From Dean Sara - October 1, 2021

Since we graduated our charter class in 2001, the law school has watched our graduates go on to do remarkable things. Our alums are lawyers, judges, industry executives, and legislators, and all are an asset to their communities both in Nevada and around the country. One of those extraordinary graduates is Dr. Brittnie Watkins, who graduated from Boyd in 2014 with a joint JD and PhD in Educational Psychology, and then returned to the law school in 2017 to receive her LL.M. in Gaming Law and Regulation. After leaving Boyd, Dr. Watkins went on to clerk for Nevada Supreme Court Justice Michael L. Douglas and then began her complex commercial litigation practice at Pisanelli Bice, a law firm based here in Las Vegas. In 2020, she became the first Black female to be elected to the State Bar of Nevada Board of Governors in the bar’s nearly 100-year history, and in her own words, she “will work to ensure that she is not the last.” Given these and her many other achievements – too numerous to list here – Dr. Watkins was named the 2021 Boyd School of Law Alumna of the Year. She will be honored later this month during Rebel Homecoming, and we look forward to recognizing her at our own Reunion and Annual Alumni Dinner next spring. Dr. Watkins is just one example of how Boyd alums are shaping our community and we look forward to seeing what else they accomplish in the next 20 years!