William S Boyd School of Law University of Nevada Forum
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William S Boyd School of Law University of Nevada
Law School Programs >> Nevada Law Schools
law.unlv.edu
William S Boyd School of Law University of Nevada is located in Las Vegas, NV. It appears on the Top Law Schools Rankings page.
Please "post a reply" and add any comments you have about the Boyd School of Law. Many generations of prospective law students will benefit by the information you share.
law.unlv.edu
William S Boyd School of Law University of Nevada is located in Las Vegas, NV. It appears on the Top Law Schools Rankings page.
Please "post a reply" and add any comments you have about the Boyd School of Law. Many generations of prospective law students will benefit by the information you share.
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UNLV Law School (Boyd) is a good choice
I transferred to UNLV Law School only to have it drop out of the 2nd tier...however, I would still heartily recommend anyone thinking of law school to give the UNLV Law School a shot.
Lets look at the pros:
- school is essentially brand new, graduated its first class in 2001.
- facilities are brand new and state of the art (all law schools say that but BSL actually is state of the art). There is a new $3.8M moot court being built this very moment.
- they have recruited really excellent faculty and continue to do so, they expect their faculty to publish as well, always a plus.
- they have highly competent support staff, you need to talk to the registrar? Not a problem. You need help with examsoft? They have a full-time IT staff.
- UNLV Law School does not have a 1L kill percentage. Sure, some people do flunk out, but not for want of intensive academic support. BSL has a full time professor assigned to academic support, from 1L through bar prep.
- UNLV Law School has an excellent clinical program permitting you to practice in immigration, education or juvenile/criminal. Since they require you to do something like 250 hours, you will really, really practice (you must be sworn in provisionally).
- UNLV Law School was built from the ground up with the intent of being a different sort of law school; it is competitive but not viciously so. They very much want the people they admit to succeed and will support you in your efforts.
- Its darn affordable, in-state tuition is a meagre $9200 a YEAR (not semester) and out of state is a reasonable $19500. Las Vegas is a moderately priced city to live in (not cheap like the rumors but not ridiculous). You can declare in-state after 1 year (its tricky, so register your car, register to vote and so forth)
- They have an excellent working relationship with many local agencies. Las Vegas is the fastest growing city in the US and UNLV Law School is a very good way of becoming an attorney here.
Lets examine the drawbacks
- Ranking, UNLV Law School was ranked in the 2nd tier its first time out of the gate. However, they hired a new career services person and between the outgoing person and the incoming person, no one filed the US News job placement numbers...this was a bad move. However, BSL has now hired not only two new career services people, but have also taken aggressive steps towards marketing themselves in light of US News' (sort of silly) methodology. I would reasonably expect BSL to be back in the 2nd tier next year and would not be surprised to see it make the 1st tier in another decade. Its that good.
- If you don't want to work in Nevada, career services isn't that helpful; they just don't have the connections. If you want to stay here, its good, you can do anything you want: big firm, government, Federal...whatever. If you want to go elsewhere, well, you're probably no better off than anyone else not from a top 10 school. Thats the sad fact of top-law-schools.com. Sort of dumb really since I have never seen anyone from a top school who impressed me all to death like they're supposed to.
- Las Vegas is a culture-less, sun blasted desert. If you like to drink and gamble, I suppose its for you...but thats contrary to success in law school so I don't recommend it.
- UNLV Law School is one of the most difficult schools in the Nation to get into. I believe last time the difficulty was ranked, it was FIFTH. Now, why would a 2nd tier school be so hard to get into? Because they prioritize Nevada residents into 60%-70% of the available slots. They get over 3K applications for 150 slots, 105 of those are going to NV residents but 75% of the applications come from out of state which means you need to be a very strong candidate to transfer or get in as an out of stater.
Overall, I was very happy with my choice to transfer to UNLV Law School (Boyd).
Lets look at the pros:
- school is essentially brand new, graduated its first class in 2001.
- facilities are brand new and state of the art (all law schools say that but BSL actually is state of the art). There is a new $3.8M moot court being built this very moment.
- they have recruited really excellent faculty and continue to do so, they expect their faculty to publish as well, always a plus.
- they have highly competent support staff, you need to talk to the registrar? Not a problem. You need help with examsoft? They have a full-time IT staff.
- UNLV Law School does not have a 1L kill percentage. Sure, some people do flunk out, but not for want of intensive academic support. BSL has a full time professor assigned to academic support, from 1L through bar prep.
- UNLV Law School has an excellent clinical program permitting you to practice in immigration, education or juvenile/criminal. Since they require you to do something like 250 hours, you will really, really practice (you must be sworn in provisionally).
- UNLV Law School was built from the ground up with the intent of being a different sort of law school; it is competitive but not viciously so. They very much want the people they admit to succeed and will support you in your efforts.
- Its darn affordable, in-state tuition is a meagre $9200 a YEAR (not semester) and out of state is a reasonable $19500. Las Vegas is a moderately priced city to live in (not cheap like the rumors but not ridiculous). You can declare in-state after 1 year (its tricky, so register your car, register to vote and so forth)
- They have an excellent working relationship with many local agencies. Las Vegas is the fastest growing city in the US and UNLV Law School is a very good way of becoming an attorney here.
Lets examine the drawbacks
- Ranking, UNLV Law School was ranked in the 2nd tier its first time out of the gate. However, they hired a new career services person and between the outgoing person and the incoming person, no one filed the US News job placement numbers...this was a bad move. However, BSL has now hired not only two new career services people, but have also taken aggressive steps towards marketing themselves in light of US News' (sort of silly) methodology. I would reasonably expect BSL to be back in the 2nd tier next year and would not be surprised to see it make the 1st tier in another decade. Its that good.
- If you don't want to work in Nevada, career services isn't that helpful; they just don't have the connections. If you want to stay here, its good, you can do anything you want: big firm, government, Federal...whatever. If you want to go elsewhere, well, you're probably no better off than anyone else not from a top 10 school. Thats the sad fact of top-law-schools.com. Sort of dumb really since I have never seen anyone from a top school who impressed me all to death like they're supposed to.
- Las Vegas is a culture-less, sun blasted desert. If you like to drink and gamble, I suppose its for you...but thats contrary to success in law school so I don't recommend it.
- UNLV Law School is one of the most difficult schools in the Nation to get into. I believe last time the difficulty was ranked, it was FIFTH. Now, why would a 2nd tier school be so hard to get into? Because they prioritize Nevada residents into 60%-70% of the available slots. They get over 3K applications for 150 slots, 105 of those are going to NV residents but 75% of the applications come from out of state which means you need to be a very strong candidate to transfer or get in as an out of stater.
Overall, I was very happy with my choice to transfer to UNLV Law School (Boyd).
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- Posts: 3
- Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2007 4:57 am
bigfan,
Im not too sure as of right now if ill be at boyd, i put down my deposit and went to an open house there a week ago, but wasnt all that impressed, they seemed extremely unorganized and most of the students didnt have tremendous things to say about it. However, i dont want to judge them too much from one experience. But because i live in vegas and have a full ride, it will be hard to say no to. Waiting on a few other schools(come on asu and u of a!, or maybe usd, trying to see if they will give me more $). Maybe i will be joing you though.
Im not too sure as of right now if ill be at boyd, i put down my deposit and went to an open house there a week ago, but wasnt all that impressed, they seemed extremely unorganized and most of the students didnt have tremendous things to say about it. However, i dont want to judge them too much from one experience. But because i live in vegas and have a full ride, it will be hard to say no to. Waiting on a few other schools(come on asu and u of a!, or maybe usd, trying to see if they will give me more $). Maybe i will be joing you though.
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- Posts: 1
- Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2007 1:54 am
Hi bigfan, I'll be joining you!!
I received confirmation today that the school received my seat deposit. I'm excited about it .... really excited to be finally done with the applications portion.
Are you from Nevada? I currently live in the Bay Area (Nor Cal) but will be moving to Vegas with my hubby and the cat. We're originally from San Diego, and Vegas is closer to SD than San Francisco is. Go figure.
I received confirmation today that the school received my seat deposit. I'm excited about it .... really excited to be finally done with the applications portion.
Are you from Nevada? I currently live in the Bay Area (Nor Cal) but will be moving to Vegas with my hubby and the cat. We're originally from San Diego, and Vegas is closer to SD than San Francisco is. Go figure.
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Epic, congrats on Boyd. I was born and raised in Vegas and graduated from UNLV, but I'm afraid there are not many nice areas around the school. Most of the neighborhoods around UNLV are pretty old and rundown, I am not too sure how familiar you are with the city, so forgive me if I am overly broad/specific but some parts of green valley(overall a nice area) would be about a 10-15 minute drive to campus, . Also the southwest has several nice areas that are about 15-25 minutes from campus, but it depends on the traffic. I live in the southwest and make it to school in about 20 minutes, which isnt too bad considering you are in a much better part of town than UNLV is. Sorry if I am making no sense to you, if you let me know kinda what you are looking for, and how far you are willing to drive, I'm sure I can give you better info. Again congrats and maybe I'll see you in the fall.
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Mountains edge is a very nice area, I'm sure you will have no problem finding a neighborhood you like. The drive is going to be a bit longer than most, but its not something I would be too worried about. Mountains edge is in the southwest part of town I was describing, all very new housing, and from I hear and have seen, a nice area. If I stay in town and go to Boyd, I would be living kind of out that way. Probably about a 20-30 minute drive to campus, depending on the traffic on the I-215. I think youll be happy in that part of town.
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Re: William S Boyd School of Law University of Nevada
Does anyone have any info on how difficult it is to obtain residency after the 1L year? My wife and I would be permanently relocating to the state and she will have a full-time job. She also has family in Vegas. If I could get in-state tuition for the last two years, the school would become much more attractive.
- usuaggie
- Posts: 546
- Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 8:43 pm
Re: William S Boyd School of Law University of Nevada
you can find the info here http://www.law.unlv.edu/pdf/Residency_Application.pdf, but i will copy and paste what is PROBABLY your case. read the link just to make sure though.yo! wrote:Does anyone have any info on how difficult it is to obtain residency after the 1L year? My wife and I would be permanently relocating to the state and she will have a full-time job. She also has family in Vegas. If I could get in-state tuition for the last two years, the school would become much more attractive.
A student and/or the student’s spouse has relocated to Nevada for the primary purpose of permanent full-time employment or to establish a business in Nevada before the student’s first date of matriculation. Submit the following items for the student or spouse:
o Signed letter from employer on company letterhead stating dates and terms of employment or a copy of a Nevada business license.
o Nevada driver’s license, or Nevada vehicle registration, or Nevada voter registration, or Nevada identification card issued by the Nevada DMV.
o At least one pay stub from current employer.
o For spouse, a copy of your marriage certificate.
OR
A student whose parent(s) or legal guardian(s) has relocated to Nevada for the primary purpose of permanent fulltime employment or to establish a business in Nevada before the student’s first date of matriculation. Submit the following items for the parent or legal guardian:
o Signed letter from employer on company letterhead stating dates and terms of employment or a copy of a Nevada business license.
o Nevada driver’s license, or Nevada vehicle registration, or Nevada voter registration, or Nevada identification card issued by the Nevada DMV.
o At least one pay stub from current employer.
o Student’s birth certificate or documentation indicating legal guardianship for proof of dependency.
o Proof of parent/legal guardian fling a federal income tax return for the most recent tax year. Tax return must list student as a dependent.
DECLARATION OF INTENT OF RESIDENCY
I hereby declare that I have abandoned any domicile or residence in any state or commonwealth of the United States of America other than the state of Nevada. I further certify that I have established a bona fide domicile or residence in the state of Nevada with the intent of making Nevada my true, fixed, and permanent home and place of habitation, having clearly abandoned my former domicile or residence and having no intent to make any other location outside the state of Nevada my home and habitation. I further certify that to the extent it is required for me to qualify as a resident for purposes of tuition, I have been domiciled or a resident in the state of Nevada for at least twelve (12) months immediately prior to the date of my application for reclassification to resident student status and that, therefore, I have been physically present and residing in Nevada for that entire period of time, excluding short term absences for business or pleasure.
The information provided on this application and supporting documentation are true to the best of my knowledge. I understand that omissions or misrepresentations will invalidate consideration for in-state residency.
Filing a false Declaration of Intent of Residency will result in the payment of nonresident tuition for the period of time a student was enrolled as a resident student and may also lead to the disciplinary sanctions under Title 2, Chapter Six of the Nevada System of Higher Education Code. Disciplinary sanctions include a warning, reprimand, probation, suspension, or expulsion.
- usuaggie
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Re: UNLV Law School (Boyd) is a good choice
Tstalcup wrote:I transferred to UNLV Law School only to have it drop out of the 2nd tier...however, I would still heartily recommend anyone thinking of law school to give the UNLV Law School a shot.
anybody considering unlv should make sure to pay attention to the date this was posted. unlv dropped out of tier 2 in 2006, but right now it is back, ranked 75 and shows signs of continuing to climb up to a better ranking.
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- Vegas_Rebel
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Re: William S Boyd School of Law University of Nevada
Not hard if that's the case.yo! wrote:Does anyone have any info on how difficult it is to obtain residency after the 1L year? My wife and I would be permanently relocating to the state and she will have a full-time job. She also has family in Vegas. If I could get in-state tuition for the last two years, the school would become much more attractive.
Wife with full time job = automatic residency, even for your 1L year.
I did something similar for UG, though it was just me with the job.
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Re: William S Boyd School of Law University of Nevada
I recently visited the school and took some photos. Here they are:
The whole school:
Moot Court facility:
Main law building:
The top floor of this building is part of the law library:
One of the smaller classrooms:
Terrible blurry picture of the main stairway:
The whole school:
Moot Court facility:
Main law building:
The top floor of this building is part of the law library:
One of the smaller classrooms:
Terrible blurry picture of the main stairway:
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