Parallel Paths to Accomplishment
By: Tabitha Fiddyment and Stephanie Allen

Published in the May edition of  Communiqué, the publication of the Clark County Bar Association.

Congratulations to the William S. Boyd School of Law on ten successful years. The last ten years may seem to many of us like a lifetime, but it has really been no time at all for the law school. We remember our decision to attend Boyd and the enthusiasm surrounding the opening of the school. Now, ten years later, we find ourselves examining our professional lives and comparing how the professional accomplishments of ours have paralleled the law school’s success over that same ten year period. We are grateful for many things in our lives and in our careers. It is only appropriate to thank the law school, and the community that invested in the law school, for also investing in us.

A lifetime for us and ten short years for the law school
Ten years ago, when the law school first opened its doors, we were juniors in college at the University of Nevada, Reno. We had already decided that law school was the next step in our academic careers, but we had not yet identified our school of choice. Then, just barely twenty-one years of age, the next ten years of our lives would ultimately shape our future. We went from young college students struggling to make ends meet to young professionals struggling to pay off student loans. We would take the bar exam, we would get married, we would buy our own homes and we would become successful practicing lawyers. Those ten years seemed like a lifetime.

In those same ten years, Nevada’s only law school opened its doors at a temporary facility in the former Paradise Elementary School, built a notable law library, gained accreditation in its first five years, funded, built and relocated into a state-of-the-art facility on the main University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus, developed writing programs and dispute resolution clinics that are among the most reputable in the Country, received a U.S. News and World report ranking in the top one hundred law schools in the Nation and graduated over one thousand jurists.

See http://gradschools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/law/search. 
Boyd’s accomplishments in ten short years are incredible. What seemed like a lifetime to us was record time for the Boyd School of Law.

A leap of faith for us and contagious enthusiasm for Boyd
Looking back, when we chose Boyd for our legal education, we took a leap of faith on a new and unaccredited law school. In fact, the American Bar Association’s suggested top consideration for choosing a law school is that it be ABA-Accredited.

See http://www.abanet.org/child/choosinglawschool.pdf.  Virtually every state requires graduation from an ABA-Accredited law school in order to sit for the bar exam.

See http://www.abanet.org/child/choosinglawschool.pdf.  We understood this risk, but we were committed to Nevada, and we believed that the law school would succeed.  The enthusiasm surrounding the law school was contagious. Everyone with whom we discussed the law school had no doubt it would be a success. The founding Dean, Richard Morgan, traveled the state advocating for the school and its ability to graduate talented, capable jurists invested in Nevada. Similarly, Nevada lawyers and judges were excited by the thought of working with and training local graduates. They believed in the depth of knowledge it would add to the legal community, and they welcomed a new perspective. Business owners and executives alike were anxious for another post graduate academic institution that would help attract quality individuals to Nevada. They too promised their support and encouraged us to attend Boyd. The community as a whole was committed to doing everything it took to establish a state-of-the-art school for Nevada. The financial backing was phenomenal. The professors were, and continue to be, top notch. The legal community was ready and willing to welcome the law school it never had. The last component was to attract quality students to the school. With all the factors in place, success for the law school was inevitable.

Examining how our professional lives have paralleled the law school’s success
We took that leap of faith and, on a hot August morning in 2000, we packed all of our combined belongings into a twenty-four foot long U-Haul and left our Northern Nevada families and friends in Reno and Carson City for Las Vegas. We were both encouraged by our parents, college professors, local prominent business people, judges and other lawyers in Nevada to attend the Boyd School of Law. It was impressed upon us that if we believed in our own abilities and in the potential of the Law School, our success was certain. We were leaving most of what we knew behind, but we had the support of lasting friendship that began at Carson High School, an investment in and connection to the State we grew up in, and the youthful hope of being part of something great.

The law school experience was humbling for both of us. Although we initially attended class in an elementary school setting, the lessons were profound and thought-provoking. We struggled with different aspects of the experience, but nonetheless, we grew as individuals, as future lawyers and as friends.

We are now senior associates at the statewide law firm of Kummer Kaempfer Bonner Renshaw & Ferrario and practice together with some of the most esteemed and well-regarded government affairs lawyers in Nevada. Building on the foundation provided by Boyd, we have developed reputations as specialists in the area of land use and zoning. We have had the opportunity to participate in some of the largest projects in the history of development in Las Vegas.

In addition to our land use and zoning practice, we both serve the community, through active involvement in the State Bar and community organizations and through pro bono service.  Today, the law school’s accomplishments have been recognized not just locally but nationally. The law school became fully accredited within five years and became a member of the Association of American Law Schools shortly thereafter. The law school’s legal writing program is ranked third in the Nation. See Best Graduate Schools, (visited April 9, 2008) . 

See http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/law/writing. The Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution is ranked ninth in the Nation. See Best Graduate Schools, (visited April 9, 2008) http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/law/dispute.  The Wiener-Rodgers Law Library is the biggest in the state and has over 300,000 volumes or volume equivalents. See http://www.law.unlv.edu/library.html. The faculty comes from all over the country with stellar reputations and credentials.

In addition, the law school maintains a curriculum that requires all first-year law students to “participate in a Community Service Program and spend substantial time providing legal information to people in the community that do not have access to lawyers. In partnership with Clark County Legal Services and the Clark County Pro Bono Project, law students prepare and present workshops at numerous locations in our community, on basic legal matters such as small claims court procedure, family law and procedure, bankruptcy, guardianship and paternity/custody matters.”  

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Boyd_School_of_Law citing Richard Morgan, Public/Private Partnerships Are Not The Only Kind of Important Collaboration; There Is Another Significant Sort Of Partnership-That I Will Refer to As A “Public/Public Partnership”-From Which The Boyd School Of Law Has Benefited Greatly, Nev. Law, Feb. 2006, at 28.

The speed with which the law school obtained accreditation and accomplished all of this is remarkable and has been matched by few other law schools. In just ten short years, the law school has met and exceeded everyone’s expectations.

We are grateful to the law school
We are grateful for those who believed in and financially supported the law school. We value the incredibly talented law school faculty who have spent, and continue to spend, tireless and sometimes thankless hours focused on the law school’s success and on the success of its students. In just ten short years, the Boyd School of Law has become a deep-seated and highly respected part of the Nevada legal community. We are proud to be alumni of the Boyd School of Law and are grateful to the law school for providing us with the necessary tools to succeed. We have been fortunate to share a parallel path to accomplishment with the law school.

Tabitha Fiddyment and Stephanie Allen have been friends for nearly twenty years. They graduated high school together. They went to the University of Nevada, Reno together. They attended law school together, and they are now both senior associates in the Land Use & Government Affairs Department of Kummer, Kaempfer, Bonner, Renshaw & Ferrario. They did not marry the same man.