Wednesday, Aug. 19, 1998 | 10:26 a.m.
UNLV's new William S. Boyd School of Law may hold the distinction of being the only law school in the country with a playground.
But the slides, seesaws and monkey bars should be removed by workers before a full slate of classes begins Monday at the former Paradise Elementary School, where law students will be meeting for at least the next 2 1/2 years while waiting for permanent classroom space to be completed across Tropicana Avenue on the UNLV campus.
This is orientation week for the new school, which Dean Richard Morgan says is the first state-supported law school to open in the past 20 years.
The new school removes Nevada from the list of only two states in the nation without a law school -- Alaska now is sole holder of that distinction.
While the premiere class of 140 first-year students is participating in orientation activities on the UNLV campus, carpenters and other craftsmen are working hard to put the finishing touches on the old elementary school building.
"The building is the hardest part. It's an old facility, but I think we'll make it (by Monday)," said Morgan, who was dean of the Arizona State University law school before deciding to launch UNLV's newest college.
The classrooms still need furnishings and faculty offices need telecommunication systems hooked up. A problematic air-conditioning system is among the main chores remaining for workers -- besides removal of the playground equipment.
One of the first orders of business was to raise the urinals in the restroom to accommodate adults.
Morgan said building inspectors will be on site at the end of the week.
If the Monday deadline is not met, law classes will be held in classroom buildings on campus -- at least for a few days, until the start of the fall semester for other colleges begins on Aug. 31.
The renovation of the facility, as well as starting a school from scratch, has been a task that Morgan describes as difficult but fun.
"Starting from scratch is fun; there's no baggage -- we're beginning with a clean slate," Morgan said. "But we've still got a lot of work to do."
Since this is the start-up year for the law school, there are only first-year students, a faculty of eight professors and a support staff of about 10.
Now Morgan is focusing on developing faculty and a curriculum for the second and third years.
While he is putting together the framework of a college, he must wait for the framework of a building.
Permanent facilities won't be available until the new Lied Library is complete in 2000. That's when the law school will take over the old campus library building.
Morgan says he isn't sure whether the inaugural class of full-time students will still be here when the new facilities are ready for occupancy. If everything is completed on schedule, they might be able to attend their final semester in the college's permanent home.
He says he is impressed with the quality of the 500 students who applied to the fledgling law school.
The average age of those admitted is 31 -- 90 percent of whom hail from Nevada.
Providing Nevadans with an opportunity to get a law degree in their home state was one of the motivating factors in establishing the law school.
Michael Saunders, 26, a UNLV graduate and an Army veteran, said attending an out-of-state law school would have been cost-prohibitive for him.
In-state student tuition is $7,000 annually.
"It would have cost me $60,000 to attend law school out of state," Saunders, who holds undergraduate degrees in philosophy and communication, said.
Besides, he wanted to stay in the part of the country where he grew up and where he has a special interest in the environment.
Saunders, who is actively involved in the Sierra Club, wants to specialize in environmental law.
"Southern Nevada has a host of environmental issues -- clean air, clean water, urban sprawl, nuclear waste," he said.
He said the law degree will allow him to help "preserve, protect and restore the natural environment."
Saunders is planning a student organization that focuses on environmental law.
Morgan said there will be no areas of speciality, per se, at the new law school -- but part of its mission is to serve the community, which might naturally lead to some sort of expertise in gaming law.
"We're going to be first and foremost an excellent general-purpose law school," Morgan said.
The college will stress professionalism and community service.
There also will be an emphasis on fund-raising.
In three years, the annual budget for the law school will be $7 million, which Morgan says is not enough to build the quality of law school he wants.
"It will take more money than that," he said.
So one of his tasks is to create endowments to supplement the budget.
"Hopefully, by the time three years are up we will have significant endowment dollars," Morgan said.
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