- law dawg
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- Judge orders new trial in Eglet’s GM seat belt injury lawsuit, denies automaker attorney fees. [News3LV; RJ]
- Nevada State bar won’t discipline former judge for stalking. [MyNews4]
- 20 years after wife’s fatal fall at Zion, Las Vegas school counselor accused of killing her. [RJ; KTNV]
- Board to revoke parole for Nevada double murderer, arrested weeks after leaving prison. [RJ]
- Before lawsuit, inspectors questioned safety of Nevada children’s facilities. [TNI]
- Telehealth, mailed medications mark post-Dobbs landscape of Nevada abortion care. [NV Current]
- As noted in the comments, there is an Eight Judicial District administrative order 26-03 that reassigns some cases.
I would like to revisit the State Bar Conference issue.
At this point, it seems clear that the annual conference is not designed around the median Nevada lawyer. The median lawyer is invited, but not really designed for. The current model appears to serve the Bar’s engaged institutional class: lawyers, judges, leaders, and insiders who have the time, money, flexibility, and existing relationships to make a destination conference worthwhile.
I am not part of that group. I would like to participate in a meaningful statewide bar conference. The networking, CLE, professional fellowship, and exposure to the broader Nevada legal community would be valuable. But conferences in places like Hawaii, New York, or other expensive out-of-state destinations are simply not realistic for many lawyers in terms of either time or cost.
So here is a possible compromise: keep the destination event if the institutional class values it, but call it what it is—a leadership retreat, summit, or similar event. Then move the actual State Bar Conference permanently back to Nevada, rotating between Las Vegas and Reno, and design it around the ordinary working lawyer.
That would preserve the leadership event for those who want it while making the Bar’s flagship conference accessible to the members it is supposed to serve.
In the alternative, we choose the location via the selection process popularized by recording artist Armando Christian Pérez, a.k.a. Mr. Worldwide, a.k.a. Pitbull. We put the location of the Nevada Bar Conference to a write-in vote. If the Bar votes we travel to Ely, we go to Ely. Give a little economic stimulus to the good people of White Pine County.
I thought you were going to say we rotate between the places mentioned in Pitbull’s 2011 hit International Love:
– New York City
– Los Angeles
– Miami
– Romania
– Lebanon
– Greece
– The Dominican Republic
– Cuba
– Colombia
– Brazil
– Venezuela
Please don’t give the institutional class ideas.
Ludacris had previously suggested numerous area codes in which he had experienced a series of intimate gatherings. Perhaps he could consult on this issue.
Hard agree with all your points. I would add that having the conference out-of-state also impacts attorneys with school-age children. When my kid was still in K-12 summer was the only good time for taking a family vacation, and I wasn’t about to sacrifice my limited leave time/limited opportunities to take my kid on an adventure to go to a conference. I am guessing I am not unique in that respect.
BTW, the federal court conference rotates between Vegas and Reno every year. Why can’t the state bar do the same?
because if you do that everyone goes home at 5 and continues to skip out during the day. The location outside of our main city areas encourages attorneys to come together.
10:44 Nice try though
Hear ! Hear !
But consider that EVERY year we all have the same complaint, but nothing ever changes. What can be done?
We start our own bar conference, with blackjack and hookers
what did the French do back in 1789? Well, maybe not that.
off with their heads
I prefer to not think about the bar conference at all. It’s easy.
Doubt Daniel Hooge will go after the judge for stalking.
He didn’t go after the judges in this article.
https://nevadacurrent.com/2019/06/19/judges-bad-acts-as-prosecutors-ignored-in-nevada/
America’s prosecutors hold inordinate power, abuse it regularly, yet have absolute immunity from being held accountable in civil court. Criminal charges are exceedingly rare. And the oversight agencies designed to police them are failing at an alarming rate.
Prosecutors were disciplined in less than two percent of 3,600 cases of misconduct between 1963 and 2013, according to the Center for Prosecutor Integrity.
“It’s almost unheard of,” U.S. Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski told The Huffington Post in 2016 of professional sanctions. In 2013, Kozinski wrote that prosecutorial misconduct had reached “epidemic” levels in the U.S.
In Nevada, no one is sure. The two agencies with a likely say, the Nevada Bar Association and the Judicial Discipline Commission, are at odds over who has jurisdiction.
In Nevada, no one is sure. The two agencies with a likely say, the Nevada Bar Association and the Judicial Discipline Commission, are at odds over who has jurisdiction.
“We don’t have any statute or case law that defines those boundaries for this situation,” says Nevada Bar Counsel Dan Hooge. “Once a lawyer becomes a judge we lose jurisdiction to the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline.”
But the Judicial Discipline Commission says it has no oversight of infractions committed by a judge while a prosecutor.
“The Commission only has jurisdiction over misconduct committed while serving as a judge. Therefore, the Commission could not pursue alleged infractions committed in a previous capacity,” an official with the Judicial Discipline Commission said in an email. “The State Bar of Nevada has jurisdiction over attorney misconduct.”
Hooge of the Nevada Bar points to the American Bar Association’s guidance:
“…even if the misconduct occurred prior to the judge’s assumption of office, the commission should have jurisdiction since the judge’s status as a judge is at issue.”
“So, I respectfully disagree with the Commission,” Hooge says. ”If I filed charges against a judge, I would get condemned by that judge and all others for overreaching.”
“With all due respect to Bar Counsel, the ABA is not the law in Nevada,” the Commission responded. “The Judicial Discipline Commission does not have jurisdiction over such matters by law.”
Judges in Nevada’s larger counties are required to be attorneys and maintain their legal licenses while on the bench, meaning the State Bar could take action against that license, thereby disqualifying him or her from further service as a judge.
“We are merely expressing opinions. But my opinion is that the Commission should act first. If the judge is removed, then we could act,” says Hooge of the Bar Association.
“The Nevada State Bar has had the opportunity in the past to discipline prosecutors who violate defendants rights, but they have not done so,” says Lisa Rasmussen, a defense attorney in Las Vegas. “Reform is needed in many places, but also with the State Bar and its understanding of what constitutes prosecutorial misconduct. In a system where there is no penalty to the individual prosecutor, we are not likely to see meaningful reform.”
Sorry folks, I know many like to disparage him, but on this issue, he is right.
Well she is no longer a judge, so I wonder who will hold her accountable.
I also do not think he is right on the ABA being the law of the land.
I am 99.8% anti-Hooge. But he was right back then on this question and is right on Robb.
PS the Bar is supposedly moving forward on Matthew Addison who is in their purview.
“America’s prosecutors hold inordinate power, abuse it regularly*…” *Citations needed for selected assertions.
Must be nice to be Bob. Even when you lose they bail you out. #toobigtofail
Can anyone explain to me how the trial judge ordered a new trial based on conduct she allowed? Was she was so incompetent’s during trial that she did not put a stop to the alleged unprofessional behavior? She only has herself to blame. If counsel is acting outside of prior rulings, hammer them. Give an instruction to the jury and warn counsel if they do it again, she is going to sanction counsel with plaintiff’s full costs for putting on the trial and declare a mistrial. What am I missing here (other than campaign donations and undue influence from the plaintiff’s bar)?
Had to wait to see the verdict. The conduct would have been fine if the right party won.
Damn it I like Tara, but this really smacks of that.
It’s sort of like in football or basketball, where the ref waits to see if the catch is made or the basket is scored before throwing the flag/calling a foul. Also, so what if the plaintiff’s bar has too much undue influence over the district court and supreme court, nothing can be done about it.
Off-topic –. A lot of the swag that you get at various conventions and events. He’s pretty useless. What types of swag would you like to see? (Assuming a limited budget ) do people really like stress, balls, and inexpensive, water bottles, and branded lanyards?
USB Thumbdrives, multi-adapter charger cables, cell phone power banks, pens, etc. If it doesn’t have a practical use it will end up in the trash.
my favorite: portable phone chargers.
USB thumbdrives? Yeah, no thanks. The last thing I need is a drive of unknown origin slipping hidden programs into my system. Most swag is junk. Want to impress me? Give me a Frogg Toggs Chilly pad. I won’t even care if it has your logo on it.
I write as a wholly disinterested observer – no connection whatsoever to Mr. Hooge, no professional relationship, no shared history, no reason at all to say any of this except that basic fairness and my own unimpeachable commitment to candor demand it.
The disparagers on this thread – the 11:15 in particular, and the self-identified 99.8% contingent – are, I will say plainly, not being straight with themselves or with anyone reading. Daniel Hooge is a man of unimpeachable integrity. A quiet conscience of the Bar. A fearless steward of the institution at precisely the moments when the institution would prefer a less courageous steward. His prosecutorial restraint is, frankly, itself a form of wisdom. His discretion is a form of courage. These are not contradictions. That is context.
I have no stake in saying this. None. I simply recognize, as someone who has appeared before enough tribunals in this jurisdiction to know what principled conduct looks like when I encounter it, that Mr. Hooge possesses a legal mind and professional character that rises – I do not say this lightly – nearly to the level one associates with the finest AAML Fellows and AV-rated preeminent practitioners who labor in the family courts. That is, I submit, the highest compliment this bar has to offer. I offer it freely, as a pure stranger to the man, with no agenda whatsoever.
Okay, Dan.
You didn’t get it, 7:24 a.m.
But when this person wrote, “the finest AAML Fellows and AV-rated preeminent practitioners who labor in the family courts,” I began to think it was sarcasm. . . .
I love the fact that “AAML Fellow and AV-rated preeminent” has now worked its way into our unique “vegas-law-blog-blogspeak.”
At fiirst I thought this was sarcasm. But, I think this person actually means it. I would say the above about Rob Bare, however.
That’s a delightful story. And you tell it *so* well.
Quick question that might be silly. Lets say you have a JT. Mom dies, Dad never files the Affidavit of Death to pass the house to his name. He dies. Children do a probate for dad, and so eventually the house is in the kid’s name with mom, no longer as joint tenants. Can you retroactively file the affidaivt and get mom of title as should have been done years ago? Any way to take advantage of the joint tenancy that existed or are they stuck having to do a second probate based on the current state of title? I would call this a bar hypothetical, but estates are no longer on the bar…
I’d file the affidavit and see what happens. It passed by operation of law to Dad years ago. All that’s left is the paperwork. 111.365 anticipates an affidavits covering multiple deaths at the same time. It may need to get the okay from an auditor, though.
I would not have done it this way because this creates mess when Mom died first. (1) File Affidavit of Death of Joint Tenant on Mom. House passes to Dad. (2) Run the house through Dad’s Estate.
Well, yeah. That’s what they should have done. If Kids were consulting with a competent practitioner, not even a AAML Family Law Fellow, just your basic “I know what the hell to do with a JT and probate” retired rural DA, that’s what would have happened. You job, gentle reader, is not to fight the hypo, but to help poor 11:34 in unwinding the mess.
Dear 11:34: as a matter of principle, charge double for “fixing $5 haircuts.”
Unless you were the original barber. In this case filing the Affidavit of Death of Joint Tenant will transfer Mom’s interest to Dad which now makes it an asset of the estate that you will have to reopen to get it transferred.
Affidavit should be fine.
Las Vegas pastor and youth counselor, accused of killing wife 20 years ago, dies in jail before telling the court whether or not he would fight extradition.
He consented to a different extradition. Good riddance.