- law dawg
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Today marks one year since attorney Dennis Prince and his wife Ashley were murdered in a deposition by attorney Joe Houston. We want to take this occasion for a moment of reflection. That day is something many of us will remember for years and decades to come–how has it changed you? How has what happened that day changed how you practice, if at all? We hope you all are considering your mental health and taking care of yourselves and each other. If you need help, please reach out.
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It’s easy to forget how much stress and pressure people feel in litigation, or at least become numb to it. In some ways, that numbness makes us more effective because we are personally detached. At the same time, we do have to be careful not to lose our humanity in the process.
Is it bad to say that I really haven’t thought much about it in the last eleven and a half months? Of course I recognize that the loss of life was senseless and the the families are deeply affected. But there isn’t much I can do about it other than just try to be reasonable, kind, and mindful. Other than that, what can any of us really do?
Rest In Peace
I think about this incident often. Family law is atypical litigation. Moms and Dads are pitted against each other as adversaries and expected to cooperate and co-parent with one another simultaneously. My mantra is to de-escalate the family law cases that I handle. Kindness costs nothing and should be freely given. God bless the families and loved ones of those that were lost.
I preach reasonableness often in every case. I actually demand it. When the client starts acting unreasonably and doesn’t correct, they get booted. Period. One thing I cannot abide is a client that makes my job harder. . . . and I fkg HATE losing, even when its not directly my fault.
Dylan Houston back on R & L website.
I’m no law school snob. But he went to a law school in the Philippines? How is he permitted to practice law in Nevada?
Regardless of what you thought about Dennis, he was a prominent member of our legal community. He was often successful and he had an impact on the practice of law here beyond what most of us realize. He also had a family that suffered from his loss. I find myself thinking about the big picture in terms of Dennis. He had it all and his loss was devastating, but life went on even without him here. That, to me, is both tragic and a stark reminder that we are all part of something much bigger than ourselves. I’ve tried to prioritize my life–sure I’m still doing my job, but when it comes down to it, i’m trying to focus on what matters to me. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been sitting in a deposition in the last year getting nervous when tempers start to flare up and thinking about what I would do if someone pulled out a gun. I very much despise that our society has decided not to do anything after all the shootings. I hate that my kids have lockdown drills at school. All in all, we’ve got a good life, but it could be so much better and so I’m trying for that. I resolve to be a little kinder to those I encounter and try not to escalate situations unnecessarily.
This is why I carry concealed EVERY single day since 2002.
Except the perpetrator might have pulled out the gun and shot first before you could have responded. It was an ambush.
Perpetrator might have known you were a CCW kind of person and followed that adage that you dont pull a gun that you do not intend to use so they resort to pulling their gun first. Or maybe the other guy is a crazy person with a terminal diagnosis who in the words of Joe Bongiovi’s cousin “I’m going down in a blaze of glory”
He’d have gotten off maybe a single shot and I am a crack shot with both hands at anything under 21 feet.
Great post. Its important to recognize that everyone has a job to do, and to be kind while at work. Not every case needs to be worth $100mm+, If the client is happy, and you made a positive impact on their lives (in every facet of the law), then you did a good job. Be nice to opposing counsel.
To this I will say, without naming names, there is one political party that believes in a responsibly regulated model of gun ownership, and one that that believes in a free-for-all model of gun ownership. It’s no coincidence that states that better regulate guns have lower gun-related deaths. (Hint hint: the latter party is also responsible for environmental deregulation, higher deficits, income inequality, privatization of legitimately public goods . . . . The list goes on.)
TL:DR
Honestly you lost me at “political party”
Keep that shit in your BlueSky account. Nobody GAF what you think.
Speak for yourself. I GAF what this person thinks.
and you probably vandalize Teslas too
U lost. Reevaluate why.
OK. I’ll reevaluated. There are 21 transgender athletes and the price of eggs was $8/dozen. Congrats on the W.
Those are symptoms of the overall illness in this country. Easily and already cured. Now we work on the bigger issues.
you gotta be kidding me… do not know or just too lazy to research how many laws there are regarding firearms, ownership ect that are just not enforced….or are just a 2A hater ?
I drive by the building on my way home every night and my child’s school went into lock down the day the tragedy occurred. We are reminded every day of this devastating tragedy. I knew Joe Houston since the 1980’s and I used to work with Dennis Prince. I would have felt perfectly comfortable in a room with either one of them. Dennis was a rare talent and my heart goes out to his family.
Not to distract from the Dennis discussion but I just would like some confirmation that I am reading the rules correct. Up on appeal against a pro se. Pro se was allowed to file the “Informal Brief” pursuant to NRAP 28(k). I still have to do a formal Answering Brief pursuant to NRAP 28(b) within 30 days correct?
Yes.
Thank you.
A day late to be helpful, but you don’t actually need to file an answering brief in pro se appeals unless the Court orders a response. See NRAP 46A(c) (“An opposing party is not required to respond to documents, including briefs, filed by a party appearing pro se unless
ordered to do so by the Supreme Court or Court of Appeals.”); NRAP 31 (d)(2) (“A respondent who fails to timely file an answering brief will not be heard at oral argument unless the court grants permission, and such failure may be treated as a confession of error. Unless the court has ordered the respondent to file an answering brief as provided in Rule 46A(c), this Rule does not apply to appeals in which the appellant is not represented by counsel.”)
law school rankings are out and UNLV seems to be dropping. so like all things education in Las Vegas, at first there’s plenty of money but eventually people stop caring. I am a UNLV law grad and I will now commit seppuku
The rankings are a shell game. US News puts together a scoring template. Since they/it has no idea what kind of education is actually delivered, the focus is on how many students are admitted, how many graduate, how many have jobs. To achieve higher numbers, law schools lower standards to admit more and flunk fewer, and oh yes, heavy weighting for elitist big name law schools. I think it is a truism today that if you get into law school you will get a JD.
Except the composite LSAT scores and GPAs of those admitted is also a factor for consideration. And then if they let in incompetent students who fail to pass the bar the low bar passage rate also works against their ranking. There is a reason good schools are higher and bad ones are lower. The ranking, for what it is, is not as bad as you make it out to be.
Boyd was sure fast to send a blast to the Alumni listserv stating that Boyd has the No. 1 legal writing program.
Great writing program over the years. I think one of the factors that hurts Boyd is the low percentage of alumni that donate back to the school. Or otherwise get involved in the community.
It’s one thing to claim the writing program is “great” it’s another to say No 1. You don’t really believe it’s the absolute best in the whole country do you?
Congrats to Boyd for the ranking. Have seen no correlation with the graduates with whom I have worked.
Does anyone really believe UNLV has the No. 1 writing program in the country? I mean, really. I’ve trained enough Boyd grads to know otherwise.
If the program is so great, how come the majority of Boyd grads I have known do not know how to properly cite a case?
Absolutely true. The first time you cite a case you have to cite both the Nevada citation and the Pacific second or third citation. I had to explain that rule several times to our Boyd grad law clerk.
Hi. Boyd Grad and former supreme court clerk here. If a case is in nevada state court, i only cite Nevada citation. Federal court, i cite both. i did this when a justice said that would be the preferred way of doing it.
just my 2 cents.
I was a Nevada Supreme Court law clerk too and my justice said otherwise. He wanted both the Nevada cite and the P.2nd or P.3rd cite and the date in parenthesis. Never met a justice who said otherwise.
Given that nobody uses hard printed books/reporters anymore, this is a stupid and irrelevant issue.
Professionalism is neither stupid or irrelevant.
This is not an issue or professionalism.
I think failing to follow the EDCRs demonstrates a lack of professionalism.
EDCR 7.20(f) states: When a decision of the Supreme Court of the State of Nevada or the Nevada Court of Appeals is cited, the citation to Nevada Reports must be given together with the citation to West’s Pacific Reporter and the year of the decision. Whenever a decision of an appellate court of any other state is cited, the citation to West’s Regional Reporter System must be given together with the state and the year of decision. When a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States is cited, at least one parallel citation and year of decision must be given. When a decision of the Court of Appeals or of a District Court or other court of the United States has been reported in the Federal Reporter System, that citation, court and year of decision must be given.
Yes. That is what I was taught.
you don’t write motions or briefs?
I’m a Boyd grad. I believe that the reason they are ranked #1 in writing has to do with the number of fulltime writing professors they have on staff in comparison with other law schools. I’ll admit there is no way that actual product in terms of writing that Boyd is putting out has anything to do with it.