New Trio of Classes Help Teach Foundational Lawyering Skills for Practice-Ready Boyd Law Grads

Written By Paul Szydelko 

Professor Patrick Chapin has developed three negotiation and arbitration classes, reflecting new academic attention to developing foundational lawyering skills and preparing students for the practice of law.  

Within the past year, Chapin has introduced Negotiation for Business Lawyers, Arbitration Law & Practice, and Negotiation and the Litigated Case.  

“Students want to get their hands on negotiation and be able to feel it, touch it, experience it,” said Chapin, Distinguished Saltman Fellow at the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution and Visiting Professor of Law. 

They learn terminology, documentation, and techniques for preparing clients. The classroom becomes what Chapin calls a “laboratory,” with an emphasis on professionalism, civility, and ethics training. “It is a simulated environment to teach practical aspects of negotiation and arbitration, primarily as advocates.”  

Chapin also leads the Parking Arbitration Practicum, in which law students hear appeals of citations written by UNLV Parking & Transportation Services and make binding decisions. 

Although the classes help students develop critical lawyering skills, the classes also help those students who may take the NextGen Bar Exam, which will be replacing the current Uniform Bar Exam in some states (including some neighboring states like Utah and Arizona).  The focus of the NextGen Bar Exam will be on lawyering skills. 

Students planning to practice elsewhere may encounter the NextGen Exam, which Nevada has decided not to adopt. “While most Boyd Law graduates stay in Nevada and take the Nevada Bar Exam on their first attempt,” said Nachman Gutowski, Director of the Academic Success Program and Associate Professor-in-Residence, “some graduates will still prepare for the NextGen right after law school. Boyd Law’s Academic Success Program is prepared to guide every student, no matter where they plan to practice. Through individual coaching, national-level expertise, and proven educational methods, we help our students and alumni succeed on any bar exam and build careers wherever they decide to live.”