Alfonso T. Nunez '06

Tell me about your decision to attend UNLV Law.
 
My original intention was to attend law school right after graduating from Arizona State University. However, I lacked the resources at that time to pursue a law degree. So, I went in to public accounting in Phoenix. After a few years in the public sector, a head-hunter called with an opportunity in private industry in Las Vegas. After discussion with my wife, we decided a change of scenery would be nice. If early pioneers could travel thousands of miles by covered wagon in search of a better life, certainly we could travel 350 miles by U-Haul to pursue our opportunity. However, after working in private industry for a period of time, I was ready to return to public accounting. Fortunately, I learned of Boyd through other CPAs who were attending the night program before I made that change. Taking the time to earn my J.D. instead of returning to public accounting was the best decision I ever made.
 
How has the promotion to partner challenged you?
 
RSM US LLP is a limited liability partnership, the U.S. member firm of RSM International, a global network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms. I have been a partner at RSM for five years now and it is life-changing. I mainly deal with cross-border transactions. Being able to marshal resources worldwide provides a great feeling of confidence when meeting new clients and helping them tackle expansion plans or address issues arising from the past. Approximately fifty percent of our work is looking back in time to fix issues retrospectively. This is the more challenging of the two situations because you are only able to deal with the historical facts as they are. But it is a great feeling of satisfaction when you can get the result the client wants in both the U.S. and in non-U.S. jurisdictions. This work has also made me much more of aware how self-centric the U.S. perspective can be. Now, I try to avoid saying “foreign” and use “non-U.S.”, because it makes clients feel more at ease that you recognize the world does not revolve around the U.S.