UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law

The Boyd School of Law provides an excellent legal education that prepares lawyers to be effective and practical professionals. The school emphasizes the importance of community service, professionalism, and leadership. Additionally, the school seeks to involve students and faculty in community service projects that will positively impact Nevada. In all its endeavors, the Boyd School of Law strives to be a model community where everyone is treated with respect and professionalism.

The law school has been ranked among the top 100 for 15 consecutive years. Its Lawyering Process Program is ranked first among legal writing programs, and its Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution is ranked sixth among dispute resolution programs, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2021 rankings of graduate schools and specialty programs.

The National Jurist's 2019 Best Value Law School rankings consider post-graduation debt and employment success, making this school a great value for students.

History

Established in 1998, the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is a fully accredited law school that offers three Juris Doctor degree programs: a full-time day program, a part-time day program, and a part-time evening program. The school also offers a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Gaming Law and Regulation and three dual degree programs: the J.D./MBA, J.D./M.S.W., and J.D./Ph.D.

The William S. Boyd School of Law at UNLV aims to produce excellent lawyers and leaders who will benefit the state of Nevada and the legal profession. The school strives to provide an innovative and excellent educational program, stressing community service, professionalism, and the importance of law in society. Additionally, the school seeks to involve students and faculty in community service projects benefiting Nevada.

Admissions

Statistics

Admissions Stats
Class of:	2020-2021	2021-2022
25th - 50th - 75th percentile LSAT	154 - 159 - 161	156 - 160 - 163
25th - 50th - 75th percentile GPA	3.28 - 3.67 - 3.8	3.34 - 3.7 - 3.85
Acceptance rate	31.1%	31.4%
Applications received	898	1052
Acceptances	279	330
Matriculants	113	85

The University of Nevada—Las Vegas (UNLV) is a well-known law school that typically has an extensive application pool. In the 2022 cycle, 1,052 people applied, and 330 were offered admission. Of those 330, 155 were accepted, and 46.97% attended the school. This year, UNLV's median LSAT is 160, with the 25th percentile at 156 and the 75th percentile at 163. Additionally, the median GPA is 3.7, with the 25th percentile at 3.34 and the 75th percentile at 3.85.

Application Process

To apply to law school, you must create an LSAC account and sign up for the Credential Assembly Service. You will then need to register for the LSAT and upload your application materials. Applications are accepted from October 1 through March 15, and after that date, applications will be considered as space permits.

LSAC

Creating an LSAC account is the first step in applying to law school. LSAC is the organization that processes all applications, so you will need to create an account with them to submit your application.

CAS

Sign up for the Credential Assembly Service (CAS), so your university transcripts can be sent to LSAC. If you are still a senior and are accepted to law school, they will verify your final transcript before you begin classes.

LSAT

If you want to apply to law school, you'll need to take the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). Almost all applicants will need to take the LSAT. Still, if you're a current UNLV undergraduate or are applying to a dual-degree program, you may be eligible for LSAT-alternative admission.

Application Requirements

Upload and submit your application materials After you have sent your transcripts to CAS and have registered for the LSAT, you will need to submit the following via your LSAC.org account to complete your application: A completed electronic application A personal statement no longer than three typed pages (double-spaced, 12-point font, one-inch margins) A résumé including educational background, work experience, honors, and community service Between one and four letters of recommendation. The admissions committee prefers at least one academic recommendation. Recommendations from current or former professors, professional colleagues, or supervisors are most effective. Recommendations from friends, family members, and other acquaintances are strongly discouraged. Recommendations must be submitted through CAS. Any optional addenda (i.e., diversity statement, explanation of extenuating factors affecting academic performance, or answers to Character and Fitness questions)

Tuition and Financial Aid

The estimated cost of attendance for a student enrolled full-time at a university can vary depending on their living situation. The average cost for a student living off-campus during the academic year is $28,690. This budget includes items such as books/supplies, room and board, travel expenses, and other miscellaneous personal expenses.

If you are offered admission to the law school, you will need to submit a $1,000 deposit. This deposit will be applied toward your tuition once you enroll. The Board of Regents sets tuition rates every two years. The rates that have been approved go through the academic year 2024-2025. Registration fees and non-resident tuition will be based on the Higher Education Price Index (HEPI). This index tracks the inflation of college costs.

Scholarships

The Admissions Committee reviews all applications for admission and awards scholarships based on merit. There is no separate application necessary to be considered for scholarships, but it is recommended that you file your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) when you apply. Scholarships do not need to be repaid.

NOTE: The law school has removed the conditions on merit scholarships as of 2017. This means that students retain their scholarships as long as they maintain good academic standing, with a cumulative GPA of 2.3 or above.

Student Loans

Students must complete the FAFSA to be considered for the federal direct unsubsidized loan. The FAFSA is available each October for the following academic year. Students should complete the FAFSA as soon as it becomes available in October. Direct unsubsidized loans are usually offered at interest rates lower than consumer loans, and repayment begins six months after graduation or six months after enrollment drops to less than half-time status. In addition to the direct unsubsidized loan, students may also be eligible for the federal graduate PLUS loan. The graduate PLUS loan is a non-need-based federal loan program that allows graduate students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance minus any other financial aid they receive. The graduate PLUS loan application is typically available each spring for the following academic year. This program may interest students who need additional assistance after other aid forms have been awarded. These loans are contingent upon creditworthiness or require a creditworthy co-borrower. It is important to review your credit history, address any necessary issues, and lower your consumer debt before enrolling in school. You can access your credit report online. Students may receive scholarships and loans up to their estimated Cost of Attendance (COA). In any combination, the total financial aid awards cannot exceed the estimated COA. Students whose basic expenses exceed this amount may contact the university's Financial Aid and Scholarships office to request an individual COA review after the semester begins. The UNLV financial aid school code is 002569

ABA Standard - Student Loan Programs

To receive a federal student loan from UNLV, complete entrance loan counseling and electronically sign your Master Promissory Note. This process ensures that you understand your rights and responsibilities when accepting a student loan. The Master Promissory Note will authorize you to borrow federal student loans through the Direct Loan program.

Additionally, in partnership with nonprofit AccessLex's MAX, the law school provides student loan counseling to admitted students. MAX provides quick and easy-to-understand lessons, in-person and online learning options, one-on-one financial coaching from Accredited Financial Counselors, and scholarship incentives each year.

Transferring

The admissions committee will assess transfer applicants using the same criteria as those used in assessing first-year applicants, as well as the applicant's performance in law school courses and the quality of the law school at which the applicant has studied. The Boyd School of Law will permit a maximum of 42 hours of law coursework to be transferred for credit toward its Juris Doctor degree. Transfer credit will be subject to the approval of the Associate Dean for Student Affairs. It will only be given for law courses where the applicant attained a grade of C (or the numerical equivalent) or better. To be accepted as a transfer student, you must complete a minimum of 47 credit hours at Boyd School of Law. Transfer Application Deadlines: Fall: April 1 - July 1 Spring: October 1 - January 7 Transfer admission applicants will be asked to complete a Transfer Credit Approval form.

Academics and Curriculum

UNLV Law School is ranked highly in many different specialty areas by USNews, often topping schools such as Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley, and Chicago. The school ranked 12th nationally for its clinical training program, 9th for dispute resolution, and 3rd for legal writing. This preparation gives UNLV students a significant advantage when competing in the job market.

Students looking to specialize in fields other than those mentioned above are not out of luck either. UNLV actively recruits new faculty in all fields and offers a broad range of courses and extracurricular activities designed to prepare students for their desired careers. Overall, the current academic offerings are impressive given the school's youth; there is hope for continued growth.

The Juris Doctor program at Boyd Law is both rigorous and engaging. It will prepare you for a successful legal career. The broad curriculum and nationally-ranked legal writing program will prepare you for any career field. Additionally, our concentrations will allow you to explore specific areas more deeply. Boyd Law also offers premier practical experience: students can use their abilities to help real clients through clinics, externships, and the law school's community service program. Graduates enjoy substantial employment in all fields.

They believe their students are best prepared for their careers after graduating if they have a well-rounded academic program that includes traditional and experiential learning. In their program, students begin with the essentials, such as civil procedure, criminal law, contracts, constitutional law, property, torts, and legal writing. In later years, they can take elective courses in various areas such as environmental law, immigration law, real estate law, or gaming law. Many of their students also participate in legal clinics, journals, and student organizations.

Concentrations

The Boyd School of Law has approved concentrations in various areas of law for students who want to focus their studies in a specific area. These concentrations include:

If you complete all the requirements for a concentration, you will receive a letter confirming this.

Experiential Education

The law school provides opportunities for students to learn by doing and practice applying the law while also serving the community by providing access to legal services and information.

Community Service Program

The community service program allows students to educate people who do not have access to legal information about different areas of law. Students work with attorneys from the law school, Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, and Nevada Legal Services. Teams of first-year students are trained to prepare and conduct weekly workshops providing legal information to unrepresented people in areas such as bankruptcy, basic procedures in the family or small claims court, and paternity, custody, and guardianship. In partnership with the Neighborhood Justice Center, students also may fulfill the community service requirement by serving as mediators.

Externship Program

Externships are available locally, statewide, nationally, and internationally. Judicial externship opportunities include working under the supervision of a judge in the U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts, U.S. Immigration Court, or Nevada State Courts. The previous government and public interest externships include placement in the following agencies: Clark County District Attorney, Clark County Legal Services, Clark County Public Defender, Clark County School District, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Public Defender, Henderson City Attorney, Las Vegas City Attorney, National Labor Relations Board, Nevada, and U.S. legislatures, Nevada Attorney General, Nevada Legal Services, Senior Law Center, U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission UNLV’s General Counsel’s Office, Washoe County Family Law Self-Help Center, and Washoe County Public Defender. The program is open to developing other placements consistent with student interest.

Externships are elective courses that allow students to gain real-world experience in the legal field. Students work under the direct supervision of lawyers and judges in various settings, and through this experience, they gain a deeper understanding of the law and how it is applied. Externships also allow students to develop practice skills and an appreciation for the professional roles of attorneys. Three externship courses are offered every semester, and students can take up to 12 credits of externships throughout law school. There are different externship courses, such as Judicial Externships, Congressional Externships, Government and Public Interest Externships, and Alternative Placements.

Many colleges and universities have service-learning courses that give students hands-on experience serving the community. These courses usually have a field component, which allows students to apply the knowledge they learned in the classroom to real-world situations. Some examples of service learning opportunities are:

The Criminalization of Immigrants:

A Service Learning Response involves the intersection of immigration and criminal law. Students partner with public defenders throughout the state to produce a manual that attorneys and judges in Nevada can use when faced with noncitizen defendants. The manual identifies Nevada crimes that have immigration consequences, explores strategies for alleviating or avoiding them, and identifies needed reform to Nevada statutes or practices when they result in unfair consequences to a noncitizen. The course focuses on Nevada statutes, yet it has applicability to criminal statutes of other jurisdictions and federal law.

Community economic development involves creating opportunities for people to improve their quality of life and achieve social and economic stability. One important aspect of community economic development is affordable housing. Affordable housing is housing that is accessible to people with lower incomes. There are many ways to create affordable housing, such as through land use approval or by working with local government agencies and developers. By researching models of providing affordable housing, students can help make affordable housing available to more people in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area.

The Public Lands and Natural Resources Field Seminar focuses on applying law and science to natural resource issues on public lands in the desert region. The seminar includes a six-day field trip to the Kaibab Plateau near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. On the trip, students visit areas on public land where significant legal issues have arisen concerning the management of natural resources. At each location, students discuss resource management and legal issues with federal/ state land managers and representatives of the environmentalist community and resource industries.

Legal Education & Assistance to Prisoners (LEAP) is a course where students learn about state and federal post-conviction remedies and family law and, in the field component of the course, provide training for inmates who work in the law libraries at several state correctional facilities in Southern Nevada. Students meet monthly with inmates to analyze training needs, conduct workshops and develop self-help materials for use by inmates in prison law libraries.

The Public Interest Fellowship Program

The Public Interest Fellowship Program provides financial resources, mentorship, and experiential learning opportunities to students who have a strong academic record, demonstrate community service, and are committed to public interest work after graduating from law school. This program is designed to help students pursue a career in public interest law.

Clinical Legal Education

Clinical legal education teaches law students by allowing them to learn about substantive law and how to apply it in real-life situations. Live client clinics aim to help students develop the skills they need to become successful legal professionals. These skills include critical thinking, a commitment to excellent service, understanding the law's strengths and weaknesses, and balancing confidence and humility.

The mission of the William S. Boyd School of Law clinical programs is to provide students with an opportunity to learn about law in a practical setting. Additionally, the program seeks to teach students how to be reflective professionals dedicated to serving their local community. The clinical programs also work to improve the quality and accessibility of legal services available to those in need.

Employment Prospects

The median salary for JD graduates from the University of Nevada—Las Vegas who work in the private sector is $81,500. If they go into the private sector, a grad can expect to make $65,000. 41.2% of law graduates from the University of Nevada—Las Vegas go directly to work for law firms, while 37.7% clerk for a judge. 3.5% of graduates go into public interest. 75.0% of University of Nevada—Las Vegas graduates pass the bar on their first try.

Quality of Life

The location of UNLV in Las Vegas offers a unique experience for law students. Although the city is known for its drinking and gambling, these are not recommended habits for law students. The city offers some attractions unique to Las Vegas, such as enjoyable nightclubs for law students. In addition, the small class size and new facilities on campus make for an enjoyable law school experience.

Facilities

The Boyd School of Law facility is equipped with modern technology in its classrooms, which makes presentations and distance learning more accessible. There are also plenty of lounge and study spaces for students and indoor and outdoor wireless access. This allows students to get work done between classes efficiently.

Thomas and Mack Moot Court Facility

The Thomas and Mack Moot Court Facility supports the school's trial advocacy, Kids' Court, and appellate advocacy programs. It provides a venue for judicial proceedings by state and federal courts, including the Nevada Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. One of the nation's leading architectural firms designed the facility for courtrooms. It includes a courtroom and a 100-seat auditorium in which legal education, legal argument simulation activities, and court hearings are conducted. The facility's unique reconfigurable bench makes it suitable for all courts. In the facility, students can experience a comprehensive picture of what happens in all courtroom settings.

Wiener-Rogers Law Library

The Wiener Rogers Law Library is a top law library in Nevada. It has an extensive collection of legal materials and professional and service-oriented librarians. The library has computer labs, classrooms, conference rooms, study rooms for collaborative learning, and carrels for individual study.

Information Technology

The Department of Information Technology at Boyd provides a full range of technology services to students, faculty, staff, and administration. This includes providing remote access to databases and computer-based exams, as well as providing technology-mediated classrooms. The law school also has a general-purpose computer lab and specialized labs for specific groups, such as the Nevada Law Journal members and the Thomas and Mack Legal Clinic.

UNLV Libraries

The Lied Library offers a variety of resources for students, including 2,500 study spaces, an Information Commons, a Graduate, and Professional Student study lounge and collaborative learning space, a 24-hour study space, and a media distribution system. The library also has a large federal government depository collection that provides access to an expanding universe of federal information. The Special Collections section provides unique materials relating to Las Vegas and Southern Nevada history. It also houses the Gaming Research Collection and the Nevada Women's Archive.

Synopsis

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, will likely continue to improve its academic program and reputation. Students should visit the school to see if its unique location in Las Vegas is right for them.

Contact Information

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas
William S. Boyd School of Law
Admissions Office
4505 S. Maryland Parkway
Las Vegas, NV 89154
Phone: 702-895-3671
https://law.unlv.edu/admissions

Summary

Established	1998
Location	Las Vegas, NV
Dean	Leah Chan Grinvald
2022 US News Ranking	67th
LSAT Median Score	160
GPA Median Score	3.7
Bar Passage Rate	75% (2022)
Employment Rate	55% (2022)
Cost	$28,000/year (exclusive of summer)
Average Debt	$72,132
Application Deadline	March 15, 2023

Forum and Discussion

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Reference

https://law.unlv.edu/
Rank #67
LSD Law
LSAC Guide
How to Learn to Do Well on a Law School Exam
Success in Law School - A Unique Perspective
The Guide to Law School Loans
Guide to Fee Waivers

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