Leah Chan Grinvald speaks during an event held to announce her installation as the new William S. Boyd School of Law Dean at UNLV Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022.
Monday, Oct. 3, 2022 | 2 a.m.
As the 25th anniversary of UNLV’s William S. Boyd School of Law draws closer in August 2023, Dean Leah Chan Grinvald has big plans for expanding the school’s reach.
Opening the law school to all corners of the state is one of Grinvald’s priorities. She is also stressing to students that a law degree can pave the way for more than a job inside the courtroom, and that attending law school is something that is attainable regardless of gender or race.
Grinvald, who for the past five years was the associate dean for academic affairs at Suffolk University in Boston, “tried to hit the ground running” when she started at UNLV on July 1. She was installed Wednesday.
Grinvald was charged with overseeing the law school’s curriculum at Suffolk, where she is credited for starting a hybrid JD program, a master of science law track and numerous non-JD certificate programs, according to UNLV.
And now she’s bringing some of those same philosophies to Las Vegas.
The Sun sat down with Grinvald to talk about the future of the law school, the importance of representation in legal studies, and the opportunities a law degree can bring. The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Here is some of what was discussed:
You had quite a move from the East Coast to Las Vegas, so how are you liking things?
It’s been a little bit of a change in scenery. I moved from Boston, where I’ve been for the last nine years, but I’ve really lived all over, honestly. I crisscrossed the U.S., in a way — grew up on the East Coast, then went to Indianapolis for a year to clerk for the Indiana State Supreme Court. Then, I moved out to San Diego, where I practiced law for seven years, and then I moved to St. Louis to start my academic career at St. Louis University Law School. I was there for four years, and then I moved over to Boston.
Being in Vegas feels a little bit more like ... the West Coast “feel,” you know? There are a lot of people all over that have chosen to be in Las Vegas, which is really lovely and has really allowed for us to feel really welcomed, but also fit in.
What drew you to UNLV and the Boyd School of Law, specifically?
The reason why I wanted to get into academia was to better impact the law through teaching and mentoring the next generation. It sounds a little cliché, but that was really what I loved a lot about practice. The other part that I loved about impacting the law is through research and advocacy, so the two combined, I sort of looked at and said, “That’s my path.” And so I’ve really all been about access and thinking about how we can make legal education better so our graduates — wherever I was — could take up that mantle and serve their community, serve the legal community wherever they wanted to be, serve our greater society.
The mission of Boyd and of UNLV is directly that. We have this mission to educate high-quality, ethical lawyers who will go back and serve their community. Whether it be in Southern Nevada, Northern Nevada and even elsewhere. We have graduates who are in California, Arizona and Utah who are doing really great work.
Also, recognizing the impact faculty has on public policy was exciting. For a lot of (people), Nevada is still sort of that growing state — in population but also in thinking through some of legal policies that have been embedded in other states for quite some time. That provides an opportunity for faculty who are researching.
The Boyd Law School is held in such high esteem and is so close to the legal community and all branches of government and legislature. (It’s) really exciting, and all of that (combines) to make such an inviting package.
You seem like you have a pretty good vision for what you want to do in this role, but is there anything specific that you plan to focus on or incorporate that the law school hasn’t seen before?
The way I go about leadership is trying to build on strengths, and we as a law school have been a pioneer of innovation and leadership in legal education. We’re in Southern Nevada, but we shouldn’t let that hamper our ability to provide legal education across the state and into rural areas. And so I really want us to think as an institution and as a community — because we have some really great, involved alumni who come back and teach, are engaged and mentor our students.
I want all of us to think about what could it mean to bring legal education to more of Nevada, and thinking about that in a sense of there are some potential students who want a legal education but can’t physically come to Las Vegas for a full three or four years while working part time. I want to just build on that.
The other thing I want to build on is accessibility — thinking about educating more of Nevada on what it means to be a lawyer, what can you do with a (juris doctor) degree beyond just practicing law. We already have the Justice Douglas Pre-Law Fellowship Program, where we bring college students in every summer and really provide them with that information and hands-on experience for a week on campus. But can we think about what that would mean for students in the north? What does it mean for high school students, middle-school students and elementary school students? And there are some organizations — really good organizations — that are doing some of this work, but without the strong connection to Boyd. So we want to strengthen those connections to build on the good work that’s being done and just bring it to the next level.
What inspired you to push for taking legal studies into the far expanses and rural areas of the state?
Just the need, honestly. The need for legal services. In Nevada, for some time, we’ve had this wonderful access to the justice commission that has studied this issue of how our legal services are being met. The unfortunate fact is that even with as many attorneys — and I know the joke is that we have too many attorneys — but basic legal services, particularly for low- and moderate-income families and individuals, are just not being met. This could be as simple as changing your name, right? If you want to change your name, it’s a legal process you go through. It could be expungement of prior records that’s holding you down. And these are small issues in the sense that they’re discreet issues, but they’re so impactful to the person who’s trying to find legal services, and they just can’t, so they’re left to muddle to themselves or they just can’t take care of it.
That is really something that motivates me, knowing that we don’t have enough attorneys who are assisting those in need.
Another thing that motivates me — and this has really just been deepened by my meeting with so many folks in the legal community already — is that the JD degree is not limited to practicing law. We have so many amazing alumni and friends of the law school who are doing incredible things with their JD degree, and it’s not necessarily practicing law. Some of them are, but some of them are not. The JD degree has the power to open doors for students beyond law practice. It takes them into leadership roles, into business (and) it is really powerful. So that’s also what motivates me in thinking about how Boyd Law can situate itself in this — hopefully — burgeoning legal education.
At Suffolk University, your academic focus was related to intellectual property law and the negative impact these laws could have on small businesses and entrepreneurs. Do you plan to grow that sort of study at UNLV?
We do have some parts of UNLV that look at entrepreneurship. We have a whole center at the business school that I would love to partner with, we have other places on campus that are focused on entrepreneurship, and we have our own engineering school graduating these wonderful inventors and folks who could be the future of a small business.
At the law school, we have a really good, strong expertise in intellectual property that I would like to see us building more bridges across campus and into the community to help.
The big question that I always get is, “Are we going to bring in an intellectual property clinic that can help with small businesses and entrepreneurs?” And I would love that, (but) it just takes a lot of time and resources, and so those are some ongoing conversations I’m having with the folks around campus (and) around our community.
UNLV is lauded for being one of the most diverse campuses in the nation. Do you think these programs that you want to implement, like expanding opportunities for JD degree graduates, are going to have an impact on some of these marginalized communities that may not be represented well in legal studies or leadership positions?
Actually, there’s somewhat of a direct correlation with my vision for being more flexible and more accessible, which is to reach into these communities that don’t traditionally have lawyers in families. They might be the first generation attending school. They might be the first generation graduating from high school. The idea of increasing diversity in the legal community is all part and parcel of my thought of making things more flexible so we can reach more people.
Growing up in Queens (New York), I never knew an attorney. I never thought about the law. I never thought about (how) being a lawyer could be a career (for me) until the eighth grade. In the eighth grade, my junior high school had an elective, and you could choose either law or Latin. I chose the law (because) I thought that would be more useful. And it was, and it was so fun. We learned a little bit about the law, we ran a mock trial, and we had attorneys volunteer and visit our class. That was what opened my eyes to, wow, there’s a whole field that’s devoted to studying, thinking, bettering our laws that we’re all subject to whether we like it or not, right?
We’re all citizens of this country, this state, this city, and there are laws that affect us. And unless you know what those are and you understand what those are, you feel somewhat helpless. You’re not in control of yourself in a way that you are when you know something (and) when you understand it. That was an eye-opener for me, so I want to bring that experience to others who may not have access to that and may not (understand) what knowledge of law does for you.
Also, you may not see people who look like you that are lawyers, but that shouldn’t stop you. You can intern, be that person who looks like others to then help them with that path.
You have become the first Asian American dean at the Boyd School of Law. How does it feel to be that representation for people?
I am who I am, and it’s almost like an out-of-body experience in a way to put yourself in other peoples’ shoes and sort of look at me from the outside to say, “Wow, there is something powerful in being representative and being that first.” In fact, unfortunately, even in legal academia, I’m only one of two permanent deans. There’s a third Asian American who’s an interim dean at Rutgers, and (I’m) trying to get her to think of herself as a permanent dean in the future — you know, applying for things. But it is very powerful and I’ve heard from others (who say), “Wow, it’s so awesome to see an Asian American woman in a position of power, in a position of leadership.”
And showing (that) hey, whatever the stereotypes are out there, they’re just stereotypes. We can be in leadership positions, we can be effective.
So going back to your words about giving those from typically underrepresented communities the opportunity to acquire a law degree, that must feel very personal to you, right?
Oh, yeah, exactly. It’s really exciting. One of the things that has brought me immense joy as I’m meeting with our students at Boyd Law is just seeing them taking on that leadership role and showing how great they can be, their stories, their experiences.
You said you’ve kind of hit the ground running and are trying to push for new projects. So is there a timeline for new activities over at the Boyd School of Law?
I feel quite lucky that I’m inheriting an institution that is so strong and so embedded in the community. Also, coming out of COVID, this year has just skyrocketed in terms of events and engagement. We haven’t had a major large event like (my installation as dean Sept. 28) in years, so that’s so exciting, and I’m just sort of the right person at the right time. I feel very grateful, lucky and honored to be here for that.
In terms of my larger vision, those are going to be midterm, so possibly next year. I’m really taking this first year of my deanship to meet everybody, engage with our internal community at Boyd Law and UNLV, and maybe our community externally in both Southern Nevada and Northern Nevada.
And next year is (the Boyd School of Law’s) 25th anniversary, and so that’s why I’m really taking this year to kind of get to know everybody, engage and re-engage, because I want to get everybody to feel included when we celebrate next year. Kickstarting some of these projects and initiatives that I have in mind — in the envisioning stage — (will occur) next year as part of the 25th. This is what, hopefully, we’re going to be thinking about taking us into those next 25 years — kind of building on us being pioneers in flexibility, us being pioneers in innovation, and what that means for the next 25 years.
The timing of that is maybe three to five years. These types of programs and initiatives take a little bit of time in the sense that I want community buy-in (and) I want community feedback because it just makes the programs better and more responsive. I’m not here to push an agenda down anybody’s throat. I want to work with everybody and, most importantly, I want it to be inclusive. I want everyone to feel involved because that was sort of how Boyd started, right? It was this upswelling of community partnerships with UNLV to get Boyd Law started in the first place, and we see what kind of success can come of it. So anything that we want to be long term, sustainable and institutionalized needs to follow that same process.
Bringing the focus down to this upcoming academic year, what are you looking forward to?
First is just getting to know everybody.
The legislative session is exciting. To be able to come in, and then boom, we have a legislative session that only happens every two years, that’s exciting. Being able to get up to Carson City and Reno during the spring session … I’m really looking forward to that. And there’s a lot of alumni in the Legislature (who) will hopefully stay in the Legislature after November. A lot of them are leaders already.
We also have this really great program where we have students extern for credit — so they’re working for credit up in Carson City — for firms that are there lobbying or doing research for bills or initiatives with the Legislature. So going up there and supporting them while they’re doing that good work remotely … I’m really looking forward to that.
Also, personally, getting to know more of this state and seeing more of this state. Me and my family — I have a husband and two kids — we love being outdoors, hiking, visiting new things. My family loves skiing, so I’ve heard there are some really great ski places — (Lake) Tahoe is really close by, and all of that. To just take advantage of being in an area where the weather is that much more amazing.
There’s sort of a shutdown process on the East Coast (in the winter). Right now it’s just amazing, but as you get into November, things tend to slow down and shut down because you just can’t be outside. So you don’t see anybody, whereas here, I’m starting to see more and more people out and about — particularly being on campus during the school year, and that’s exciting. That’s also what I’m looking forward to.
