Saltman Center Faculty Spotlight: Recent Articles, Publications, and Presentations

Written By Tommy Gugino

The Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution at the William S. Boyd School of Law at UNLV continues to enhance its global reputation for producing impactful scholarship and research in the multifaceted field of dispute resolution. In 2023 and 2024, Boyd Law faculty furthered the understanding of disputes and dispute resolution through a variety of published articles and presentations delivered both in person and virtually across the globe.

Below is a selection of their most recent work:

Professor Lydia Nussbaum, Director of the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution and Associate Dean for Experiential Legal Education, co-authored “Empiricism Undaunted” in Discussions in Dispute Resolution Volume II: The Coming of Age (2000-2009), which is set to be released by Oxford University Press in 2025. Professor Nussbaum also published a book review, co-authored with Interim Dean Jennifer Reynolds from the University of Oregon School of Law, titled “Activist Mediators, Mediator Activists: The Neutrality Trap” in the Negotiation Journal. Additionally, she conducted a training session on mediator burnout for the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

Jean Sternlight wrote three book chapters, two of which are forthcoming. The first, co-authored with Jennifer K. Robbennolt, was titled “Maybe We Can Fill that Glass” and is set to appear in Discussions in Dispute Resolution Volume II: The Coming of Age (2000-2009), edited by A. Hinshaw, A. Schneider, and S. Cole (forthcoming from Oxford University Press in 2025). Another forthcoming chapter, “What Happens When King Kong Meets Godzilla?: Using Mandatory Arbitration Clauses to Eliminate Class Actions,” will also appear in the same volume. Her third chapter, “The Psychology of Lawyers in Litigation and Negotiation,” was published in the Research Handbook on Law and Psychology, edited by Rebecca Hollander-Blumoff (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2024).

Ben Edwards published and contributed to several works in 2024. His article, “Stockbroker Secrets,” co-authored with James Fallows Tierney, was published in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law (Volume 26, 2024). Another article, “The Insurance Solution for Financial Advice Failures,” co-authored with Adam Gana, is forthcoming in the Michigan Journal of Business and Entrepreneurial Law. Additionally, “Navigating Divergent Institutional Interests Across the Banking Regulatory Landscape,” written with Hilary Sledge-Sarnor, is forthcoming in the Illinois Law Review. He also co-authored a treatise, Nevada Business and Commercial Law (2024), with Lori Johnson. Edwards has several works in progress, including “Fiduciaries and Fraud,” an article exploring gatekeeper liability for financial advisers who fail to react to fraud indicators. He also published op-eds, including “Why Public Companies Are Leaving Delaware for Nevada,” co-authored with Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, which appeared in the Wall Street Journal on June 9, 2024. Edwards participated in numerous presentations and panels throughout 2024. He was a panelist at the “Alternatives to Delaware?” symposium hosted by the Fordham Journal of Corporate and Financial Law in November and presented on “If Not Delaware, Where?” at the National Association of Corporate Directors in October. In August, he gave a presentation during the Supreme Court Webinar hosted by the North American Securities Administrators Association. He spoke on “Fiduciary Fraud Fighting” at the National Business Law Scholars Conference in June and participated in the Markets Advisory Council of the Council of Institutional Investors that same month. Earlier in April, Edwards delivered two presentations at the Nevada Trust Conference hosted by the Nevada Bankers Association: “Protecting Clients from Scams and Frauds” and “Trust and Estates Ethics Issues.” He also presented “Lies, Damn Lies, and FINRA Statistics” at the Public Investor Advocate Bar Association Midyear Meeting. In addition to his academic contributions, Edwards served as an editor and weekly poster for the Business Law Professor Blog, event co-chair for the Corporate Governance Summit (with Greenberg Traurig), and as a board member and committee chair for the Public Investor Advocate Bar Association (PIABA).

Nantiya Ruan contributed to scholarship and presentations in 2024. Her article, “Fighting Institutional Betrayal: Gender Pay Equity Litigation Against University Employers,” examined the efficacy of class litigation in addressing gender pay equity in higher education and is forthcoming in the Connecticut Law Review (2024). She also served as co-editor-in-chief for the Fair Labor Standards Act Update, a treatise published by Bloomberg in 2023. Ruan delivered several presentations, including “Teaching Tolerance in the Conspiracy of Silence” at the Association of Legal Writing Directors Annual Conference held at the University of California Irvine School of Law on July 14, 2023. She was a panelist at the Legal Writing Institute Biennial Conference at Indiana University McKinney School of Law, participating in discussions titled “Professional Obligation to Participate in Legal Writing Scholarship?” and “Making Meaning Throughout Your LRW Career” (July 18, 2024). Additionally, Ruan presented “Conflict Resolution” at the Professional Standards Forum of the Air Line Pilots Association, International Union, on April 24, 2024.

Jeff Stempel contributed to several academic publications and activities in 2024. He authored a supplement to Stempel and Knutsen on Insurance Coverage (4th Edition), which is scheduled for release in Fall 2024. Stempel also contributed chapters to forthcoming edited volumes, including “Information Duties in Insurance: Contract Formation and Other Issues,” part of the III Congreso Internacional de Direito do Seguro, IX Forum de Direito do Seguro, edited by Ernesto Tzirulnik, Paulo De Tarso Sanseverino, Joao Nuno Calvao de Silva, and Inae Siqueira De Oliveira. Another chapter, co-authored with Erik S. Knutsen, titled “Safety in Numbers: Toward More Comprehensive Approaches to Difficult Risks,” will appear in Insurability of Emerging Risks – Law, Theory and Practice, edited by Ozlem Gurses and Baris Soyer. Stempel also published “Casinos, Covid, and Coverage: Jurisprudential and Insurance Implications of a Litigation Pandemic” in the UNLV Gaming Law Journal (Volume 14, 2024). Beyond his publications, Stempel served as Rapporteur for Chapter 4 of the Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL), a project in cooperation with the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT). He received an honorary degree from Comillas Universidad Pontificia in Madrid, Spain, on November 27, 2024. Additionally, Stempel served on the Board of Editors for the ABA Tort, Trial & Insurance Law Journal and contributed to the American Law Institute’s Restatements of the Law projects, including Copyright, Conflict of Laws, Torts, and Policing.

Marketa Trimble has published several books since the beginning of the year. Her recent works include The EU Geo-Blocking Regulation: A Commentary (Edward Elgar, 2024), which provides insights into the history, legislative process, and compromises behind the regulation. Additionally, she co-authored two books with Paul Goldstein. The first is the International Intellectual Property Law, Cases and Materials, 6th Edition (Foundation Press, 2024), which examines dispute resolution mechanisms in intellectual property law, including the WTO dispute resolution process and ICANN’s domain name dispute resolution. The second, International and Comparative Copyright Law (Foundation Press, 2024), also explores IP dispute resolution systems, focusing on ADR mechanisms and the WTO dispute resolution mechanism. Professor Trimble has delivered presentations on key topics in intellectual property law at international conferences. In October 2024, she presented on “Cross-Border Operation of Exceptions and Limitations to Copyright” at the International Conference on Emerging Issues in Intellectual Property Law hosted by Salzburg University, Austria. Earlier, in September 2024, she delivered “The EU Geo-Blocking Regulation: A Commentary” at the Centre for Legal Innovation and Digital Society at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. That same month, she spoke on “Operating Internationally Under the Current Patchwork of National Exceptions and Limitations to Copyright” at the 2024 Intellectual Property Conference, hosted by the Intellectual Property Law Section of the State Bar of Nevada in Las Vegas. In August 2024, Professor Trimble presented at the Intellectual Property Scholars Conference at Berkeley Law, where she discussed “Cross-Border Exceptions and Limitations to Copyright: ‘Powered by AI’.”

Professor Thomas Main’s paper, “The Mechanical Application of Rules,” was presented at the symposium “Fifty Years in the Conflicts Vineyard: In Celebration of Symeon C. Symeonides, Alex L. Parks Distinguished Chair in Law & Dean Emeritus,” hosted by Willamette University College of Law in May 2024. As Professor Main was unable to attend, the paper was presented on his behalf by Professor Marketa Trimble. The paper is forthcoming in the Willamette Law Review.