Meet the new boss ...

Hello, fellow law gossip-hounds (and mid-level associates running short on billable work), meet your new leader: me.

I am looking forward to embarking on this journey to the depths of legal society with all of you, and look forward to reading your biting wit and relevant social analysis in the comments.

As for my credentials, well, I am either a snot-nosed 2L at a local law school, or a senior partner at a large local firm who has grown tired of watching the practice of law deform into a billable-hour chasing mess. Either way, I am a Las Vegas native, I am filled with angst and I think I know everything there is to know about the practice of law. Does it really matter who I am for our purposes? You may call me Joe, Joe Law.

As for the old boss, Legal Eagle has graciously offered to stay on and post occasionally, but as for the day-to-day activities of this blog, they are now under my control. Muahahah! I would like to thank LE for the hard work she has put into making this blog a great place to read about our local legal shenanigans. In addition to LE, we will be adding a few guest posters who shall reveal themselves when the time is right.

Our focus is now on churning out at least one post per day, so keep checking back and we will do our best to keep you entertained, or at a minimum, amused. Guaranteed, or your money back.

Welcome to the new Wild Wild Law ... same as the old Wild Wild Law.

Smaller Roundup

Note: we've received some comments about how the website is becoming a simple collection of links to Nevada legal cases. So we're going to dial back on the link-a-thon Roundups and try to focus only on posting information that specifically concerns firms, judges, salaries, ethical issues, and of course gossip.

If you find yourself missing the longer list of Nevada legal issue links, I'd recommend harmfulerror.com. Harmful error focuses on Nevada/national criminal stories, but contains a great daily digest of criminal stories in the news.

What's so wild about Vegas law?

Vegas is pure capitalism in action, with most of its residents always on the hustle for money, power, or influence. And this pursuit of ways up the financial, authority, and prestige ladder spills over into legal practice with attorneys committing ethical violations and judges collecting huge campaign funds.


In addition, the caseload is high in Vegas, so the District Court appoints Senior Judges to handle the overload of trials. The Senior Judges do not have to reveal their financial interests and cannot be removed from a case by a peremptory challenge. The lack of transparency in the Senior Judge system allows judges to preside on cases over parties who have engaged in significant financial deals with the judge (stock ownership, real estate, business ownership, etc).

And like any great wild west sideshow, we've got it all (via Las Vegas Review Journal):

• a judge threatened with indictment for blackmail unless he steps down, only to be put back on the bench by the NV Supreme Court as a Senior Judge (Judge James A. Brennan);
• judges issuing letters to other judges praising defendants alleged of drug smuggling (Judge Brennan, former NV Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Springer and former Justice of the Peace Dan Ahlstrom);
• a judge accepting comps from a casino owner/mobster, then presiding over an appeal from the Gaming Commission (Judge Joseph S. Pavlikowski)
• a judge presiding over a property dispute with a casino in which the judge owned 12,000 shares of stock (Judge Stephen L. Huffaker)

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Jun-18-Sun-2006/news/7963570.html

• a judge borrowing $15k from a lawyer then hearing cases from that lawyer's firm (Judge Gene T. Porter)
• a judge giving his campaign contributions to his girlfriend as a gift (Judge Donald M. Mosely)

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Jun-18-Sun-2006/news/7963657.html

And then there's Judge Halverson, but her wild west adventures have already become a national soap opera. All of which has led to criticism that Nevada has an old boy's network rather than a judicial system.