Transition from film professor to gaming lawyer easier with LLM degree
MGM attorney valued pushing himself as Boyd student
Written By Pat McDonnell
When Chandler Pohl (J.D. '14, LL.M. '18) returned to Las Vegas from Singapore after five years as a film and television professor, he thought he would pursue educational law in the United States. He had earned a bachelor’s degree at UNLV in 1998 in film/cinema/video studies, but did not think entertainment law would interest him as a career.
Suddenly, Pohl’s pursuit of a Juris Doctorate as a William S. Boyd School of Law student in an international entertainment mecca, which he began in August 2010 and finished in 2014, made all the sense in the world.
“The base J.D. helped me better understand entertainment law,” said Pohl, now vice president and legal counsel for MGM Resorts International. “I was entering a career path that was exploding. I had just been in a country that was just legalizing gambling.”
In August 2014, he became a regulatory compliance analyst for International Game Technology and within two years, he came back to Boyd to garner his LL.M. and refine his knowledge in gaming law and regulation.
“I wanted to be able to talk about real-money wagering on competitive video games,” he said. “Not only would I get access to the coursework, but access to professors who were jazzed. They would see that not only do I want to learn what you want to teach me, but that I wanted to do more that what it’s designed for. I found it all through the LL.M.”
Pohl, who received his most recent Boyd degree in 2018 and started at his current position at MGM in December 2020, said testifying before the Nevada Legislature had particular impact on him as a student.
“How many students get to go before the Nevada Legislature to talk about gaming law?” he asked. “You’re in the Major Leagues.”
As gaming revenue increases and Las Vegas enjoys an ever greater presence on the world entertainment stage, Pohl said it is impossible to predict what his job at MGM will be like by 2030.
“I don’t know what gaming will be like in six years. So much has changed with the legalization of sports betting. I’m so glad I got to be part of that revolution,” he said.
Pohl also likes to look back six years and consider how his life has changed since he received the LL.M.
“I became who I was destined to be,” he said.