After his 2021 nomination, Jason Frierson made history by being confirmed as Nevada’s first Black U.S. Attorney. In recognition of Black History Month, the Las Vegas National Bar Association and The Mob Museum will explore Frierson’s journey to becoming the state’s chief federal law enforcement officer and his views on current criminal justice issues in Nevada and beyond. The interview will be conducted by Frank Rudy Cooper, professor at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law and director of the Race, Gender and Policing Program.
This program is sponsored by NV Energy Foundation.
NV Energy provides a wide range of energy services to more than 1.4 million customers throughout Nevada and more than 56 million tourists annually. NV Energy actively supports improvements in the quality of life of the communities NV Energy serves through financial contributions and employee volunteerism. Information about NV Energy is available at the company’s website nvenergy.com.
Featured Speakers
Jason M. Frierson
Jason M. Frierson is the United States Attorney for the District of Nevada. He was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden on November 15, 2021, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 27, 2022. Mr. Frierson is the chief federal law enforcement officer for the District of Nevada, and the first African American to hold the position. Mr. Frierson leads a team of over 100 prosecutors and staff professionals with offices located in Las Vegas and Reno.Prior to his appointment as U.S. Attorney, Mr. Frierson most recently served as both the Speaker of the Nevada State Assembly and an Assistant Public Defender in the Clark County Public Defender’s Office. From 2012 to 2014 and from 2017 to 2019, he served as a Chief Deputy District Attorney in the Clark County District Attorney’s Office. Mr. Frierson was a partner at Surratt Law Practice in Las Vegas from 2014 to 2017.
Professor Frank Rudy Cooper
Professor Frank Rudy Cooper is William S. Boyd Professor of Law and Director of the Program on Race, Gender, and Policing. He graduated from Amherst College and Duke University Law School, where he was on the Duke Journal of Gender, Law & Policy and the Moot Court Board and served as a Research Assistant to Professor Jerome McCristal Culp. He clerked for the Honorable Solomon Oliver, Jr. (N.D. Ohio) and practiced in Boston.Professor Cooper is a highly rated teacher of Criminal Procedure: Investigation, Criminal Procedure Theories, Civil Rights, Criminal Law, and Identities, Culture & Law. He was awarded three Derek Bok Center teaching awards while a teaching assistant to Professors Cornel West, Juliet Schor, and Laurel Thatcher Ulrich at Harvard University. He has also taught at Villanova University School of Law, Boston College Law School, and Suffolk University Law School. He has studied pedagogy extensively through Course Design Institutes.Professor Cooper is also a productive scholar known for work in Criminal Procedure, Masculinities Studies, and Critical Race Theory, including co-editing the book, MASCULINITIES AND THE LAW: A MULTIDIMENSIONAL APPROACH (NYU Press 2012) (with Ann C. McGinley). His dozens of other publications have appeared in, inter alia, the Boston University Law Review, the University of California, Davis Law Review, the University of Illinois Law Review, and the Arizona State Law Journal.Professor Cooper's service to his law schools has included chairing Teaching, Tenure, and Scholarship committees. He has been a leader nationally as well, having co-founded the SALT-LatCrit Junior Faculty Development Workshop and the John Mercer Langston Writing Workshop.
