- Quickdraw McLaw
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As 2016 draws to a close, it’s time to take a look back at the top ten stories that affected the Las Vegas legal community this year. Before we do, thanks again for reading, commenting, and offering your input because without you, the blog is dead. As always, we’re open to your suggestions on how we can improve the blog, so if you have any comments, criticisms, ideas, gossip, or want to volunteer to write a guest post, let us know. Here’s wishing you a prosperous new year! (We’ll probably be back in 2017, but with the way 2016 has gone, who knows?!)
Our top ten Las Vegas related legal stories of 2016 are:
10. Justice Antonin Scalia died; Governor Sandoval was vetted for the vacancy; and, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas finally spoke in court.
9. A couple were arrested for indecency on the high roller. Later in the year, the man was killed in Texas.
8. UNLV law professor Anne Traum was nominated by President Obama to replace Judge Robert Clive Jones. To date, her nomination has not been confirmed.
7. In a year marked by many celebrity deaths, we also lost several local attorneys and judges including, but not limited to, Judge Susan Scann, Judge Diana Hampton, Commissioner Chris Beecroft, and Melanie Kushnir.
6. Las Vegas finally got a professional sports team–an NHL team called the Golden Knights.–and now they can’t even get trademark protection for the name.
5. One of the people in the HOA scandal alleged that Justice Nancy Saitta tipped off Nancy Quon to FBI raids. In other news, Justice Saitta retired in August. Judge Lidia Stiglich was appointed to replace her.
4. Las Vegas Law, a docudrama about the DA’s office premiered and got picked up for a second season.
3. Robert Graham abruptly closed the doors of Lawyers West leaving clients wondering what happened to over $13 million that should have been in the trust account.
2. James Pengilly is alleged to have pulled a gun at a deposition.
1. In a story that grabbed national headlines, Judge Conrad Hafen had public defender Zohra Baktary found in contempt and arrested. Hafen lost his seat on the bench in the primary election and the contempt charges were subsequently thrown out.
* Honorable Mentions
- Voters approved the legalization of recreational marijuana.
- The Las Vegas Raiders?
- President-elect Trump?
- Justice of the Peace Harmony Letizia?
- We saw the death of free parking for most of the Las Vegas strip.
- We released the results of our 2016 compensation survey.
- We hit 2,000,000 page views and 1,000 posts this year! The blog has never been deader.
What do you think? What did we miss? What do you think will be the big stories next year? Which big firm is teetering on the brink? Will we see more retirements than Barker and Walsh? Will Justice Cherry serve a full final term as Chief? Does the Legislature have any surprises in store for us? Stay tuned….
http://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/las-vegas-prosecutors-want-help-identifying-convictions-won-faulty-drug-tests?email_subscriber=yes
Sorry, this is not a top ten story but the criminal defense attorneys in this town claim it is not their job to help the DA review convictions based on faulty drug tests. What the h@ll is their job, then? Maybe I can understand private counsel who aren't getting paid not wanting to go back and look at files, but the PDs have plenty of time. The thing is, they know their clients were guilty and that is why they pled guilty without demanding follow up testing. Their outrage is phony and offending. Nope, I'm not a prosecutor
What are we, the criminal defense attorneys, supposed to do when the drugs have been destroyed? Why is the DA looking for OUR help when nothing can be retested at this point? And as someone else pointed out, you are CLEARLY not a prosecutor lol. You certainly did not need to add that clarification.
11:47 FTW to 8:24 who has no idea what he was talking about.
I don't have the duty to discover all of the ways you screwed up the evidence. You have the duty to disclose what happened. You have it backwards. so I believe you when you say that you are not a prosecutor or person with any criminal law experience.
Acting in your client's best interests IS your job, so why don't you take a look at those files instead of sitting on your ass and bemoaning the poor golfing weather. This is why people hate PD's offices, and this town is the worst for lazy, self-righteous drinkers at the government trough. They spend all their time trying to impress Franny Forsman.
Says the dude clogging up the law blog on the Friday.
Is Franny still in government?
Franny retired 5 years ago.
She is doing retained criminal appeals
Franny is in private practice, still taking pot shots at the PD's office (not the federal PD) for not being kickass enough. Franny has the luxury of taking cases she is interested in now.
Holper had his Discipline Case filed with the Nevada Supreme Court today
Do tell. No surprises but what was it. Link?
http://caseinfo.nvsupremecourt.us/public/caseView.do?csIID=42236
What is Scot Holper in trouble for? He had some fight/skirmish with a process server. He had a lot of cases and many client thought he did a good job.
Documents not available.
David Jones was appointed to Susan Scann's old seat.
Happy New Year.
https://www.gofundme.com/audreybeeson
It's been a shit year for a lot of people. Please try to give whatever you can to support a kind person and a good lawyer.
Have a Happy New Year celebration everyone.
She did not contribute to the GoFundMe for another lawyer that was sent to her. Guess she didn't think it was important. I will pass and let pay her own copays.
Seriously?! That is an awful thing to assume. Example: Sometimes I can't give money but can make someone a freezer meal or help with an errand. How can we assume someone didn't or doesn't care?
And this isn't the pain Olympics where someone is going to go home with the gold. Plenty of compassion to go around.
I would never share a campaign here because of the risk of commenters smearing someone's name but the original commenter thought they were boosting the signal probably not expecting someone to be a jerk.
If you have time to track who supports what campaign you need more work to keep you busy. Post your name and we can all send your office some referrals in the new year.
Did you know the subject of this campaign donated numerous hours in truancy cases? Or that they have a kind heart with a love for animals?
Not meaning to sound like Pollyanna, but if we all tried to stop the cycle of meanness it would get better.
With that, 1727, I wish you a safe, healthy, and happy new year. Whatever is making you so hurt and vitriolic will hopefully take a turn for the better. If you would like to share the campaign you're worried about, I'd gladly donate in AB's stead.
1727: Life is not a big eff-you contest with other people, and a forensic audit of an individual's decisions over the years is not relevant to whether there is a need or not. I get dozens of GoFundMe requests every year through Facebook, email, etc. I give to a few and pass on many others. I sure hope no one is keeping score.
"Not meaning to sound like Pollyanna, but if we all tried to stop the cycle of meanness it would get better. " Thank you 12:08.
Here's to being kinder in 2017.
Who are you guys kidding? This entire blog is about selfishness and nastiness which is explicated here and never called out. No, it is not a F-U contest but it is entirely reasonable to remember that when you decided not to support certain people that they will not be there to support you. When you turn your back on people having a rough time, don't be surprised when people do the same to you when you have rough times. So 7:55, if you think you might get cancer, or have a heart attack in 2018, be more generous in 2017. If you think you might need professional courtesies in 2017, better hope you gave them in 2016. Those people who you "pass on" might be just the people that you later might need to ask for support.
@11:13 – come on, just because there's a few trolls here who get mean doesn't mean this entire blog is that bad. And you don't know what Beeson's situation is. Maybe she can't afford to donate to somebody else's GoFundMe campaign because she's got her own issues. Maybe that's why somebody set up a GoFundMe campaign for her? In general, I agree with you that the world would be a better place if we lived by the golden rule, but I don't believe for a second that not donating to somebody else's campaign means you should never be the recipient of charity in the future. If so, I'm screwed. My cousin just set up a GoFundMe campaign so he could "have some dining out money on his vacation". No, I'm not joking about that.
9:33– I agree with you with one exception: support does not have to be monetary. Support can be a card, a letter, showing up at a hospital, a cancer treatment, a Bar Hearing and providing support. GoFundMe actually allows you to leave a note that offers support to the person without the necessity of a monetary donation; Beeson turned a cold shoulder.
While it may be a few vociferous and vocal trolls, those trolls are never shouted down when the tone turns nasty here. This is a blog built on schadenfreude.
"those trolls are never shouted down"? Methinks you need to reevaluate what you think a troll's purpose actually is, and whether "shouting down" in fact advances that purpose.
Letting it go unchecked allows them to win.
I would have included the Bundy indictments on the list, probably in the top 3.
Is it Unethical for a Law Office to Discriminate based solely on Gender ? Will it lead to a discrimination complaint ? Or is it just a marketing tool?