Gaming Law
Gaming Law Policy Seminar

US Federal Gaming Law

Special Topics: Technology, Innovation & Gaming Law

Gregory Gemignani is an attorney at the law firm of Dickinson Wright. He is also a lecturer and instructor at the International Center for Gaming Regulation teaching courses on Sports Wagering, Gaming Compliance, Gaming Regulation, and Gaming Policy.  Mr. Gemignani has provided direct gaming and regulatory instruction to operators, governments, and regulators in dozens of jurisdictions and has provided onsite instruction in South Africa, Japan, Puerto Rico, Oregon, Minnesota, California, and Ghana.  Mr. Gemignani’s practice emphasis is primarily on gaming regulatory law, intellectual property law, technology law and online promotions law.   Mr. Gemignani has had articles published in several law review journals, gaming industry publications, and has been a guest in radio and televised interviews for several international news organizations on internet law and gaming related topics. Mr. Gemignani has been teaching courses at the Boyd School of Law since 2005.  Prior to practicing at Dickinson Wright, Mr. Gemignani was a shareholder at the law firm of Lionel Sawyer & Collins.  Prior to practicing law, Mr. Gemignani was a software systems engineer and systems architect with EDS.

Course:
Employee Benefits

John R. Harney has been with O'Donoghue & O'Donoghue LLP since his graduation from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1989. Mr. Harney is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the bars of Maryland, New York, Virginia, and Wisconsin. He is admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Districts of the District of Columbia, the District of Maryland, the Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia and Wisconsin, the Northern and Southern Districts of New York and the District of Colorado. He is also a member of the bars of the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Fourth and Fifth Circuits. 

Mr. Harney represents several of the firm's labor and employee benefit fund clients in ERISA litigation matters regarding multiemployer fund collection litigation, withdrawal liability, bankruptcy, and fiduciary matters. He also counsels clients on a range of issues related to employee benefit plan administration, including tax and ERISA compliance. He is the current Union Co-Chair of the Criminal Enforcement and Civil RICO Subcommittee of the Employee Benefits Committee of the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law and a Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel. He is a Chapter Editor for the treatise Employee Benefits Law and a Contributing Author to ERISA Litigation.

Mr. Harney is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and has an M.S. in Industrial Relations from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Course:
Trial Advocacy

Stan Hunterton practices with Hunterton & Associates, a firm specializing in civil and criminal litigation. Prior to founding this firm, Professor Hunterton served as Deputy Chief Counsel to the President’s Commission on Organized Crime and for ten years prior to that, he was a Special Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice Organized Crime and Racketeering Section. Mr. Hunterton has also served as general counsel to Sierra Pacific Resources (now NV Energy), managing litigation, rate hearings and serving as a senior advisor to the company’s Chairman and CEO. Hunterton is also a fellow of “The American College of Trial Lawyers” and is listed in “The Best Lawyers in America”.

Course:
Sports Law

Marc Kligman is a licensed California attorney and MLBPA Certified Player Agent.  Mr. Kligman represents professional baseball players in all aspects of their careers including draft advising, contract negotiation, endorsements, marketing, licensing, and public relations.  Mr. Kligman's prominent clients have included All-Star and World Series champion catcher Carlos Ruiz of the Phillies, Dodgers and Mariners; San Francisco Giants pitcher Chris Heston who threw the 1st no-hitter of 2015 as a rookie against the NY Mets; switch-pitcher Pat Venditte, the only full time ambidextrous pitcher of the modern era in the Major Leagues; and Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry.  Mr. Kligman serves on the grievance panel for the MLBPA and is retained by other agents for salary arbitration work.  Mr. Kligman defeated the Miami Marlins in salary arbitration for first baseman Justin Bour in 2018 with a unanimous award of $3.4 million.  Mr. Kligman worked on the arbitration team for Phillies All-Star and 2018 Cy Young Award Finalist Aaron Nola, All-Star and World Series champion Mike Napoli, former catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, current Mariners pitcher Roenis Elias, and current Dodgers pitcher Yimi Garcia.  Mr. Kligman has volunteered as a guest arbitrator and speaker for the Tulane National Baseball Arbitration competition for the last seven years. 

Mr. Kligman is a 1992 graduate of The Johns Hopkins University with a degree in International Relations and Spanish and played NCAA baseball at Hopkins.  Mr. Kligman graduated cum laude from Tulane Law School in 1995 where he was the 3L Phelps Dunbar Trial Champion.  Mr. Kligman began his law career in 1995 as a Deputy Public Defender in San Diego County and then in private practice focusing on criminal defense, professional licensing board actions, estate planning, and sports law.  Mr. Kligman has handled all levels of misdemeanors and serious and violent felonies and logged over 50 criminal jury trials.  

Mr. Kligman has coached competitive travel baseball for 25 years and is currently the assistant baseball coach for Cimarron-Memorial High School. 

Courses:
Negotiation
Real Estate Finance

Eleissa C. Lavelle is a full-time mediator and arbitrator with JAMS, The Resolution Experts, the largest provider of alternative dispute resolution services in the country. Ms. Lavelle enjoyed a well-established legal practice of more than thirty years as a real estate, commercial and construction litigator and transactional attorney, representing financial institutions, developers of residential and commercial real estate, members of the construction industry, community associations, governmental entities and a variety of businesses.

Course:
Gaming Equipment Manufacturers - Law and Policy

Lerner, who earned his undergraduate degree from Michigan State University and his law degree from American University’s Washington College of Law, got his first taste of gaming law when he joined the Nevada attorney general’s office in 1983. He was assigned to the gaming division and spent four years representing the Gaming Control Board and Nevada Gaming Commission.

After stints with a statewide law firm and a casino operator, he joined Bally Technologies. The company’s changing nature let Lerner become the longest-tenured general counsel at a gaming manufacturer.  Bally’s has been at the forefront of gaming industry technology changes.

The company was awarded Nevada’s first interactive gaming license in July 2012, and Lerner oversaw the licensing process. He participated in what was then a surreal moment at a Gaming Control Board hearing when he used an iPad to play a free game of Internet poker to demonstrate the company’s technology for regulators.

Lerner was one of the authors of a 2011 white paper from the American Gaming Association that detailed 10 broad-based nationwide regulatory reforms.

Course:
Legislative Policy

Samuel P. McMullen is a shareholder in the Gordon Silver’s Government Relations Department and concentrates his practice in governmental law, strategic positioning, lobbying and political strategy. He represents business and political clients for maximum positive effect in legal and strategic positioning, governmental relations and public affairs. Mr. McMullen is skilled in multiple governmental and regulatory agencies including gaming, state and local taxation, licensing and permitting, insurance, health, utility, environmental, energy, land use and planning, among others. He has vast experience in initiative and referendum law and litigation, campaign and election law and practices, political contributions, and PAC laws and regulation.

Previously, Mr. McMullen was president of The McMullen Strategic Group, ran his own law firm, was executive director of the Northern Nevada Gaming Industry Association (1990-1998), and was the vice president of governmental affairs at Harrah's Strategic Group (1986-1990).

Mr. McMullen has been named a Best Lawyer® in America for Government Relations from 2011 - 2015, and was selected as one of Nevada’s Most Influential Citizens by Nevada Business Magazine in 2010.

Courses:
Basic Bankruptcy
Remedies

Mike K. Nakagawa is the Chief Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nevada. He is a 1980 graduate from the School of Law at the University of California, Davis, where he was an editor for the law review and a tutor in civil procedure. Judge Nakagawa practiced in bankruptcy and commercial law primarily in California and Nevada until his judicial appointment. He taught bankruptcy law and business reorganization for more than ten years as an adjunct professor at McGeorge School of Law and Lincoln Law School in Sacramento. Judge Nakagawa has taught courses in basic bankruptcy law and remedies at Boyd School of Law.

Course:
Health Care Fraud and Abuse

Susan M. Pitz, Esq. is the General Counsel of University Medical Center of Southern Nevada located in Las Vegas, Nevada.  UMC, a publicly owned and operated hospital, has been serving the health care needs of Southern Nevadans since 1931. UMC has Nevada’s only Level 1 trauma center, only Pediatric Level II trauma center and Nevada’s only burn center. The hospital is affiliated with the UNLV School of Medicine as its primary teaching hospital and is currently partnering in the formation of a premier Academic Health Center.

Prior to joining the team at UMC in 2015, Susan spent twelve years in private practice, including seven as a principle in Nutile Pitz & Associates, a well-respected health law firm located in Henderson, Nevada. While in private practice, Ms. Pitz regularly advised healthcare entities big and small on general corporate, transactional, and regulatory matters. Ms. Pitz is experienced in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and large and small business startups and has worked extensively with structuring of physician/provider groups, management services organizations and ancillary health care facilities. She also works extensively in the structure of relationships to comply with state and federal laws and regulations, including HIPAA, Fraud and Abuse and Antitrust laws.
 
Ms. Pitz is Certified in Healthcare Compliance (CHC) and Certified in Healthcare Privacy Compliance (CHPC) through the Compliance Certification Board.   She is also an active member in the American Health Lawyers Association, Health Care Compliance Association and the American Bar Association.

Throughout her career, Ms. Pitz has enjoyed participating in numerous speaking engagements on healthcare and business related issues in both the medical and legal communities.

Ms. Pitz is admitted to practice in Nevada and California.

Courses:
Fundamentals of Casino Operations Management
Resort Hotel Casino Law

Gaming Law

Jennifer Roberts is the Associate Director of the International Center for Gaming Regulation.  Ms. Roberts has practiced gaming law in Nevada since 2003 and was previously a partner in the law firm of Duane Morris LLP.  Prior to that, she was a shareholder in the Gaming & Regulatory Department of the Nevada-based law firm of Lionel Sawyer & Collins.  Her legal practice included representation of clients in gaming law, including gaming licensing, gaming compliance, and gaming law development.  She served as a member of a Gaming Compliance Committee for an international gaming company and was counsel to several gaming compliance committees. 

Ms. Roberts’ legal practice also included an emphasis on federal, state, and local alcohol beverage licensing and compliance.  She assisted with the licensing of the Container Park and several restaurants as part of the Downtown Project redevelopment within the City of Las Vegas.  She has represented major hotel chains, nightclubs, restaurants, and bars.  She was also engaged as an expert witness on Nevada alcohol laws.  Her legal practice also included practice in land use and zoning, business licensing, and regulatory and administrative law. 

Courses:
Death Penalty Seminar
Opening Statement & Closing Arguments
Trial Advocacy

David Schwartz is a former Chief Deputy District Attorney for the Clark County District Attorney’s Office. He has been a prosecuting attorney for over thirty years. While at the DA’s office he was assigned to the Major Violator’s Unit where he tried numerous high profile cases including dozens of capital murder cases. In 2001 he received a “Meritorious Service Award” from the Inspector General of the United States Department of Defense for his work on the Arthur Bennett case. In 2014, he received the UNLV  "Outstanding Teaching by a Part-Time Faculty" award for his dedicated service. He teaches Trial Advocacy, Death Penalty Seminar and Opening Statements/Closing Arguments and is a consultant on death penalty cases. Mr. Schwartz earned his JD from Brooklyn Law School and his BA from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Course:
The Law & Business of the Music Industry

Howard Siegel was senior partner in Pryor Cashman's Entertainment Group until his retirement in 2016. He has more than 40 years’ experience in representing clients in all aspects of the entertainment business, with a particular emphasis on the music industry, during which time he has served as counsel to many of the industry’s most prominent recording artists, songwriters, producers, managers, and executives. He gained a national reputation representing artists such as Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones’ Bill Wyman, Carly Simon, the Backstreet Boys, Steven VanZandt, Todd Rundgren, Jim Steinman and many others.  As counsel to several American Idol finalists and winners, Mr. Siegel negotiated a number of significant licensing, publishing and other media-related entertainment agreements.

Mr. Siegel has also been involved in a number of music publishing company sales and acquisitions, as well as having advised on a variety of transactions involving the sale and purchase of master recordings and other entertainment-related assets.

Mr. Siegel is the current Chair of the Nevada State Bar Entertainment Law Section, former Chair and current member of the Nevada State Bar Publications Committee and adjunct Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.  He is the former Chair of the Section on Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law of the New York State Bar Association, former Chair of the New York State Bar Association Committee on the Music and Recording Industry, and an Associate Member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Mr. Siegel is a frequent lecturer for the Practicing Law Institute and served for nearly 20 years as Co-Chair of PLI’s Counseling Clients in the Entertainment Industry program. Mr. Siegel served as judicial clerk at the New York State Court of Appeals from 1970 to 1972. He was an adjunct Professor of Law at Fordham Law School for 24 years and is a member of the Editorial Board of Entertainment Law and Finance and of Multimedia Web Strategist, as well as the Editor-in-Chief of the nationally distributed book Siegel on Entertainment Law, currently in its fifth edition. Howard Siegel is author of several published articles dealing with the entertainment, music and copyright practice

Every year since 2007, Mr. Siegel has been designated as one of the “Super Lawyers” – a ranking of the top 5% of all attorneys in the New York Metropolitan area. He also has been recognized by The Hollywood Reporter as one of the top 100 “Power Lawyers” in the entertainment industry as well as being named one of the "Top Media and Entertainment Lawyers" by Chambers USA for several years.

Mr. Siegel is a member of the Nevada, New York, and California Bars and a summa cum laude graduate of Syracuse University College of Law where he was Order of the Coif, Editor-in-Chief of the Syracuse Law Review (1970) and a member of the Moot Court Board (1969-70).

Course:
Pretrial Litigation

Rene Valladares works as the Federal Public Defender, District of Nevada. He earned his JD in 1987 from the University of Florida School of Law and his LL.M. in 1993 from the University of Miami School of Law.