Let the election games begin

The wisdom of electing judges, rather than appointing them, has been debated annually at every law school in the country. But here in Nevada, we're secure in the knowledge that our electorate will choose the best judicial candidate (likely based on the number of signs that candidate can afford to put up around town).

And next year will be a wide open election for the bench:

All 41 judicial seats, plus two state Supreme Court seats, will be open - and some are expected to be hotly contested. Six seats are being added to ease the mounting caseload - of which five will be based at the county's Family Court.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-other/2007/dec/29/566624812.html

Let the mudslinging begin because nothing evidences the wisdom of Solomon better than negative campaigning.

How does a legal career in Vegas stack up?

Below are the median starting salaries for first-year associates by firm size compiled by NALP:

(The list is obviously not complete since there are a lot more firms in town that don't list themselves on NALP. Readers of Nevada Law want to know what's going on out there, so please send us information about your legal job--the starting salary, billable requirement, bonus structure, etc. Send information to: nevadalegal@gmail.com)

	Firm Size — Number of Lawyers
	2-10	11-25	26-50	51-100	101-250	251 or more
1996	$35,000	$41,500	$52,000	$58,500	$60,000	$70,000
1997	40,000	52,000	50,000	60,000	65,000	71,500
1998	39,500	52,000	53,000	61,000	60,000	75,000
1999	— 51,000 —		57,500	67,000	70,000	85,000
2000	— 60,000 —		63,000	70,000	75,000	110,500
2001	— 60,000 —		70,500	75,900	90,000	110,200
2002	— 53,500 —		75,000	75,000	90,000	110,000
2003	— 59,000 —		71,000	80,000	85,000	107,000
2004	— 65,000 —		72,900	81,000	88,500	110,000
2005	— 67,500 —		80,000	83,000	86,000	110,000
2006	— 67,000 —		80,000	85,000	90,000	120,000
2007	— 68,000 —		81,000	90,000	105,000	130,000
% change 1996-2007	— 33%* —		56%	54%	75%	86%

http://www.nalp.org/content/index.php?pid=543

Vegas is doing pretty good compared to NALP's national median:

Here are the starting salaries of several Las Vegas firms according to the information each firm's recruiter provided to NALP:

Smaller Vegas Firms--Size 11-25 attorneys; National median=$68,000
Gordon & Silver--Starting salary--$95,000
Kolesar & Leatham--Starting salary--$95,000
McDonald Carano Wilson--Starting salary--$100,000
Morris Pickering & Peterson--Starting salary--$95,000

Medium Vegas Firms--Size 26-50 attorneys; National median=$81,000
Alverson, Taylor, Mortensen & Sanders--Starting salary $70,800
Kummer Kaempfer Bonner . . . --Starting salary $95,000
Santoro, Driggs. . . --Starting salary $90,000

Large Vegas Firms--Size 51-100 attorneys; National median=$90,000
Lionel Sawyer--Starting salary $98,000

National Mega Firms (Small Vegas Office)--Size 250+; National Median $130,000
Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll--Starting salary $123,000
Snell & Wilmur--Starting salary $110,000

So first off, the lack of firms in the 100+ attorney range shows that Vegas is still a small legal market, but in terms of salary, we're doing pretty well (with the exception of Alverson, Taylor, paying $10,000 less than the median salary for a comparable firm).

Good job Vegas firms!

It is interesting to note as well, that if you want to be a mega firm lawyer, you might want to leave Vegas since our two mega firms pay less than the national median for comparable firm size.

Gag Orders to Protect Fellow Judges Not Allowed (at least when you do it sua sponte)

Apparently the Nevada Supreme Court put the legal smackdown on one of its own Justices yesterday. The Court held that Justice Nancy Saitta abused her authority when, as a District Court Judge, she sealed child support proceedings of a judicial colleague running for office.

In 2006, Justice Siatta stated she was sealing the records of the proceedings involving former Family Court Judge Robert Lueck who was running for judicial office because the record might be used for negative campaigning.

The Supreme Court's decision states that Justice Saitta's sua sponte decision was a "manifest abuse of discretion," given that Nevada law requires divorce proceedings remain public. However, the court did not delve into any potential motivations the then Judge had in sealing the records of the proceedings.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/12880302.html

Welcome to the Wild Wild West

This blog is intended to provide information about Nevada law, judges, jurisprudence, and legal jobs (focusing on Las Vegas). Given that this jurisdiction is known as the wild wild west of law, it should offer some amusement with the antics of attorneys, judges, and law firms.

Some future features:

• Legal salaries and benefits -- this site intends to remove the curtain that firms work so hard to keep up, informing anyone interested of working in Las Vegas and Nevada about the offers they might receive
• News on interesting developments in Nevada law
• News on the antics and ethical connundrums that Las Vegas lawyers tend to get themselves into
• Overheard in Court--amusing quotes from the courtroom
• Discussions of employment in the legal field of Nevada