9/4/2020

From Dean Dan - September 4, 2020

Dean Dan Hamilton
Dean Dan Hamilton

With the school year now fully underway it is a pleasure to welcome everybody back to UNLV Law and to wish you a great year ahead. The law school has come together in extraordinary times, and I’m proud of the dedication and perseverance shown by faculty, staff, and students. Our students in particular have continued to excel in exceptionally challenging times. 

This Boyd Briefs will be celebrating our students. I do want to highlight one important event coming up. Every year, Boyd holds a Community Law Day organized by Associate Dean Christine Smith. This year Boyd will be engaged in renewing DACA applications for members of the community. The event will take place on September 19, 2020, from 9:00 am to 2 pm and will be held through Zoom. For more information, click here.

I wanted to devote the inaugural Boyd Briefs of the year to recognize just some of the exceptional work of Boyd students over the summer. 

Best,

Dan
Dean & Richard J. Morgan Professor of Law
daniel.hamilton@unlv.edu


Awards
Congratulations to:

Dianna Sauceda-Chirinos, who won first place in the Law School Admission Council's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion writing competition for her essay: A Case for Representation and Inclusivity.

Astasia Lucas, who won the 2020 Patrick Chapin Book Award in Dispute Resolution, for demonstrating exceptional academic and service contributions to the Workplace Law Program and the Workplace Law Club. The Chapin Book Award is part of the Saltman Center for Dispute Resolution, and we are grateful to Patrick Chapin, and Mike and Sonja Saltman.

Scholarships/Fellowships
Congratulations to:

Azra Ozdemir was named the 2020 Melanie Kushnir Access to Justice Fellow, by the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada. At Legal Aid, she assists in developing the Small Business Legal Advice Project which helps struggling businesses in Las Vegas. This Fellowship was created in honor of Melanie Kushnir, who dedicated her life to inspiring pro bono attorneys, law students, bar leaders, the judiciary, the community, and co-workers to donate their time, knowledge, and experience to those in need. The winning student has demonstrated a commitment to public interest law and the capacity to carry on Melanie’s work in assisting those unable to afford the civil legal help they need. The Fellow receives a $10,000 stipend for their summer at Legal Aid Center and works as part of the Pro Bono Project assisting with access to justice projects currently underway.

Wesley Su, was awarded the inaugural Community Justice Fellowship, sponsored by Paul Padda Law. The year-long fellowship provides an opportunity for the fellow to work at the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, helping to address the justice gap in the civil legal aid arena. With gratitude to our friend, Paul Padda, at the Padda Law Firm.

Scholarly Work
Congratulations to:

Zach Williams whose paper was accepted for the 2020 Annual Survey of Bankruptcy Law. Zach wrote his paper as part of a directed writing project supervised by Garman Turner Gordon Law Professor Nancy Rapoport.

In 2019, Clark County District Attorney, Steve Wolfson, Los Angeles City Attorney, Mike Feuer, Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., organized a national summit in Las Vegas: Prosecutors Against Gun Violence. Boyd students, Greg Cloward, Haley Jaramillo, and Hannah Nelson wrote a White Paper as a follow up to the conference which will be used as a resource publication by prosecutors around the country, working to combat gun violence. 

Public Interest
At Boyd, the commitment to public interest work is central to our mission as the state’s law school. Every summer, students who have been selected as Public Interest Fellows do vital work in the community and around the state. Our students also take the lead, and our Public Interest Law Association funds student public interest work in the summer. Below is a list of our Public Interest Fellows and our PILA award recipients.

PILA Grants

Chelsea Armstrong, Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada 
Elizabeth Davenport, Clark County District Attorney’s Office
Alisa McAffee, Utah Attorney General’s Office
Greer Sullivan, Nevada Legal Services 
Tauja Riggins, Gideon’s Promise: Augusta Judicial Circuit Public Defender’s Office
Shay Digenan, Nevada Equal Rights Commission


Summer 2020 Public Interest Fellow Stipends

Joseph Adamiak, Arriba Las Vegas Workers Center
Hannah Nelson, Clark County Special Public Defender's Office
Jessica Patton, Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada 
Gabrielle Boliou, Clark County District Attorney’s Office
Joshua Nelson, Nevada Attorney General’s Office
Janina Hebibovich, University Medical Center
Casey Turi, City of Henderson
John Falcon, Nevada Attorney General’s Office
Gabriela Molina, Nevada Legal Services; National Lawyers Guild
Nina Garcia, Nevada Equal Rights Commission & Southern Nevada Health District