Boyd Student Wins National Scholarship Competition

Boyd School of Law student John Piro '10 won the 2009 Shannon Bybee Scholarship for his paper Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas: The Nevada Gaming Regulatory Response to Sovereign Wealth Fund Investment. His paper will be posted on the International Association of Gaming Advisors (IAGA) website, and he will be awarded a $2,500 prize.

John Piro '10

The content of contending papers was required either to enhance the understanding of gaming law or to recommend a beneficial change in gaming law. Evaluation criteria included quality of the content, depth of research, novelty or importance of subject matter, value to gaming law practitioners or gaming control officials, and value to the study of gaming law.

John's paper examined the complex issues implicated in the regulation of governmental entities involved in gaming. It was supervised by Professor Robert Faiss and Professor Steve Johnson.

While the first sovereign wealth funds were established in the 1950s to manage the exponentially increasing oil revenues of Middle Eastern countries, John said that "the topic of sovereign wealth fund investment in the gaming industry was so new . . . nothing had been written on it." He solved this problem by securing exclusive interviews with prominent persons in the gaming industry.

"Were it not for the help of Professors Faiss and his teaching assistant, Brin Gibson laying the groundwork for these interviews, I would not have been able to interview these influential people," he said.

Although John said he entered law school to focus on public interest work, he signed up for Advanced Legislative Advocacy with a module on gaming law primarily because it was being taught by Faiss, chair of the Gaming Law Practice Group at the firm of Lionel Sawyer & Collins, and former U.S. Senator Richard Bryan.

He said, "They are both well respected attorneys and legislative advocates who have great knowledge and experience to impart on eager law students such as myself. Although much of the course focused on legislative advocacy in the gaming context, our class learned techniques that are applicable to legislative advocacy no matter what the issue."

Upon graduation in May 2010, John will perform a judicial clerkship for the Honorable William B. Gonzalez, District Court Judge, Eighth Judicial District Court of Nevada, Family Division. John hopes to secure a public interest position in Las Vegas once the clerkship ends.

John earned a Summa Cum Laude B.A. in criminal justice from UNLV, where he was named to the Dean's Honor List all four years and to the Order of Omega National Greek Honor Society. In addition, he was elected a senator for the College of Urban Affairs and vice president of the Delta Chi fraternity. At the Boyd School of Law, John was awarded the community service scholarship for the 2009-2010 academic year. He currently serves on the Career Services Advisory Board, was a member of the fall 2009 Society of Advocates Mock Trial Championship team, and recently served as a legal extern to the Honorable James C. Mahan, U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Nevada.

Formed in 1980, the IAGA is a nonprofit professional corporation dedicated to the study and development of gaming law. It provides a forum where casino executives, regulators, and lawyers can discuss national and international developments in gaming law.

IAGA created this scholarship to honor the memory of Shannon Bybee, an IAGA founder who had a distinguished career as a gaming attorney, state gaming regulator, gaming industry executive, and pioneering educator in casino operations and gaming law. The awards are made possible by a grant from International Game Technology, the world's largest gaming device manufacturer. Bybee Scholarship co-winners for 2008 were students at Harvard Law School and the University of Tulsa School of Law.