Respected Tribal Advocate Appointed to Boyd School of Law Gaming Law Advisory Council
One of the nation’s most prominent and respected American Indian advocates has been appointed to the Gaming Law Advisory Council of the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, law school Dean John Valery White announced this week.
Coin will work with Dean White to create a course on Native American gaming law. Material on tribal casinos and the laws that govern their creation and operation currently is included in the Introduction to Gaming Law and Federal Gaming Law courses.
“We seek a tribal gaming curriculum that delineates tribal government gaming from commercial gaming,” Dean White said. “If that objective can be realized we will be able to educate law students that tribal government gaming must be viewed as a tool to strengthen tribal governments, build diversified tribal economies and protect and preserve tribal cultures and traditions.
“Mr. Coin brings to UNLV a wealth of experience and knowledge of tribal governance and public policy,” White said. “His participation in the past four years as a lecturer in our law school classes has been embraced with great enthusiasm by the faculty and students. We are excited and pleased that Mr. Coin will be a valued contributor to our law school curriculum.”
Coin is executive director of public affairs for the San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians of San Bernardino County, Calif. He previously served as executive director of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA) in Sacramento, Calif., and the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) in Washington, D.C. He was the founding executive director of the Arizona Indian Gaming Association.
“I am honored and privileged at the opportunity to work with the nation’s most prominent gaming law school in expanding its tribal law curriculum,” Coin said. “I will draw on connections with notable American Indian gaming law and policy experts in assisting Dean White with the creation of a Native American gaming law program at UNLV.”
A member of the Tobacco Clan from the village of Kykotsmovi, Ariz., Coin was the Hopi Tribe’s representative in Washington, D.C., where he promoted the tribe’s policy, legislative, appropriations and political agenda. He helped to put focus on the Hopi Tribe’s efforts to build new road systems and maintain more than 6,000 miles of existing roads on the 1.8 million acre reservation. He also worked on federal appropriations for building schools, an ambulatory health care center, and water systems for communities on the reservation.
Coin completed his undergraduate studies in business administration at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz. Coin is a member of the Hopi Tribe of Arizona.
The William S. Boyd School of Law offers the most comprehensive gaming law study program in the world. It includes the following courses: Introduction to Gaming Law, Casino Resort Law, Gaming Law Policy, Advanced Advocacy - Gaming Law, and Federal Gaming Law. It is the goal of Dean John Valery White to establish the world's first law school program capable of awarding a Certificate in Gaming Law Study.
To help achieve that goal, Dean White has appointed a Gaming Law Advisory Council composed of government officials, senior gaming industry executives, leading gaming law attorneys and educators. Members of that Council for 2010 include the Attorney General of Nevada, the Chairs of the Nevada Senate and Assembly Judiciary Committees (which process gaming laws), the Chair of the Nevada Gaming Commission, a former member of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, a leading expert in the field of problem gambling and the CEOs or general counsel of U.S. and foreign public gaming companies. The Council advises the Dean and the law school faculty on enhancement and expansion of the gaming law studies program.
With support from the International Masters of Gaming Law, the William S. Boyd School of Law is in the process of launching a new scholarly journal: the UNLV Gaming Law Journal. The first issue will be published in spring 2010.