- law dawg
- 64 Comments
- 2799 Views
When you think of practicing law in Las Vegas what is the image that comes to mind? What is it to you that represents the quintessential Vegas law experience? Is it representing the mafia; a stripper; or a casino? Does it involve meetings at poker tables or by the pool on a house next to the golf course? Who do you think in town is representative of the quintessential Vegas lawyer? Is it one person for all time or is there one for the mafia era and another for the modern era? Who is the quintessential. Vegas judge? What has been the most quintessential Vegas thing you have experienced while practicing here?
Rob bare or warhola for a bar defense case? Or someone else? Thanks.
Either is solid. But, for my money, its Bare.
Gentile
Bare is my top choice. However Dennis Kennedy is a close second if you can stomach his billing.
Dennis Kennedy is top notch for everything. Dennis Kennedy is a quintessential Las Vegas lawyer, so is Robert Murdock. Both are absolutely fantastic. Would trust either with my life.
Janeen Isaacson is a former bar counsel, and is exceptional.
I haven’t dealt with Janeen in several years, but I always had a great deal of respect for her.
Bare
Rob
Billboards.
Its gotta be the billboards, man. There is a stretch on the 15 where about 10-11 billboards in a row are all personal injury attorney billboards. Its like 3 miles of nothing but atty billboards lol.
Or the Desert Inn under/overpass where Jesus competes with the PI lawyers
The client meeting in a strip club.
I was in Houston in the 90’s and IT company’s salesmen always wanted to meet to discuss new projects at Treasures “for the lunch buffet”. Of course we liked lunch buffets so that was the reason we went.
I believe Chris Rock said it best… “titties and tator tots don’t mix”
Oscar Goodman is the quintessential Vegas lawyer.
For the quintessential Vegas lawyer, it’s gotta be Oscar Goodman. For more modern times, its Lerner, Harris, etc. simply due to their ubiquitous presence on billboards and not their courtroom abilities, as I think most common people in Vegas think of the constant billboards when they think of lawyers in town.
When I first started practicing, my opposing counsel (Stephen Caruso) offered to hold the ECC at the strip club he owned. It seemed the epitome of the quintessential Vegas thing.
Ha. Caruso. What happened to him? I know he had his license suspended in 2020 but the suspension was for only three years. Was it that he could not pay the $1.2 million in restitution for the funds embezzled by his office manager?
On a personal level, waiting for a verdict at the Golden Nugget is a pretty distinctive experience.
Also using the Nugget’s suite as your downtown office for a week or five…
Before he was a federal judge, Harry Claiborne was counsel for Benny Binion. They remained besties after his appointment to the bench and could often be found having breakfast together in the casino cafe. They also shared a similar philosophy when it came to tax planning.
Early in my career, I had a couple of cases with Lou Weiner. He knew and/or represented many of those characters, going back to the 40’s.
Sweet man. Started the Omelette House! We owe him.
Best fried zuccini in town!
When I first came back to Nevada, I watched the Black Book appeal of Tony “the Ant” Spilotro before the NSCt. Patty Becker arguing for the State and must have been Oscar on the other side.
Oh, and J. Gunderson recessed the argument so he could call the Union Plaza (now Main St Station) to see if you had to walk through the casino to get to the bus station.
About 25 years ago, I had a client who paid the $5,000 retainer for a child custody case with a brown paper bag filled with small bills. P.S. I did not count the money in front of the client. I am pleased to report once I had the chance to count the money, every dollar was present and accounted for.
I had a client attempt to pay a fee advance with $20,000 in $100s that distinctly smelled like they had been underground. I quickly pointed him and his brown paper bag to the exit and insisted on a less ostentatious form of payment.
I accepted $20,000 in cash from an obese client who pulled out a giant wad from his cargo shorts. He was sweaty, the money was damp. I took the money without hesitation. Remember what Ben Franklin said, “A sweaty $20,000.00 wad is in hand is worth $100,000 in the mail.”
I’ve also taken about the same amount in skunk-smelling cash from a marijuana client.
My first criminal client was a referral from another older more experienced attorney. It was my first private client as a new attorney. The client was charged with robbing a gas station. He worked at another location. The workers at the station he robbed recognized him even though he had a stocking and a hat to disguise his appearance. The client denied that he robbed the station. The referring attorney said make sure you get the money upfront preferably in cash or a money order. The client showed up and gave me a wad of cash that smelled like a gas station. He claimed that he had to keep extra cash on hand to break bills from customers because the cash drawers never had enough small bills. The station was connected to full service car washes and had attendants.
“I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue”
In 2002, I took 100 – 1928 $20 gold eagle pieces for a $2000 retainer . . . . . on a flat fee. I still have them.
Cool story, bro. But did your flat fee have milestones?
Taking the bar exam at the Orleans felt very appropriate.
Historically, when I think quintessential Vegas, I think Lefty Rosenthal in an absolutely insane suit and sunglasses arguing with Harry Reid at the end of a Gaming Commission meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m1wJNft4OE
I took the bar in Texas station. Nothing more vegas than the casino bar exam. Do they still do them in casinos?
I did the Texas Station bar exam – 2007. It was great – breakfast at the cafe in the morning, take the bar exam during the day, caught a movie the first night, and went bowling the second night. Stayed at the hotel because I lived way across town.
I took the bar exam at South Point.
Hacienda for me
was that before or after it was imploded? Or was it during the implosion?
while they were getting ready to implode. drills and jackhammers could be heard during the exam. 1996
Caesar’s for me.
Schreck
Meetings in the Peppermill fireside lounge used to be my fav.
Living in constant fear that our only source of water and electricity will literally dry up, rendering a once-flourishing city of excess permanently uninhabitable.
Oh also, all the porn on Zoom hearings.
Chip Centofanti denied parole.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/courts/no-pardon-for-former-las-vegas-attorney-who-murdered-wife-3726388/?utm_campaign=widget&utm_medium=topnews&utm_source=homepage&utm_term=No%20pardon%20for%20former%20Las%20Vegas%20attorney%20who%20murdered%20wife
pardon*
I had a case with Chip shortly before his conviction. He took a depo of my client. Not sure I have ever had a depo with such animosity before. I thought there was a chance they would literally come to blows.
I remember when he showed up taking depositions at Associated while he was out on bond. There were many complaints, and they soon let him know that he was not welcome there.
It’s always the ones you most expect.
Saw him rage at Nancy Quon during a construction defect case deposition. It came from nowhere and lasted 10-15 minutes. He did not seem to care that he was on the record.
For me i always think of that mural/wall painting inside the old Courthouse Cafe across from RJC. It was campy but a fun representation of the legal scene at the time
It would be nice to have a diner back in that location. It seems unlikely with Zoom, etc.
The OJ breakfast with two handcuffed onion rings was great there during the trial.
I had multiple cases with both Robert Graham and Robert Telles. Now they are cellies together up in Elko.
Ely. Lovely facility.
Telles is in Ely, Graham is in Lovelock
What’s going on with Les Stovall’s case? I know he is currently suspended, are they finally going to disbar him?
Everyone should read the Stovall docket. Lol. Who could blame the Supreme Court for needing 2+ years.
Image: Mr. Oscar Goodman holding a martini glass
Law Experience: Walking to the courthouse in a suit in July
Lawyer: Mr. Frank Schreck
Judge: Judge Glass
Most Vegas Experience While Practicing: Having documents notarized by a client in a cigar bar while trying not to power vomit from the smoke
For judge, its Joseph T. Bonaventure for me.
An experience that I think metaphorically captures what it is like to practice law in Las Vegas was an incident in 2019. I was coming out of the elevators at the RJC after a hearing and was hit with by an overwhelming stench. Why? Because someone had taken a shit in the lobby.
the mob lawyers!!
Anyone remember Mort Galane? He was the biggest lawyer in town for decades. Had a not so secret feud with Steve Wynn back when Wynn owned the Golden Nugget and they both lived over in the Scotch 80’s or something. Some one had run over someone else’s dog or something wild like that. Apparently at one point, Wynn yelled from his house over to Galane’s “I’ve got more money buried in my back yard then you have ever seen!”
Also, apparently, Galane was so dedicated to the craft that he stopped driving himself and had to get a driver or would have an associate drive him around. He was just always thinking about a case or something and would cause accidents because he just wasn’t paying attention.