With U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy as keynote speaker, UNLV's William S. Boyd School of Law will celebrate its move into its permanent home Sept. 27.
The dedication ceremony will be held 3-6 p.m. in the plaza between the law school's recently renovated buildings.
"The dedication of the Boyd School of Law's new facility -- with the distinguished presence of Justice Kennedy -- marks a major milestone in the development of our superb legal education program at UNLV," President Carol C. Harter said. "I want to once again thank the wonderful donors, Regents, and the Nevada Legislature for their generous support of the law school. Their contributions have allowed UNLV to fulfill its vision of building a law program dedicated to excellence, professionalism, and community service. With its first-rate law library, this new facility will benefit UNLV students and faculty from all disciplines, as well as members of the community."
In August, the school moved from its temporary quarters at the old Paradise Elementary School on Tropicana Avenue to the newly renovated space. The law school is now located in the two buildings that formerly housed UNLV's main library.
"The opening of our new home symbolizes the rapid progress that we have made in the creation of an excellent law school for Nevada," said Richard Morgan, dean of the law school. "I think it's especially notable that our wonderful new facility is in the center of campus. Most law schools are on the fringe of their universities. Here, we're treated as a central player in the development of the campus."
The 57,700-square-foot round building at the complex will be renamed William S. Boyd Hall in honor of the school's namesake patron. Boyd, along with the Nevada Legislature, Govs. Bob Miller and Kenny Guinn, President Harter, and others, led the effort to create the state's only public law school.
The 67,030-square-foot rectangular building will be renamed the James E. Rogers Center for Administration and Justice in honor of the local lawyer, businessman, and philanthropist. The law school will occupy the top two floors of the Rogers Center.
The classrooms are primarily housed on the first floor of Boyd Hall. The admissions office, student organizations, student lounge, and law school's administrative offices are located on the second floor.
Boyd Hall also houses the Thomas & Mack Legal Clinic. The public clinic offers free legal services to low-income clients in the areas of juvenile justice and child welfare.
The Wiener-Rogers Law Library of the Boyd Law School -- the largest law library in the state with more than 225,000 volumes/volume-equivalents -- takes up the third floors of both buildings as well as part of the fourth floor of the Rogers Center. The library is named in honor of late Las Vegas attorney Louis Wiener Jr. and Rogers. Faculty offices are also located on the fourth floor.
"The law library is rapidly developing into a first-rate facility," Morgan said. "Our new location is much more accessible for everyone on campus as well as public patrons. We hope the central location of both the library and the faculty offices will help foster interdisciplinary research across campus. At the same time, the library is a vital resource for the entire Southern Nevada community."
Both the Wiener-Rogers Library and the Thomas & Mack Legal Clinic are examples of the resources that a law school can offer the community in which it is located, Morgan said.
"An excellent law school can bring great community service benefits to the state and can help this fine university become even better," he said. "We are truly grateful for the support of the state, the university, and community leaders such as William Boyd, Jim Rogers, and Joyce Mack and the Thomas family. That support has enabled us to serve Nevada residents who seek legal education and to contribute valuable resources to the community."
Morgan said he is pleased that the law school has caught the attention of Justice Kennedy. Before accepting his appointment to the Supreme Court in 1988, Kennedy was a professor of constitutional law at the McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific. Kennedy received a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School.
The Boyd School of Law was created by the Nevada Legislature in June 1997 and opened its doors to students in August 1998. It received provisional accreditation from the American Bar Association in July 2000, which means that its graduates are eligible to sit for bar examinations throughout the United States. The school is now applying for full accreditation -- the earliest time possible under ABA guidelines.
"One issue the ABA wanted us to address as we applied for full accreditation was related to our facilities," said Richard Morgan, dean of the law school. "With our move into the remodeled buildings, we have addressed that issue."
The ABA accreditation committee will also review the bar exam results of UNLV law school graduates who took the exam in July. Those results will be available in October.
Morgan and UNLV Provost Ray Alden are scheduled to appear before the ABA accreditation committee this fall. The committee will then make its recommendation on the law school's application for full accreditation to the ABA's Council of the Section for Legal Education, which will meet in December. Full accreditation of the Boyd School of Law becomes effective once the council approves the recommendation and the ABA House of Delegates concurs.
"We expect to be in excellent shape for our fall appearance before the ABA's accreditation committee," Morgan said. "Assuming it goes well, we should receive full accreditation from the ABA House of Delegates in February 2003."
For more information about the dedication, contact Joann Jacobs at (702) 895-2819. For more information about the William S. Boyd School of Law, call (702) 895-3671.
