DA Steve Wolfson is quoted as saying “We think we got Ms. Plunkett’s attention.” after Alexis Plunkett agreed to plead guilty on supplying a cell phone to an inmate in exchange for the witness intimidation charges being dropped. As part of the deal, her law license will be suspended for 5 years and she won’t practice in Nevada again.
Chief Justice Mark Gibbons will deliver his State of the Judiciary speech tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. in the Assembly Chamber in Carson City.
Seven states agreed on a Colorado River drought contingency plan which is being sent to Congress for approval. [TNI]
I am the hiring partner at my firm. We tried a few Boyd grads over the years. While some were competent writers, most were not. In fact, a few were horrific. This is ironic, because, as you know US News ranks Boyd's writing program as one of the best in the country. Just goes to show what a bunch of nonsense those rankings are. We too hire from regional schools outside of Nevada. We no longer even consider Boyd grads. Too many bad experiences.
Your comment is not "negative" it is pompous and arrogant. If you really believe that anyone cares where you went to school 2 years out you are delusional.
The comment was not pompous; the posters are commenting on their experience and they do not state whether they went to some lah di dah school. I did not go to a fancy school. I am also a hiring authority. I don't have a problem with Boyd grads writing abilities; it's their legal research skills. They are atrociously bad. So bad, that it stands out, and affects their final writing product. It's a mystery to me, but I'm not the only one who has noticed it apparently.
9:25 here. I went to a very average state law school. Nobody would consider it prestigious. I don't care where a person went to law school, I only care if they can write. And to 10:00 AM's point, that is my experience as well, although I consider legal research to be a component of writing. Boyd grads are also bad at spotting issues. It's frustrating as hell to get a motion or opposition or brief from an associate that misses issues, cites to bad authority or misstates the law. Sometimes, I end up with the realization that it would have been faster for me to do it from scratch than to fix the garbled mess that's handed in to me.
You probably shouldn't judge an entire law school based on a few examples. I know that most of the terribly researched and written motions I've seen have come from old-timers (before Boyd even existed). Other than that, I see some good and some bad, but certainly can't say that there's a pattern connecting the bad to Boyd. Plus, I know there are counter-examples. I know there are attorneys who went to Boyd who are damn good at research and writing.
Of course, if it's your firm, you're free to consider or blanket reject whoever you want. You may miss out on some good ones, but that's a risk you're willing to accept, apparently.
I am a hiring partner. Some Boyd Grads are great. Some are terrible. I have seen horrible attorneys from the University of Michigan. Remember, Eglet graduated from McGeorge, hardly an academic powerhouse. In short, the law school where one graduated carries only slight importance in my hiring decision.
9:25 here. Completely agree there are bright Boyd grads out there. I know many. My observations and opinions aren't an aberration though. While there are outliers, as a general rule, Boyd grads don't write well. Both on this blog and IRL the same kinds of gripes are heard again and again. Any hire is a risk, but I can mitigate for that risk by hiring from schools that have consistently produced good writers. Honestly, I would prefer to hire from Boyd. It would allow use of a law clerk throughout the school year. It's inconvenient to reach out to 2L's and 3L's in Provo, Salt Lake and Southern California.
If you hire a Boyd grad that graduated toward the top of the class, was an editor on law review, externed or clerked for a federal judge, or had the opportunity to work for a good mentor that also happened to be a good writer, I think you'll be happy with their research and writing. If you hire a Boyd grad that graduated toward the bottom of the class, and didn't do any of the above to improve their abilities, I think you'll be disappointed. Same is true for every school I've ever hired from (including Harvard, Virginia, Michigan, Berkeley, UCLA, and GULC). The shittiest writers I've ever worked with went to UCLA, Berkeley, and BYU. Are those bad schools? Of course not! They're great schools. I was unlucky. If you want a good Boyd grad, make an offer to those in the top quarter.
I am not a hiring authority, but I am involved in the hiring process. We are a large regional firm and one of the few from this city that can afford to be choosy. We have a lot of Boyd grads, and last year we hired exclusively from Boyd. We took them over candidates from UCLA, Notre Dame, USC, Texas, Arizona and of course many of the smaller regional schools. Recently we've missed out on some of the top Boyd students who chose firms in LA over LV. Of course, the top 10% of the class is not representative of the quality of the whole class, but that is true everywhere.
Excellent comment thread. It's the horrific writing and issue spotting. Name one Boyd graduate you would entrust to close a 7 figure deal or to litigate a 7 figure case? Sure, they know the latest trends in intersectionality and the law, but not much else.
I own over 7 figures in assets through my own career as a Boyd graduate, not leveraged. Just settled another 6 figure pi case a few months ago, working on another 6 figure, litigious case that an Emory and USD grad did not understand. Keep ripping Boyd, boys.
@11:16, you do realize that Boyd grads have some of the biggest verdicts in this state's history, right? Not just 7 figure, 8 figures. There are good and bad with every law school. I'd take a Boyd grad over Cal Western, Cooley, McGeorge, Thomas Jefferson, or some crappy low tier midwest school.
Cooley, yes, beter school. LV just got voted in the top 58 law school in the country. Same companies that rate your law school. Wait, top in the country for legal writing for how many years in a row now? Wait, Alexis Plunkett and Lawyers West con man, sorry cannot think of his name right now, went where? I got into three other law school, and I went to Boyd because it was good and cheap.
PI absolutely counts. You don't get a verdict by being a good marketer, you get a case by being a good marketer. You get an 8 figure verdict by being a good attorney/trial lawyer.
As attorneys i think we all can agree we are only as good as our work ethic. You can be a great legal mind and writer, but if your work ethic is shit then who cares? There are great lawyers who werent top of their class (Joe Jamail), and there are horrible lawyers who were top of their class (few top ranked students in my year didnt even pass the bar the first time). I am from Boyd, and while i don't think my legal writing will knock anyone's socks off, i believe i write competently and effectively. I was able to also clerk for two state judges/justices who also believed in my work ethic versus my ranking. I am toward the younger side of the scale, and have gone against attorneys likewise older and younger than me. I have consistently found that two things majorly can differentiate attorneys from one another: (1) experience; and (2) work ethic. when i first started, i knew my work ethic had to be extraordinary to make up for my lack of experience. luckily through time and experienced gained, my work ethic has been at a stable level to still be effective but not swallow up my work/life balance. do i mess up every once in awhile? Of course, i am only human.
I have gone up against much more experienced attorneys from higher ranking schools who write extensive motions that are adversarial to my position (who hasnt, right?). While i may not have won them all, my responses (or initial pleadings) were competent and effective enough to get my cases to where they needed to be for my clients. and in the end, isnt that what matters? and lets get real here, writing isnt the end all be all for litigation. you can be a great writer, but if you cant take an effective PMK depo then no amount research is gonna bolster your case.
Upvote for 10:53 and 10:54. The top of each Boyd class is consistently good. And I've found they're consistently harder workers than a middling grad from a "better" school who trained him/herself how to take the LSAT four years ago but then never really showed much initiative in law school. That said, Boyd's classes aren't entirely deep with talent.
Guest
Anonymous
March 20, 2019 4:54 pm
Let me go on the record– these "plea deals" that include a stipulated suspension of law license are bullshit and stop doing them.
The OBC does not recognize them. The Nevada Supreme Court does not recognize them. Ask Randolph Goldberg who had a plea agreement that included a suspension of his law license for 2 years how enforceable that was almost 6 years later.
If it is recognized, it's a tough one for her. 5 years and 1 day requires her to take the bar again and apply for reinstatement (even though she agreed to surrender her license). Most other states would impose reciprocal discipline, which means she would have to do all that and be readmitted, just to have to take the bar elsewhere…
Big fucking deal, she makes out with prisoners, gives them phones, tries to get people killed, and she gets this deal. Glad she was invited to the Eglet party, and made contributions to Elissa Cadish's campaign.
Dennis Prince went to Cal Western. Robert Eglet went to McGeorge. It is the passion, not the prestigious law school one attended which marks one for success.
That, and knowing the difference between restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses.
Guest
Unknown
March 20, 2019 7:08 pm
Congratulations to UNLV and the Boyd alumni who hold its banner high. Climbing to the top 30th percentile of all law schools within 20 years is extraordinary. Nice work.
To the disparagers, I’m happy to say that Boyd recruits have never disappointed us at Lewis Roca. They’ve risen to partnership in Nevada, Arizona and Colorado offices; and several more are on the cusp. Last year, Erik Foley (class of 2016) followed his admission in Nevada by earning the highest score on the Arizona bar exam. I could go on.
We also are impressed by the excellent Boyd attorneys we work with and against at Kemp Jones & Coulthard, Ballard Spahr, Snell & Wilmer, Greenberg Traurig, Eglet Prince, Pisanelli Bice, Hutchison & Steffen, Brownstein Hyatt, Holland & Hart, as well as other great firms.
Kidding aside, it's pretty nice that this guy would shed anonymity to stand up for a school he didn't even go to on a anonymous chatblog full of disgruntled trolls.
Lewis Roca is a Dem party shop and Boyd is a Dem party school, so not sure how much weight to give the statement. My experience with LRRC is that they overlawyer the crap out of cases. Pisanelli Bice is the only firm on that list that I respect.
12:33 is a clown. Lewis and Roca is a good firm with good lawyers. The "overlawyer" accusation is the type of comment I'd expect from the anti-Boyd crowd – i.e., 25+ year lawyers that went to a diploma mill, use an AOL e-mail account, don't have Westlaw, and instead cite and re-cite the same 5 cases from a 10 year old Michie's.
That's because Joel is just that kind of a guy. He is amazing to work with and hard to go up against. Thank you Joel for a nice post. For the Boyd haters out there — hang on to your negative comments while we prefer to keep our winning streaks on average motions, we keep working the power cases you will have to cite to in your fancy motions and we keep our clients happy. We have some amazing lawyers (all Boyd graduates) on both sides of the isle who obtained huge verdicts or defended multimillion dollar cases. Despite their successes many continue to be great to work with or go up against. So you take your fancy diploma while we keep our close connections to community and to each other and our student loans paid off.
Accepted. Now that I have had lunch and am less cranky, the attorneys at all those firms are highly competent. I am proud to serve with them in the Las Vegas legal market. I love the Boyd library and staff, too.
+1 for Joel coming on here and standing up for Boyd. Nothing but respect for him. Notably, Joel went to a pretty well-regarded school, but as the kids say these days: "game recognize game"
Personally, my experience with Boyd grads has been a mixed bag, but I think that applies to every school. I've seen lawyers from Cooley who are better-skilled than lawyers from Harvard or other T15 schools.
Guest
Anonymous
March 20, 2019 7:28 pm
My UNLV grad attorney who worked for me was able to get a consumer lending case remanded for our law firm. Good, young attorney.
Guest
Anonymous
March 20, 2019 9:36 pm
Rumor is that Judge Smith announced from the bench that he is retiring? Anyone got the details?
Guest
Anonymous
March 20, 2019 9:59 pm
Judge Smith is retiring April 12th. It was announced at the Judges' meeting. Safe travels, Dougie Fresh!
You know I have been hearing this garbage about Judge Smith since he was on the Justice Court. Yes he is a lazy jurist who shoots from the hip. But that is it. All of these rumors and nefarious innuendoes have never had legs and candidly do not appear to have legs now.
Not to be a negative Nelly, but Boyd graduates uniformly fail to impress to me and my colleagues. We prefer AZ, CA and UT graduates.
*my colleagues and me. Maybe it's you that's failing to impress them, hmmmm?
I am the hiring partner at my firm. We tried a few Boyd grads over the years. While some were competent writers, most were not. In fact, a few were horrific. This is ironic, because, as you know US News ranks Boyd's writing program as one of the best in the country. Just goes to show what a bunch of nonsense those rankings are. We too hire from regional schools outside of Nevada. We no longer even consider Boyd grads. Too many bad experiences.
Your comment is not "negative" it is pompous and arrogant. If you really believe that anyone cares where you went to school 2 years out you are delusional.
The comment was not pompous; the posters are commenting on their experience and they do not state whether they went to some lah di dah school. I did not go to a fancy school. I am also a hiring authority. I don't have a problem with Boyd grads writing abilities; it's their legal research skills. They are atrociously bad. So bad, that it stands out, and affects their final writing product. It's a mystery to me, but I'm not the only one who has noticed it apparently.
9:25 here. I went to a very average state law school. Nobody would consider it prestigious. I don't care where a person went to law school, I only care if they can write. And to 10:00 AM's point, that is my experience as well, although I consider legal research to be a component of writing. Boyd grads are also bad at spotting issues. It's frustrating as hell to get a motion or opposition or brief from an associate that misses issues, cites to bad authority or misstates the law. Sometimes, I end up with the realization that it would have been faster for me to do it from scratch than to fix the garbled mess that's handed in to me.
You probably shouldn't judge an entire law school based on a few examples. I know that most of the terribly researched and written motions I've seen have come from old-timers (before Boyd even existed). Other than that, I see some good and some bad, but certainly can't say that there's a pattern connecting the bad to Boyd. Plus, I know there are counter-examples. I know there are attorneys who went to Boyd who are damn good at research and writing.
Of course, if it's your firm, you're free to consider or blanket reject whoever you want. You may miss out on some good ones, but that's a risk you're willing to accept, apparently.
I am a hiring partner. Some Boyd Grads are great. Some are terrible. I have seen horrible attorneys from the University of Michigan. Remember, Eglet graduated from McGeorge, hardly an academic powerhouse. In short, the law school where one graduated carries only slight importance in my hiring decision.
10:25,
9:25 here. Completely agree there are bright Boyd grads out there. I know many. My observations and opinions aren't an aberration though. While there are outliers, as a general rule, Boyd grads don't write well. Both on this blog and IRL the same kinds of gripes are heard again and again. Any hire is a risk, but I can mitigate for that risk by hiring from schools that have consistently produced good writers. Honestly, I would prefer to hire from Boyd. It would allow use of a law clerk throughout the school year. It's inconvenient to reach out to 2L's and 3L's in Provo, Salt Lake and Southern California.
If you hire a Boyd grad that graduated toward the top of the class, was an editor on law review, externed or clerked for a federal judge, or had the opportunity to work for a good mentor that also happened to be a good writer, I think you'll be happy with their research and writing. If you hire a Boyd grad that graduated toward the bottom of the class, and didn't do any of the above to improve their abilities, I think you'll be disappointed. Same is true for every school I've ever hired from (including Harvard, Virginia, Michigan, Berkeley, UCLA, and GULC). The shittiest writers I've ever worked with went to UCLA, Berkeley, and BYU. Are those bad schools? Of course not! They're great schools. I was unlucky. If you want a good Boyd grad, make an offer to those in the top quarter.
I am not a hiring authority, but I am involved in the hiring process. We are a large regional firm and one of the few from this city that can afford to be choosy. We have a lot of Boyd grads, and last year we hired exclusively from Boyd. We took them over candidates from UCLA, Notre Dame, USC, Texas, Arizona and of course many of the smaller regional schools. Recently we've missed out on some of the top Boyd students who chose firms in LA over LV. Of course, the top 10% of the class is not representative of the quality of the whole class, but that is true everywhere.
I will take a Boyd grad over a Thomas Jefferson or Southwest grad any day of the week.
Excellent comment thread. It's the horrific writing and issue spotting. Name one Boyd graduate you would entrust to close a 7 figure deal or to litigate a 7 figure case? Sure, they know the latest trends in intersectionality and the law, but not much else.
I own over 7 figures in assets through my own career as a Boyd graduate, not leveraged. Just settled another 6 figure pi case a few months ago, working on another 6 figure, litigious case that an Emory and USD grad did not understand. Keep ripping Boyd, boys.
Can I sleep with you? JK.
@11:16, you do realize that Boyd grads have some of the biggest verdicts in this state's history, right? Not just 7 figure, 8 figures. There are good and bad with every law school. I'd take a Boyd grad over Cal Western, Cooley, McGeorge, Thomas Jefferson, or some crappy low tier midwest school.
"I will take a Boyd grad over a Thomas Jefferson or Southwest grad any day of the week." Talk about damning with faint praise.
PI does not count. It's where the brilliant marketing types go to make money, not practice law. Yes, Boyd grads know self-promotion.
Cooley, yes, beter school. LV just got voted in the top 58 law school in the country. Same companies that rate your law school. Wait, top in the country for legal writing for how many years in a row now? Wait, Alexis Plunkett and Lawyers West con man, sorry cannot think of his name right now, went where? I got into three other law school, and I went to Boyd because it was good and cheap.
PI absolutely counts. You don't get a verdict by being a good marketer, you get a case by being a good marketer. You get an 8 figure verdict by being a good attorney/trial lawyer.
Now we are qualifying our statements, that is a good time. You cannot even hold up your arguments for 5 seconds.
As attorneys i think we all can agree we are only as good as our work ethic. You can be a great legal mind and writer, but if your work ethic is shit then who cares? There are great lawyers who werent top of their class (Joe Jamail), and there are horrible lawyers who were top of their class (few top ranked students in my year didnt even pass the bar the first time). I am from Boyd, and while i don't think my legal writing will knock anyone's socks off, i believe i write competently and effectively. I was able to also clerk for two state judges/justices who also believed in my work ethic versus my ranking. I am toward the younger side of the scale, and have gone against attorneys likewise older and younger than me. I have consistently found that two things majorly can differentiate attorneys from one another: (1) experience; and (2) work ethic. when i first started, i knew my work ethic had to be extraordinary to make up for my lack of experience. luckily through time and experienced gained, my work ethic has been at a stable level to still be effective but not swallow up my work/life balance. do i mess up every once in awhile? Of course, i am only human.
I have gone up against much more experienced attorneys from higher ranking schools who write extensive motions that are adversarial to my position (who hasnt, right?). While i may not have won them all, my responses (or initial pleadings) were competent and effective enough to get my cases to where they needed to be for my clients. and in the end, isnt that what matters? and lets get real here, writing isnt the end all be all for litigation. you can be a great writer, but if you cant take an effective PMK depo then no amount research is gonna bolster your case.
Gina Bongiovi is the best self promoter around, and she went to Boyd.
You can't fake it, outside of family law and PI. Passion. Diligence. Intelligence.
Can we please get something straight here people? Boyd totes sux. But Boyd Class of 2013 sits on a pedestal of rich mahogany and rose pedals.
Upvote for 10:53 and 10:54. The top of each Boyd class is consistently good. And I've found they're consistently harder workers than a middling grad from a "better" school who trained him/herself how to take the LSAT four years ago but then never really showed much initiative in law school. That said, Boyd's classes aren't entirely deep with talent.
Let me go on the record– these "plea deals" that include a stipulated suspension of law license are bullshit and stop doing them.
The OBC does not recognize them. The Nevada Supreme Court does not recognize them. Ask Randolph Goldberg who had a plea agreement that included a suspension of his law license for 2 years how enforceable that was almost 6 years later.
If it is recognized, it's a tough one for her. 5 years and 1 day requires her to take the bar again and apply for reinstatement (even though she agreed to surrender her license). Most other states would impose reciprocal discipline, which means she would have to do all that and be readmitted, just to have to take the bar elsewhere…
Big fucking deal, she makes out with prisoners, gives them phones, tries to get people killed, and she gets this deal. Glad she was invited to the Eglet party, and made contributions to Elissa Cadish's campaign.
That reminds me: whatever happened to the PD who was caught giving head to the convicted child molester?
Suzy Squarebush!
LOL. Boyd. I would not let my dog piss on the Boyd Law building.
B/c of the respect and admiration you have for Boyd. As it should be.
I am just checking in to say that these comments about Boyd are hurting my feelings. Carry on
If your intersectionality score is above 3, I am sorry. If not, stuff it.
Score here
God dammit.
Dennis Prince went to Cal Western. Robert Eglet went to McGeorge. It is the passion, not the prestigious law school one attended which marks one for success.
That, and knowing the difference between restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses.
Congratulations to UNLV and the Boyd alumni who hold its banner high. Climbing to the top 30th percentile of all law schools within 20 years is extraordinary. Nice work.
To the disparagers, I’m happy to say that Boyd recruits have never disappointed us at Lewis Roca. They’ve risen to partnership in Nevada, Arizona and Colorado offices; and several more are on the cusp. Last year, Erik Foley (class of 2016) followed his admission in Nevada by earning the highest score on the Arizona bar exam. I could go on.
We also are impressed by the excellent Boyd attorneys we work with and against at Kemp Jones & Coulthard, Ballard Spahr, Snell & Wilmer, Greenberg Traurig, Eglet Prince, Pisanelli Bice, Hutchison & Steffen, Brownstein Hyatt, Holland & Hart, as well as other great firms.
Joel Henriod
Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie
My resume is in your inbox Joel.
Kidding aside, it's pretty nice that this guy would shed anonymity to stand up for a school he didn't even go to on a anonymous chatblog full of disgruntled trolls.
Lewis Roca is a Dem party shop and Boyd is a Dem party school, so not sure how much weight to give the statement. My experience with LRRC is that they overlawyer the crap out of cases. Pisanelli Bice is the only firm on that list that I respect.
12:33 is a clown. Lewis and Roca is a good firm with good lawyers. The "overlawyer" accusation is the type of comment I'd expect from the anti-Boyd crowd – i.e., 25+ year lawyers that went to a diploma mill, use an AOL e-mail account, don't have Westlaw, and instead cite and re-cite the same 5 cases from a 10 year old Michie's.
Yep. Whatever you think of Boyd, Joel Henriod is first rate and first class. Nothing but respect for him.
Thank you for the laugh. I have Westlaw and Outlook. Plead guilty to diploma mill, but let me tell you, best three years of hard partying in my life.
That's because Joel is just that kind of a guy. He is amazing to work with and hard to go up against. Thank you Joel for a nice post. For the Boyd haters out there — hang on to your negative comments while we prefer to keep our winning streaks on average motions, we keep working the power cases you will have to cite to in your fancy motions and we keep our clients happy. We have some amazing lawyers (all Boyd graduates) on both sides of the isle who obtained huge verdicts or defended multimillion dollar cases. Despite their successes many continue to be great to work with or go up against. So you take your fancy diploma while we keep our close connections to community and to each other and our student loans paid off.
PENALTY on 12:33. "overlawyer" is a trigger and this blog is a safe space.
(Also, can someone please sue Captch and every website that uses it? I have impaired vision and typically need 3 or 4 attempts to get it right.)
Accepted. Now that I have had lunch and am less cranky, the attorneys at all those firms are highly competent. I am proud to serve with them in the Las Vegas legal market. I love the Boyd library and staff, too.
+1 for Joel coming on here and standing up for Boyd. Nothing but respect for him. Notably, Joel went to a pretty well-regarded school, but as the kids say these days: "game recognize game"
Personally, my experience with Boyd grads has been a mixed bag, but I think that applies to every school. I've seen lawyers from Cooley who are better-skilled than lawyers from Harvard or other T15 schools.
My UNLV grad attorney who worked for me was able to get a consumer lending case remanded for our law firm. Good, young attorney.
Rumor is that Judge Smith announced from the bench that he is retiring? Anyone got the details?
Judge Smith is retiring April 12th. It was announced at the Judges' meeting. Safe travels, Dougie Fresh!
Retiring is a generous description of the basis for stepping down.
Why else would he be stepping down? Spill!
You know I have been hearing this garbage about Judge Smith since he was on the Justice Court. Yes he is a lazy jurist who shoots from the hip. But that is it. All of these rumors and nefarious innuendoes have never had legs and candidly do not appear to have legs now.
Not the sharpest knife in the drawer and tended to make up his own rules, but never malevolent in my experience.
Alexis Plunkett's website says she is now "collaborating with Las Vegas Defense Group." Cute way to say Represented By.
Or more likely LVDG has taken over her cases due to stipulating to summary suspension. This frankly is good information for clients to know.