FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: Thomas Main

Professor Thomas Main is about to complete his two-year term as the associate dean for Faculty Development and Research. A new associate dean will be appointed soon, and Professor Main will return to the faculty where he can more vigorously pursue scholarly projects that his faithful service to the institution has sidetracked.

Professor Main recently returned from a trip to Jacksonville, Fla., where he presented a paper titled "Why Scholarship Matters." Main described himself as an "evangelist" and a "catalyst" for legal scholarship. Accentuating the importance of traditional legal scholarship may seem at odds with the institutional emphasis on experiential learning and the institutional commitment to graduate practice-ready lawyers. Yet Main articulated a role for traditional legal scholarship that is consonant with
-- and even essential to -- the faculty's classroom obligations. Our student body's recognition of Professor Main as their choice for this year's Faculty of the Year confirms that scholarship and teaching are complementary indeed.

In his paper, Professor Main observed that the legal profession has played a pivotal role in almost every major social reform movement in the past century. Building upon this demonstrably empirical fact, he constructed a model of what law students need in order to become successful, ethical professionals. This mandate, in turn, prescribes what law school faculty members must do in order to prepare those students. Professors alternate between the extremes of a spirited classroom and a quiet office. But in both settings the deliberate exploration of norms and the search for new insights is perpetual. A core tenet of a research university's mission is the production of new knowledge. That knowledge is manifest in the students themselves and also in the pages of our discipline's journals. Professor Main's students and Professor Main's scholarship are elegantly illustrative.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Erica Bobak

Fashion sense. Some of us have it. Some of us don't. And some among us here at Boyd have a sense that fashion -- and the vast industry behind it -- could yield interesting career opportunities for an attorney-to-be. Say hello to Erica Bobak.

Erica experienced the demands of the special events business at a young age. Her family has long owned a professional catering company here, and Erica early on worked the front and back of the house -- everything from filing systems to décor arrangement. Proceeding to the UNLV College of Hotel Administration to further her facility within the hospitality arena was a natural move.

While pursuing her undergraduate degree, Erica landed an internship with an IP licensing firm. There she grew to appreciate the field and its reach into all things creative. It soon became clear to Erica that the Boyd School of Law would be the ideal place "to bridge my interest in IP law and background in hotel study."

Also in the mix of Erica's thinking was an undergraduate study abroad program in Europe during which she spent time in Paris, one of the fashion capitals of the world. She hearkened back to it during her second year of law school. Some research led Erica to discover Fashion Law Bootcamp, a summer program that exposes participants to legal issues in the industry.

Last November, Erica summoned what she learned of fashion industry workings to offer a well-received course in intellectual property considerations for budding designers at downtown's Stitch Factory, and continues to teach there. She is currently writing two articles regarding IP law and the fashion industry, and makes an effort to attend national fashion law symposiums to get both West and East Coast perspectives of the current legal landscape in fashion.

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Kendra Kisling '13

A 2013 grad, Kendra Kisling is currently an associate in the Phoenix office of Perkins Coie LLP, a multinational law firm, listed among Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For," and ranked third on Fortune's list of best companies for women. Kendra is in the business litigation practice, where she represents business clients, from Fortune 100 companies to local developers and contractors. Kendra also maintains an active pro bono practice, assisting indigent clients in immigration and bankruptcy proceedings.

At Boyd, Kendra served as managing editor of the Nevada Law Journal and as a member of the Society of Advocates (SOA). Her SOA team (which included Alexandra Varela and Jessica Perlick) won a best brief award at their national moot court competition in New York City. Kendra also participated in the Juvenile Justice Clinic and Strasser Mediation Clinic while at Boyd.

Kendra began her legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable Patricia A. Orozco on the Arizona Court of Appeals. Every week, law clerks on the court of appeals prepare and present research to a three-judge panel and actively participate in ensuing discussions, wherein the judges typically reach their decisions. Kendra also drafted proposed opinions for a broad range of legal issues. She credits her clerkship as a great introduction to the practice of law.

After graduation, Kendra returned home to Phoenix with her fiancé and fellow 2013 Boyd alum, Aaron Haar, who works in the commercial litigation department of a mid-size law firm across the street from Kendra's office. While settling in to their lives in private practice, Kendra and Aaron also stay busy planning their November 2015 wedding.