- Quickdraw McLaw
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As 2017 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! Maybe we’ll see you again next year!
Our top ten Las Vegas related legal stories of 2017 are:
10. The Supreme Court got a new home in Las Vegas and Justices Douglas and Cherry announced their retirement.
9. Kirstin Lobato is getting a new trial. [Fox5Vegas]
8. Unpublished Nevada Court of Appeals decision may not be cited for any purpose.
7. The bar for passing the Nevada bar exam was lowered.
6. Alexis Plunkett made headlines when she was indicted on a dozen charges for letting a client/boyfriend use her phone while he was in custody. Ultimately, charges against her were dismissed.
5. Not limiting this to one specific story, but there have been a plethora of posts and comments about the discipline system for both judges and lawyers–many of whom were disciplined too harshly or not harshly enough (or not timely enough) this year.
4. Judge Susan Johnson made national headlines for telling criminal defendants that when their voting rights are restored, they can vote for President Trump. Video surfaced of it happening more than once.
3. Robert Graham was sentenced to 16-40 years in prison.
2. The US Attorneys’ office is not having much luck with the Bundy standoff–a mistrial for Cliven Bundy based on discovery issues and a mistrial for the smaller players because of a deadlocked jury.
1. The October 1 shooting affected all of us in one way or another and the legal aspects of it will continue to develop in 2018.
* Honorable Mentions
- Not only are the Golden Knights good, soon we’ll have the Las Vegas Lights FC soccer team, the Las Vegas Aces WNBA team, and the Las Vegas Raiders.
- RIP Jack Lehman, Mitch Cobeaga, Cal Potter III, Judge Patrick Flanagan, Paul Raby, and Jeffrey Rugg,
- Alverson Taylor moved its office.
- Cara Campbell beat out Heidi Almase in the most hard-fought muni court battle of our time.
- Using a dummy, police caught a dummy who bludgeoning homeless people.
- Harry Reid joined Boyd School of Law as a distinguished fellow.
- Attorney Emily Montgomery launched her app Citepad.
- #Metoo–it’s hasn’t had a huge impact in Las Vegas….yet.
- We hit 3,000,000 page views 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? Any judges about to have that meltdown that pushes them into the spotlight? Any wild predictions. Stay tuned….
April Parks
Uggh! Hated it (and her . . .)
And her storage units full of human remains.
Seriously, is there a news link about that?
Why wasn't John Norheim disciplined for this?
http://www.fox5vegas.com/story/35447048/27-urns-filled-with-human-ashes-found-in-henderson-storage-unit
It's the state bar that fails time and time again to discipline the attorneys that railroaded families begging to be heard about these abuses.
How is it that the New Yorker article didn't make the top ten…?
Speaking of LV Golden Knights… I distinctly remember the reaction by those on here in regards to me saying (optimistically) at the beginning of the season that I hope they make playoffs and thus making my season ticket investment a good move. Quickly the naysayers stated that they would stink and be on the bottom of the barrel. They also predicted that MAYBE we will be mediocre in year 2 or 3 at best.
Well, well, well. We just beat the Kings (again) last night and are sitting nice and pretty at the top of the Pacific Division. In Fact, based on points/standings alone, we are the second best team in the NHL, right behind the lights out Tampa Bay Lightning (which we beat at home btw).
So to all the naysayers who didn't/couldn't/wouldn't believe: suck a fat one.
Good on you and the Golden Knights. I wanted to buy season tickets but I couldn't stomach the idea of a 3-5 year commitment to pay $10k/year for mediocre seats. Maybe next year when my big PI case settles for 8 figures.
When and where is Cal Potters service? I have a lot of respect for any attorney who is decent human being.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cal-j-potter-iii-esq-memorial-service-reception-tickets-40889289967
Thank you!
Most of the Top Tens, and most of the Honorable Mentions, in my view deserve to be there. And the ones I don't necessarily believe should be there, at least a viable argument could be advanced for their inclusion.
The one exception, which should not be in anyone's Top Ten or Honorable Mentions,is this long-standing fixation on this blog concerning the internal tribulations and drama of Alverson Taylor.
I get that it is a firm of long standing, with a fair degree of prominence and name recognition. But firms that are much larger, with far greater long-standing reputations, have dissolved, split off, experienced transitions, lost prominent partners, or morphed into other entities without a fraction of this focus(e.g. Beckley Singleton, et.al; Lionel, Sawyer and Collins; Jones, Jones, Close & Brown, etc).
The fact that this firm moved to a different location should not even be in the top 100 of honorable mentions. If we look in the RJ this week, there are probably two or three examples of trial coverage, and verdicts, which are a lot more interesting than a law firm hiring a few moving vans to set up shop elsewhere in town.
But I know that I am committing sacrilege on this blog for not being totally absorbed with all the inner workings and drams of some insurance defense firm(and, yes, before anyone gets upset, I recognize they practice in other areas as well).
I most humbly apologize that I find it to be a boring topic, and I realize I am apparently alone in this opinion. Not only is it a boring topic as far as lacking any real legal interest or legitimacy, it is not even entertaining gossip.
Now that they have experienced the bumps in the road that a gazillion other firms have experienced but with little or no fanfare, why don't we give them a break?
I don't have any particular interest in running interference for them, and they have never been near or dear to my heart(gross understatement).
But there is nothing unique here. Many large firms find at times that they have too many pampered generals and higher officers, but not nearly enough foot soldiers to keep the vicious billing cycle in full vigor. Many large firms experience administrative and partnership conflict, find that there over-head is way too high, etc.
Those are some of the problems suggested on this blog as to what that firm has experienced. If true, sounds like issues most large firms will deal with at some point over the years and decades.
JJC&B and Beckley Singleton were mergers before there was this blog (I would add Hale Lane going into H&H to that category). Interesting but mergers not all that newsworthy.
However the stories of falls always garner more attention (see the threads on how the bad actions of Rob Graham as one lawyer got live news coverage on 3 stations but the good deeds of thousands of lawyers at the LACSN Banquet got no attention). Lionel Sawyer was a huge story when it imploded as the state's largest firm. Gordon Silver was a huge story when it imploded (especially due to the hubris of its office expansion immediately prior to implosion). Those firms imploded; Alverson Taylor did/has not. If your position is that it is not a big story because the firm is still in business, there may be a point. However Alverson Taylor did leave a huge building in effectively (actual?) foreclosure in a midnight move. That is a hugely interesting story. If the stories regarding financial largesse (did you see Bruce's office in the marketing materials?) and monies being taken out of the building are true, yes that it is an interesting story.
I think you're missing the point on why Alverson Taylor gets so much flak here on this blog (and in the Las Vegas legal community in general). Alverson Taylor is known as a firm that chews up and spits out new associates on a consistent basis. They have set up policies to take advantage of the consistent influx of new law grads who are willing to take any job just to get their foot in the door. This was especially true during the recession. Their pay structure for associates is almost draconian and they know that their associates will only be there for 18 months or less before moving on to a law firm that values employees.
I don't begrudge Alverson Taylor for doing business this way. If that's how they want to do it, that's their decision. But at the same time, they can't expect that the rest of the legal community won't poke fun at them or call them out for their antics.
That's why people actually care when a firm like Alverson Taylor has to downgrade to less desirable digs.
#metoo Eric Taylor
#metoo some one other than E. Taylor who worked there.
Generally agree with 10:02, but there were some matters which were alleged that could make it more interesting than similar transitional challenges endured by prominent firms from time-to-time.
But as to some of these more interesting matters, no one put their name with any of the allegations, so who really knows what is true. For example, anonymous bloggers would say that they know for a fact(How? We aren't told) or that they have a direct pipeline to people from the inside, etc.
All we can really know for sure, and which is uncontroverted, is any and all court filings resulting from these apparent challenges. But even then, we don't know(at least not yet) how much of what is any preliminary court documents is even true.
But as to all the stray rumors and gossip, quoting "insiders" without identifying one's self and without identifying the insider,is supermarket tabloid quality.
But there are exceptions. During Watergate, The Washington Post took what was a great journalistic risk at the time. It was almost unheard of to alleged broad-based government corruption, and totally unheard of to allege it without identifying sources beyond designating them as an "insider."
So, because sources are not identified, that does not necessarily eliminate their viability, but it sure calls it into question.
Move locations, try on the verge of bk. ATM sucks.
The allegation that "The US Attorneys' office is not having much luck with the Bundy standoff" is not really the story. The story is the USAO committing malfeasance so flagrantly that even a Judge who has been nothing short of a toady for the prosecution could not look the other way. There is a festering cauldron of bad deeds at the USAO that this may finally bring to light.
Fred Steese
Harry Reid is as corrupt as hell. The law school loss all of its integrity by affiliating with him.
Agree 100% We used to donate annually to the law school but didn't do so this year because of them bringing him in.
100% agree. People don't realize what a snake Harry Reid is.
11:02, 11:24 and 12:13 think Harry Reid is a "snake" that is "corrupt as hell." Yet I am sure they voted for similarly shady politicians they agree with.
No, I didn't. He is the worse.
Why is Harry so bad? Specifically, what has he done? I moved here 4 years ago and people bitch about him, but Nevada had no influence until Harry was in control. He couldn't have been that bad could he.
Kihuen
If that is his worst then he is great. Way better than the President or Roy Moore
He is great??? That is funny.
Can someone provide any facts or am I on the wrong blog?
This is the house of the Lord, and there will be no unkind words about Harry Reid.
Look up the facts. There are a lot of bad facts about Harry and his circuit. Just stay away from work out equipment.
that's silly
Kristen Lobato just skyrocketed up the Legal Stories of 2017 with Fred Steese.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/courts/judge-tosses-case-against-kirstin-lobato-orders-her-freed/
Yep.
So the DA's office goes from something like "she definitely did it we could never just let her out," etc., to…ok forget it, just like that?
Looks like allowing Document Preparers is a gateway to straight-up fraud and screwing over of low-income folks.
https://www.propublica.org/article/how-to-get-away-with-bankruptcy-fraud
Gee, who would have thought that giving the state's imprimatur to a bunch of feralegals was a bad idea.
Steve Sanson of Veterans in Politics International is finally getting some well deserved negative press. Hopefully he will take heed the advice made popular by General Douglas MacArthur and "just fade away."
Link?
He paid to have protestors appear at a rally complaining about Family Court, so much for disgruntled litigants showing up to participate. The intimidation of Judge Duckworth is worthy of an investiation by the DA. Here are two links. https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/news-columns/jane-ann-morrison/sansons-latest-complaint-like-him-a-political-loser/ and https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-las-vegas/family-court-judge-accuses-agitator-steve-sanson-of-intimidation/
Decent and honest. Check this out. http://www.vttlaw.com
No. Not now. Not ever.