- law dawg
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- Nevada inmates and families say tablet program is more “predatory” than practical. [TNI]
- Man hit by school bus while riding e-scooter sues CCSD. [8NewsNow]
- The 2026 (non-judicial)candidate filing period starts today and goes through next Friday. [TNI]
- What else is going on out there?
There is a vocal group upset with Councilwoman Francis Allen-Palenske (Ward 4) and Dr. Nancy Brune (Ward 6) over the Mormon Temple near Lone Mountain. It will be interesting to see if they get someone to file on their behalf.
Police Union is putting Steve Grammas up against Nancy Brune. Woohoo more Metro union hacks on the City Council.
A very vocal, but very small group. I wouldn’t expect much to come of it, especially because they have no money and no real grievances.
Only two people filed for Dept 26 and only one for dept 13 (up north). Coleen and Emily got a free ticket to the bench. no one wants to be a judge. Can’t imagine people lining up to run for non-judicial offices.
Three people filed for Dept. 26 (Goodey, Hooge and Thunell). Only 2 put in for the appointment to fulfill the rest of the term.
Meanwhile we’re stuck with the weakest bench in decades and it’s only getting worse. What a time to be alive.
What do you mean by weak? In what ways?
We have judges with limited experience–from the PD’s Office, DA’s Office
(mindless criminal law experience) handling civil cases. The newer judges are young and inexperienced. A group of female D candidates, progressive from EMERGE picked off the older more experienced male judges. I am a long time Nevadan. This is the worst crop of judges we have ever had. So bad that parties pay for real former judges to mediate their cases. Don’t get me wrong there are some standouts. It is so bad now that the time is ripe for an appointed system to be on the ballot.
It’s interesting then that it’s the civil bar who is recruiting and finding public attorneys (DA and PD) to run for even purely civil seats. Why do you think this is? (Seriously asking.) I’ve always heard government attorneys do well on the bench (including in civil cases) because they can handle the caseload and can make quick decisions both during calendar and particularly during trial.
Ooo, I know this one. It’s because DAs and PDs have substantially more trial experience at 10+ years than their civil attorney counterparts. Those attorneys know evidence and constitutional law cold, which helps when the overwhelming majority of appellate cases are criminal and are focused on exactly those two areas of law. Plus, we spend 95% of our time in law school learning civil law and most civil attorneys don’t ever wade into the criminal field. The criminal learning curve is steep and many civil judges don’t do well as criminal judges. Judges need to be well-rounded, not legal specialists.
Former criminal DA here and civil attorney. Criminal law is mindless. It took me only 6 weeks to learn the system doing prelims, making plea deals, arguing motions and occasional trials. Appeals are handled separately. When it comes to civil practice, I am still learning. There is always something new and unusual. This is with 20 plus years of experience. Criminal practice is a good place to cut your teeth and get experience. That is it.
Wow, you learned everything in just six weeks? Did everyone stand and applaud with tears in their eyes?
Not the OP, but 1:42 has taken a cheap shot.
I thought it was a perfect response to the “I learned everything about criminal law in six weeks” BS
let’s be honest, a criminal “trial” and a civil trial are two completely different monsters. Criminal law is very much rinse and repeat.
Let’s be honest, you’ve never done a criminal trial and you’re speaking out of your lower mouth.
@ 12:48pm and 1:39pm – thanks for telling the entire criminal bar that their work is mindless. That’s super supportive and helpful. I mean, who cares about whether defendants receive due process of law because fighting over money is way more important, amirite?
Not what was said. CL is repetitive with the same issues recurring over and over.
I think the idea is that it is the same 10 or 12 legal issues, and how those issues apply to the specific facts, over and over again in criminal law. In civil law, the legal issues seem to be endless. I agree criminal attorneys are better with juries. I don’t think they are (by and large) better with complex cases that require extensive and complicated briefing, because that isn’t really criminal practice. It’s not about how smart you are. It’s about what you do day in and day out.
There’s a lot that’s the same – rules of evidence, jury selection, settlement conferences, a decent personality in front of a jury, assessing the value of a case, finding expert witnesses, learning to treat others in the system with respect, etc. The rules of appellate procedure are pretty much the same and the rules of criminal and civil procedure are not terribly different. Knowing how to write and how to examine witnesses are not that different. Most civil attorneys do not practice in a huge variety of areas but stick to ID, PI, contracts, real estate, etc. Sure, there are some differences but there are plenty of good, and plenty of bad, attorneys in both criminal and civil. Having experience in one or the other should not be determinative, so long as the person is willing to learn and work hard and figuring out areas that are not already within their expertise.
In Nevada–PDs and DAs hardly go to trial. There are DAs and PDs that are terrified of going to trial. I know because I was in the system. People fight more over money than they do over liberty.
PDs will fight tooth an nail to avoid trial.
Most PDs believe it or not don’t know how to put on a trial. Would you believe they are taught to waive their opening statement. This would be considered malpractice per se in the civil realm.
*in jury trials. Bench trials in the civil realm the judges will wonder why you are wasting your time.
That’s not even a litle bit true regarding DAs. Part of your evaluations are based on how many trials you’ve done; the expectation is that you’re doing 4-5 jury trials per year. If you were actually in the system you would have known that. PDs on the other hand tend to avoid trials because pleading guilty is generally in the client’s best interest. Neither party is “terrified” of going to trial.
11:00 AM-Have you worked in the system. 4 to 5 jury trials a year. Are you kidding me? The system would completely break down. This means the DAs would be making offers on good cases that the defendant will not accept and force the case to trial. Some days would pretend to take a case to trial only to dismiss it. The PDs are known for seeking continuances after continuances. They then find a competency issue or a conflict and try to get off the case. Admittedly with the passage of time witnesses and victims disappear and lose interest. Delay. Delay.
Sorry, some DAs pretend to take a case to trial….
How would one even pretend to do that? Like hire actors and stage a jury trial? To what end? TOOO WHAT END?!?!
Not sure who you are, 11:07, but you are rather misinformed. There were nearly 36,000 felony cases filed last year in Clark County, not to mention all the misdemeanor and traffic offenses. There are about a hundred DAs. There are MORE than enough cases to go around. If you’re not trying cases as a DA then you’re not doing your job.
Criminal law always seemed pretty easy, especially if the same issues keep coming up every calendar call. You would have to be stupid to not have learned crim law if you were a DA or PD.
Civil is much more nuanced.
Civil law always seemed pretty easy, you just file a motion for summary judgment and then settle after the judge denies it. You’d have to be stupid to not know all about the one easy trick that law schools hate. Criminal is far more intellectual and ebullient.
@3:54pm I don’t know you, but I love you
@3:54 well played, sir. Well played.
Jay Young wanted to be a District Court judge and bailed out, realizing that presently it is the path to nowhere.
most civil practitioners aren’t a jack of all trades. They’re the master of one.
I’ll remind everyone that 4 of the 5 top district court judges were PD/DAs. And it is majority civil bar that was filling out the survey.
So I guess this string explains in part why they tend to be so popular.
Let me tell you about the surveys. Members of pressure groups urge their members to give their favorite female judges high ratings on the survey. The surveys are titled. I have seen the emails urging attorneys to say nice things about their favorite female judge. So much for the surveys.
Pressure groups???
The different organizations and affinity bars/groups.
FIFY: “4 of the 5 most popular District Court judges”. If I have a complex case, would I rather have Mark Denton or Carli Kierney? Not close. Would I rather have Tina Talim or Tim Williams deciding complex legal issues? Not close.
Our loss there
Also it is impossible for a white male who is smart and experienced to get elected as a judge or keep a seat when appointed. That is why it is not worth it.
The plight of the white male. It’s just not fair!
Come on. I am a white male political conservative who thinks the whole Emerge Nevada thing went too far. However we cannot ignore that there are 6 white males on the general jurisdiction District Court bench.
We need gender and experience balance on the bench.
I’ve noticed some federal judges starting to require a disclosure on filings as to whether AI was used in preparing the document. What do you think? Knowing that you have to disclose you used it, any qualms about using AI to help–even if it’s just grammar, etc?
I am interested in what qualifies as “AI.” There are many assistance programs like spell check and grammar check that use AI to assist with writing. Do these count? Or is it the big 3; Chat GPT, Grok, Gemini?
I use AI to refine the document, not produce it outright. I’m not ashamed or embarrassed by that. That said, this kind of disclosure is unnecessary. Just enforce Rule 11. Easy peasy.
I’m not sure what the definition is for these things. I know some colleges flag use of Grammarly as an AI use.
WIth regard to the disclosure, I have no problem disclosing that I use it. I do so to supplement and improve my writing. I have learned, from the news and watching others, to do my own legal research and double check case cites–whether from AI or other humans. I sometimes ask AI to point me towards a case, but I always go and read it/shepardize it to make sure it’s what i need. I’m glad that we don’t have courts, or at least I haven’t encountered any, that say no AI at all. It’s a great tool and I think lawyers that aren’t lazy are one of the best use cases for working with AI.
While AI remains input dependent, if you haven’t used it to straight up write arguments you might be surprised. As the recent CLE on this explained, briefs produced by AI routinely were preferred over those hand written by the biggest of biglaw.
I just looked at the election filings and noticed that there is a challenge filed to Amber Candelaria’s candidacy. Surely she has enough years this time? Does anyone know the scoop?
I’m curious to know as well. This time she has the actual number of years, and not depending in the NVBar’s dues calculations. She did list her dates of attendance of law school as 2003-2026. Surely that’s not the grounds for the challenge?
The allegation is that she did not meet the deadline to file for her candidacy. She has Polsenberg representing her in defense of the challenge. A-26-939001-P
He represented her the last time she fought a challenge.
Is PI law more lucrative than ID? 12 year “partner” in ID.
Does a bear shit in the woods?
If you are not an equity partner—and I assume you are not, since you are asking this question—then almost certainly, yes, if you get a cut of at least the cases you bring in.
Answer? It depends.
-If you are going to one of the good PI Firms and negotiate a good deal (HINT: not all PI shops offer good deals and a fair number will try to screw you on the way out of the door so watch your back), then yes.
– If you have a stream of good referrals coming to you, or you have a marketing plan and critical mass of money to initially fund it, then yes.
– If you think you can just hang out a shingle and be the Ray Kinsella of PI (“I built it and now they will come”) then be prepared to potentially struggle and suffer.
Anyone think Wolfson will draw a challenger?