Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016

SPRING 2016 CONTENTS

43

LAW

8 // NEVADA’S LEGAL LANDSCAPE 13 // WAIVING ARBITRATION GOODBYE 17 // WHERE DOES THE ENERGY GO? 22 // DEATH OF THE AMERICAN TRIAL LAWYER 31 // MEET THE INCUMBENT 34 // WINTER LAUNCH PARTY PHOTOS 37 // ANIMATION EDGE IN LITIGATION 40 // THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION 43 // COVER STORY: SIG ROGICH

BUSINESS

COVER STORY

In Depth With Sig Rogich

53

49 // LEGAL GLOBALIZATION 53 // SOLAR POWER UNDER SEIGE 56 // THE INSIDE TIP 59 // LAND ROVER SUNSET DINE AND DRIVE

LIFESTYLE

60 // FACE THE JURY IN STYLE 66 // ART APPEAL AT THE SMITH CENTER 69 // BAR REVIEW 71 // SOLVING MEDICAL MYSTERIES 73 // VEGAS HAPPY HOUR WITH BULLDOG GIN 74 // POWER TO THE LUNCH 78 // 10 FOODS FOR BETTER SLEEP 81 // AVOIDING WORKOUT WOES 83 // WHEN TO BAIL 85 // HEROIN IN NEVADA 90 // KEEPING COSMETIC SURGERY SAFE 93 // LAS VEGAS RECOVERY CENTER 94 // HUMOR

BUSINESS:

The Solar Controversy

85

LIFESTYLE

Heroin Use On The Rise

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 3

Meet The Team www.vegaslegalmagazine.com

EDITOR IN CHIEF | PRESTON P. REZAEE, ESQ. PUBLISHER | TYLER MORGAN, ESQ. CREATIVE DIRECTOR | TIMOTHY HANCOCK DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS | CHARLOTTE EVANS MANAGING EDITOR | JEN CHASE DIRECTOR OF INTERNET MARKETING | JEFFRY COLLINS CONTRIBUTORS

ROBERT T. EGLET, ESQ., ANDREW CASH, M.D., JULIO GARIA, M.D., KENNETH BAHOORA, D.C., J. MALCOLM DEVOY, ESQ., PETER LAURENT, BRIAN DIMARZIO, SUSAN GONSALVES, RICK NELSON, KYLE LUM, MARYAM RASTKERDAR, SABRINA SIRACUSA, MYRON MARTIN, JOHN TIPPINS, MARK FIERRO, RIVKELA BRODSKY

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LETTER FROM

THE EDITOR IN CHIEF Preston P. Rezaee, Esq.

It’s election season. So allow me to commence by confessing that I am in fact a registered democrat. I believe in the social, economical, and political principals advanced by the Democratic Party. I believe in the right of others to live life as they wish and to choose their own destiny. Weighing the dilemma presented between my own financial interest and that of the greater good, I give deference to the latter.

Concurrently, I have tremendous respect for the opinion of my republican friends who strive to preserve the conservative social and moral fabric of our nation. I appreciate the principals of hard work and perseverance underlying their fiscal policies. Freedom to choose one’s political affiliation and the expression of those beliefs is one of the most fundamental and sacred rights.

What I find disheartening however, is the divisive scheme with which political campaigns are orchestrated. Politicians on both sides of the isle are guilty of capitalizing on people’s phobias, inciting hate, and dividing the nation. The animosity propagated by our presidential candidates is tearing at the very foundation of our democracy and dividing people based on race, gender, and religious lines.

Whether republican or democrat, political leaders should not be allowed to perpetuate bigotry and hatred to achieve their end. I leave you with these words: “However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.” –George Washington | FAREWELL ADDRESS | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1796.

Thank you all for your continued support.

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 5

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LETTER FROM

THE PUBLISHER Tyler Morgan, Esq.

As Father’s Day approaches, there is no better time to take a moment and honor my father, because who I am today is a product of his efforts in raising me.

There is a quote from a book I love by Stephen Colbert that resonates deep in my life: “A father has to be a provider, a teacher, a role model, but most importantly, a distant authority figure who can never be pleased. Otherwise, how will children ever understand the concept of God” I love and adore my mother, and she put incredible effort into raising me. However, I don’t thank my father enough, and it is he who instilled the core values that make me the man I am today and the man I will become tomorrow.

Like a house, every one of us is built on a foundation. When my parents raised me, my father made sure to pour strong concrete into my foundation. It was a mixture of values like working hard, paying attention to detail, getting an education, being good to others, and a little bit more of that work hard stuff. Heck, my brothers and I could write a memoir about my father and all the crazy chores he made us do as kids—especially the ones requiring us to get up at 5:30 a.m. on weekends to dig holes to plant trees in our backyard in Miami.

Any idea how hard it is to dig a hole in Miami? Solid limestone lies less than a foot deep in the ground. Think about that for a minute. An appreciation for hard work was definitely drilled into us.

Despite the manual labor—and maybe because of it—I want to thank my father… especially for his commitment to making me a better writer, which today I am finally able to appreciate as a publisher. In school, from an early age and even through law school, I can recall the countless writing assignments I had my father review with me. He was a grammatical genius, of sorts, and I longed for the day I’d give him something that he would hand back to me while saying, “It’s perfect.”

It never happened, but I’ll keep trying.

The point is, I used to be a terrible writer…but today, I’m much better because of him. I would never have fostered my passion for writing if he hadn’t pushed me to become better, and I can’t thank him enough for it. Not in a million years would I have dreamed to be in publishing. But here I am.

I’ve done a lot of other great things in my life because of his influence on me, but those stories are for another time. For now, as I reminisce (as I often do) about the foundation my father built underneath me, I want to say: “Thanks, Dad. Happy Father’s Day.”

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 7

How Boyd Is Shaping

NEVADA’S LEGAL LANDSCAPE

– By April Becker, Esq.

I am often asked why I made the choice to practice law. The short

answer is that in 1998, the William S. Boyd School of Law opened in Las Vegas. With my family and businesses entrenched in the Las Vegas Valley, the opportunity to attend law school was something I never thought would be a possibility: I simply could not leave Las Vegas. That all changed with the announcement that Boyd School of Law was enrolling.

Boyd’s opening not only changed my life, it changed the landscape of the legal community in Nevada. In order to fully understand the impact of the Boyd School of Law, a person has to look into the past void of legal education available. Before Boyd, no law school existed in Nevada. All practicing attorneys in the state were educated in schools that were as different as the locations where those schools were located. This resulted in a lack of continuity within the legal profession, especially when attorneys from other states were recruited to fill the legal needs of our city.

It was less than 20 years ago that Boyd School of Law started operations and began educating potential graduates in an abandoned elementary school across the street from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus. From this humble beginning, Boyd now boasts a reputation as a high-profile law school with a landmark campus ranked in the top-100 by U.S. News and World Report. Incredibly, in such a short period of time, Boyd graduates now account for a vast number of practicing attorneys and elected officials.

Quite frankly, being a Boyd graduate opens doors.

In surveying members of the legal profession that hire law school graduates, I have found that the hiring committees of the most prestigious law firms in Las Vegas look first to Boyd for quality graduates and new attorneys to hire. You will find Boyd graduates in almost all of Nevada’s prominent law firms. This is a tribute not only to Boyd School of Law’s rapid growth, but also to the respect the school has earned.

As a mother of three young children, attending law school presented very unique challenges for me; but I soon learned that the benefit of being a Boyd graduate created opportunities beyond any I could have ever imagined. It is amazing how many connections I have made as a graduate of Boyd School of Law. Those connections Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 8

have created more business and added to the success of my law practice…and, they have provided a valuable benefit to my clients: When confronted with difficult legal issues, it is never a problem to reach out and connect with other Boyd alumni for quick and accurate answers.

It is also a source of pride when I see the number of Boyd graduates that hold positions in public office and have become movers and shakers within Nevada politics. Currently, there are several members of the Nevada Legislature that graduated from Boyd School of Law. There are also a number of Boyd graduates seeking election in upcoming political races throughout the state. As a prediction, the number of Boyd graduates involved in Nevada politics will increase each year and with every election.

Las Vegas has always been a city of innovation and influence. Its growth has always centered on its citizens, as well as its unique location. As the city has grown, we have seen many new industries and businesses take root in Nevada, creating more opportunities for Boyd graduates. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to graduate from such an outstanding institution. My law partner, my best friends and my network of attorneys are also all Boyd alumni. We all look forward to the continued growth and prestige of the William S. Boyd School of Law. April L. Becker, Esq., is a partner at Becker Goodey, where she focuses primarily on commercial real estate and business matters, and providing individualized and committed representation to her clients from start to finish.

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Waiving Arbitration Goodbye – By J. Malcolm DeVoy, Esq. On-Scene Mediations to serve lawsuits against borrowers who defaulted on the short-term, high-interest loans that Principal Investments offered.

Service of process—the actual, physical delivery of a complaint, stating the basis of a lawsuit, and a summons that contains instructions about how to respond to the lawsuit—is a fundamental threshold for beginning a lawsuit and requiring the defendant to participate.

The amounts Principal Investments sued to recover were below the $10,000 threshold for District Court. As a result, thousands of its cases were filed in the Justice Court for Las Vegas Township, which has jurisdiction over disputes involving less than $10,000. Many of Principal Investments’ cases against individual borrowers ended in default, where the defendant fails to appear or defend the lawsuit after receiving service of process, yielding a judgment for the amount due to Principal Investments under its original loan.

Despite strong policies favoring arbitration, companies seeking it may be forced into court.

Likely, everyone who reads this magazine has signed a contract requiring

arbitration of disputes. Arbitration occurs in a closed forum with limited opportunity for judicial review and no jury present—a right guaranteed by the United States Constitution’s Seventh Amendment—and has long been a source of controversy. Normally, the costs of arbitration must be split evenly between the parties, while the costs for a plaintiff to get into the courtroom are much smaller. In a David-versus-Goliath scenario, going to court is less of a burden for an individual seeking redress from a large company. Simultaneously, arbitration offers advantages to parties who seek a private, speedy resolution of their dispute, such as companies fighting over trade secrets. Against this backdrop, arbitration clauses have become increasingly common in a wide variety of agreements…as well as the source of heated litigation before the nation’s highest courts.

For individuals and the attorneys who represent them, arbitration clauses have been targeted for attack for many years—and sometimes with success. While federal law such as the Federal Arbitration Act (and the case law surrounding it) generally favors arbitration, it is not a guarantee that a contract’s arbitration clause will be enforceable. Even in the face of a broad policy favoring arbitration, exceptions still exist.

The Nevada Supreme Court recently took up this issue in Principal Investments, Incorporated, doing business as Rapid Cash, versus Cassandra Harrison et al. 132 Nev. Adv. Op. 2 (2016). The Court’s decision was a weighty one, issued by the Court en banc, meaning all of the justices participated, rather than a normal three-justice panel; together with Justice Saitta’s concurrence, the Court’s full treatment of the case was a meaty 23 pages long.

1. Prelude: Phantom Service of Process, Forgery, and the “Sewer.”

The Principal Investments case begins with a process server claiming to have served numerous defendants with complaints and summonses, but having never done so. Principal Investments exclusively used the company On-Scene Mediations as its process server in Southern Nevada, relying on

Eventually, one of the Justice Court’s judges questioned how quickly OnScene Mediations was accomplishing so many serves for Principal Investments, as the lending company had filed more than 16,000 cases in Las Vegas Township’s Justice Court in 7 years. The ensuing investigation discovered that On-Scene Mediations was not serving Principal Investments’ lawsuits at all. Instead, it filed false affidavits of service claiming that it served the defendants, but never actually did so.

Describing this practice as “sewer service,” the Nevada Supreme Court implied that the documents that were supposed to be served on the defendants were disposed of instead. On-Scene Mediation’s principal was charged with and convicted of 17 counts of forgery and offering false instruments. While this stemmed the tide of affidavits based on process service that never occurred, the question of Principal Investments’ many default judgments obtained against borrowers who never received notice of an action against them remained unanswered.

2. Court for Me, But Not for Thee.

Following the revelations of On-Scene Mediation’s actions, a number of individuals brought suit in District Court, alleging that Principal Investments improperly obtained its default judgments against them based on On-Scene Mediations’ “sewer service.” The individuals (first individually, and then later as an asserted class action) brought numerous claims, including fraud upon the court, abuse of process, civil conspiracy, negligence, and violation of Nevada’s fair debt collection laws. Among the relief they sought was the court’s declaration that the judgments entered against them by the Justice Court were void and uncollectable.

Principal Investments moved to compel arbitration under the agreements it entered with the individual plaintiffs. Among the three plaintiffs, there were two agreements that governed Principal Investments’ ability to seek arbitration. The first version of the agreement broadly defined what constituted a “claim,” and contained language seeking to allow either party to elect arbitration for certain claims, even while others remained active in court. The second version of the agreement required either party to submit a claim to mediation before arbitration, but also contained a carve-out that

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 13

Waiving Arbitration Goodbye sought to exempt actions filed in Justice Court from the mediation and arbitration requirements: “[either party may] bring a Claim in a small claims or the proper Las Vegas Justice Court, as long as the Claim is within the jurisdictional limits of that court […] All Claims that cannot be brought in small claims court or Las Vegas Justice Court . . . must be resolved consistent with . . . the Arbitration Agreement” In addition to these provisions intended to allow Principal Investments to move forward with its collections, the agreements contained more language favoring arbitration. Both agreements stated that they were made “pursuant to a transaction involving interstate commerce,” as a way to invoke the use of federal law such as the Federal Arbitration Act. The agreements went on to state they were governed by the Federal Arbitration Act, and require borrowers to waive class action and class arbitration participation.

The District Court rejected Principal Investments’ attempts to compel arbitration of the pending action. Specifically, the court held that Principal Investments’ initiation of the Justice Court actions waived its right to insist on arbitration. Both Nevada and federal law allowed the Nevada Supreme Court to hear an interlocutory appeal on the District Court’s denial of Principal Investments’ requests to compel arbitration, which the Supreme Court invoked in rendering its decision.

3. Going to Court May Not Waive Arbitration…But Obtaining a Judgment Does.

On appeal, Principal Investments acknowledged it waived its right to arbitrate the collections claims it filed in Justice Court, but that did not prevent arbitration of the new claims asserted against it, which arose from the OnScene Mediations revelations. Courts disfavor finding waivers, and do not likely reach that conclusion. Even where there is prior litigation despite an agreement to arbitrate, that waiver normally extends only to the same legal and factual issues that have been litigated—meaning that the party seeking arbitration does not get to arbitrate the issues it has already litigated in court.

The Nevada Supreme Court found that the District Court claims against Principal Investments were “integrally related to” its Justice Court claims.

But for the default judgments Principal Investments obtained against the plaintiffs through the use of On-Scene Mediations, the later lawsuit—and its appeal—never would have existed. Because these new claims directly arose from Principal Investments’ litigation and default judgments in Justice Court, the Supreme Court concluded that they threaded the needle for being based on the same factual or legal issues.

Rather than standing for a broad rollback of arbitration clauses, the Nevada Supreme Court’s ruling leaves room for unrelated claims to be forced into arbitration even where there is underlying litigation. The Supreme Court recognized one case in particular, from Wisconsin, where a payday lender’s filing suit in small claims court did not waive its right to demand arbitration of a claim against it under the Wisconsin Consumer Act. The crucial distinction was that the small claims action did not waive the borrower’s claims against the lender in the Wisconsin case. The issue before the Nevada Supreme Court was that the claims against Principal Investments arose from the judgments it obtained by bringing legal proceedings in the Justice Court, when the lender had already chosen not to arbitrate.

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 14

Principal Investments’ other defenses were unavailing and quickly dispatched by the Supreme Court. The lender asserted its “no-waiver” clause in its agreements, which provided that bringing one claim in court does not waive the right to arbitrate other claims. The Supreme Court held, however, that those clauses could be waived, and further rendered ineffective where they interfered with a judge’s ability to control litigation, or were used “to sanctify a fraud upon the court allegedly committed by the party who itself elected a litigation forum for its claim.” It is unlikely the Nevada Supreme Court’s use of such forceful language was accidental.

4. Consequences for Litigants.

The simplest way to avoid a dispute becoming as involved as the Principal Investments case is to draft clean arbitration agreements, and then follow them. The question of waiver would not have arisen if the plaintiff had not gone to court in the first place, even though the contract theoretically allowed it…all but inviting a waiver question as an obstacle to arbitration.

Then, the parties to those contracts needed to enact them as drafted to avoid questions of waiver—or worse, fraud on the court—arising from conduct inconsistent with the agreement.

For individuals, this will have little if any impact, as binding arbitration has long been the bane of plaintiffs. For them, this decision has a silver lining: Rather than having to share the costs of arbitration, an individual can stay in court despite an arbitration clause as long as the other side began the judicial proceeding. The facts of this case are unique, though, and the case’s effects may be narrow in scope.

The facts underlying the decision, particularly arising from On-Scene Mediation’s service, bore on its result and hopefully will not be present in future cases. Simply going to court despite an arbitration clause may not completely remove all claims from arbitration, depending on how the clause is written. Where causes of action arise from a judgment obtained from a waiver of arbitration, though, Nevada law likely will exempt those new claims from arbitration.

For companies that must regularly sue over unpaid contracts (or for any other reason), compliance-testing one’s process servers is recommended.

Another alternative is spreading out the work among a small number of approved vendors in order to examine their performance for any irregularities. As the Supreme Court noted, On-Scene Mediations provided services for companies other than Principal Investments, and their judgments as well were at risk of invalidation—to say nothing of the other claims against the company.

In all, the Principal Investments decision is shocking, and provides occasion for companies and individuals entering arbitration agreements to re-examine their policies and practices. For every company regularly involved in litigation, this case underscores the importance of ensuring due process safeguards for defendants are satisfied, including steps as fundamental as proper service of process. While the effect of the Supreme Court’s ruling may turn out to be limited, its language and consequences should also promulgate thoughtful action from both sides in arbitration clause disputes.

J. Malcolm (“Jay”) DeVoy is the owner of DeVoy Law P.C. and serves as of counsel to The Firm P.C. DeVoy focuses on providing representation in commercial disputes, serious personal matters, and advising medical professionals and practices about issues including HIPAA, the Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute.

Rising Star, Super Lawyers, 2008 • Rising Star, Super Lawyers 2011 National Trial Lawyers Association, Top 40 under 40 Attorneys, 2012 National Trial Lawyers, Top 100 Trial Lawyers, 2014 and 2015

Conservation of Momentum in Collisions and Injuries:

WHERE DOES THE ENERGY GO? By: Kenneth M. Bahoora D.C.; Patrick Sundby, Accident Investigator; and Mark Studin DC, FASBE(C), DAAPM, DAAMLP.

Understanding the cause and effect relationship between auto crash

and injury has been a big topic in the medicolegal community for decades, and understanding vehicle crash dynamics is crucial in determining how individuals are injured.

There are many factors that play a role in the dynamics of automotive collisions: vehicle design and type; speeds; angles of approach; kinetic and potential energy; momentum, acceleration factor, friction…the list is long. However, there are a few constants that make the chaotic world of understanding automotive collisions and how they are relative to injury more predictable and more quantifiable.

In this article, we will discuss the concept of “conservation of momentum,” and introduce and explore the factors that have the most influence on low- speed and/or low-damage collisions, and how these factors are related to a driver’s, passenger’s or pedestrian’s bodily harm.

The concept of conservation of momentum is built on Sir Isaac Newton’s third law that states, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” For our purposes here, we will focus on the conservation of momentum as it relates to crash dynamics. Because it is the relationship of momentum to low-speed and/or low-damage collisions that is the causal factor of collision injuries, and understanding it helps enlighten those who have held tight to the deceptive argument that where there is no damage, there are no injuries.

The momentum going into a collision can be accounted for at the end of a collision by examining who and what was exposed to and/or absorbed that energy. Here is an example: Say we are standing around a pool table and are about to attempt shooting the game-ending eight ball into a corner pocket. After the cue ball is struck, we now have one object in motion, which will collide with another. When the cue ball strikes the eight ball, it stops moving and the eight ball begins moving. In this scenario, the momentum of the cue ball before the collision is the same as the momentum of the eight ball after the collision. The eight ball rolls into the corner pocket. And the transfer is highly efficient because neither pool ball can deform. If either pool ball could deform, some of the energy would be used to do this and less would be transferred to make the ball roll.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) mandates minimum performance standards for passenger vehicle bumpers. Vehicle bumpers are tested with 2.5 mph (3.7 fps) impact equipment that has the same mass as the test vehicle. The test vehicle is struck with its brakes disengaged and the transmission in neutral.

There is no offset between the vehicle and the barrier. The NHTSA outlines acceptable damage to a vehicle’s various systems after the tests.

Successful completion of these tests mandate normal operation of certain systems. The factory adjustment of the vehicle’s braking, steering and suspension must be unaltered. In other terms, in order for a ve-

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 17

WHERE DOES THE ENERGY GO? belt used by the injured person. However, the first step is to determine if there was enough energy as an initiating factor in low-speed and/or low-damage crashes to cause those injuries. The next step is to overcome those “no crash equals no injury” misconceptions and then have an expert physician in low-speed injuries confirm causal relationship.

Now that we have explored the standards for vehicle integrity during low speed collisions, we need to expand on Conservation of Momentum. Here we will introduce the formula and walk through its components; we will need to understand this in order to explore how different size vehicles affect each other in a collision.

The full formula w1 • v1 + w2 • v2 = w1’ • v1 ’ + w2’ • v2’ Before you get discouraged, its simple. It breaks down as such:

Kenneth M. Bahoora, D.C. hicle to pass these tests it cannot have any change in its structure. If changes did occur, the braking system, steering and suspension would be out of factory adjustment.

The NHTSA is not alone in low-speed bumper testing: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) also does it. The IIHS’s test speeds are conducted at 6 mph (8.8 fps) and the goal is to determine which vehicles have the least damage and therefore cost the least to repair.

The vehicle ratings are inversely proportional to the estimated cost of repair. The more costly the repair, the lower the rating (exclusive of safety). While the vehicles used in the IIHS testing all show signs of contact with the barrier, none of the vehicles suffer damage that deforms the structure of the vehicle. Just as with the NHTSA, the vehicles tested by the IIHS do not have any change in their structure effecting the braking system, steering and suspension. The lack of change in the structure (deformation) forces a test vehicle to accept the momentum transfer from the testing equipment. Further, the test vehicle is free to move after being struck. This testing scenario is strikingly similar to that of the cue ball and eight ball: If a vehicle doesn’t deform during a low-speed collision, it will experience a change in speed (or velocity) very quickly; accordingly, the occupant(s) also experience a change in speed or acceleration, but greater than that of the vehicle.

On the left side: w1 is the weight of the first vehicle before the collision; v1 is the velocity (in feet per second) of the first vehicle before the collision; w2 is the weight of the second vehicle before the collision; and v2 is the velocity (in feet per second) of the second vehicle before the collision.

On the right side: w1’ is the weight of the first vehicle after the collision; v1’ is the velocity (in feet per second) of the first vehicle after the collision; w2’ is the weight of the second vehicle after the collision; and v2’ is the velocity (in feet per second) of the second vehicle after the collision.

Conservation of Momentum

The key factor in these examples is that the equal mass of the vehicles and testing equipment involved is not similar to real-life events.

Which makes one question, what happens when the masses change?

When the mass of one vehicle changes, the momentum also changes, the more mass the more momentum the vehicle can bring to the event and the greater the injury potential to the occupant.

Now, let’s take the NHTSA standards for testing and put two of the same mass vehicles in the equation. Let’s use a 2012 Toyota Corolla, and because we need two of them we will say one is red and the other is blue.

When determining injury, there are many complicating factors beyond the Laws of Momentum that must be considered such as the height, sex, weight, muscle mass, occupant position, and type of seat

Red Corolla • 5 mph + Blue Corolla • 0 mph = Red Corolla • 0 mph + Blue Corolla • 5 mph

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 18

The 2012 Toyota Corolla has a curb weight of 2,734 lbs, substituted in the formula it looks like this: 2,734 lbs • 5 mph + 2,734 lbs • 0 mph = 2,734 lbs • 0 mph + 2,734 lbs • 5 mph We need the speeds in feet per second, to do this we will multiply by 1.47 times the miles per hour. This gives us 7.35 feet per second.

2,734 lbs • 7.35 fps + 2,734 lbs • 0 fps = 2,734 lbs • 0 fps + 2,734 lbs • 7.35 fps Now when we do the math to show the conservation of momentum we end up with the following: 20,094.9 + 0 = 0 + 20,094.9 20,094.9 = 20,094.9 Momentum conserved.

Now we have proved the concept so we are going to apply it to a collision involving two different vehicles. Let’s substitute the 2012 red Toyota Corolla for a 2012 red Chevrolet Tahoe.

The 2012 Chevrolet Tahoe weighs 5,448 lbs. Now the formula looks like this: Red Tahoe • 5 mph + Blue Corolla • 0 mph = Red Tahoe • 0 mph + Blue Corolla • 9.96 mph 5,448 lbs • 5 mph + 2,734 lbs • 0 mph = 5,448 lbs • 0 mph + 2,734 lbs • 9.96 mph (speed after impact) We need speeds in feet per second, to do this we will multiply by 1.47.

This gives us 7.35 (5mph) and 14.64 (9.96mph).

5,448 lbs • 7.35 fps + 2,734 lbs • 0 fps = 5,448 lbs • 0 fps + 2,734 lbs • 14.64 fps Now when we do the math to show the conservation of momentum we end up with the following: 40,042.8 + 0 = 0 + 40,042.8[4] 40,042.8 = 40,042.8 Momentum conserved.

Three important points can be observed in this demonstration.

tute for Highway Safety, which we have previously discussed and we would expect the Tahoe to have no structural deformation and minimal cosmetic damage.

The second point to note is the change in speed the Corolla experiences after impact 9.96 mph (0 to 9.96). This change in speed is four times the minimum needed to induce whiplash injury.

Neither of the vehicles in the above example exceeds the speed of 10 mph, which the auto manufactures and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety often consider a threshold for injury. However, the foregoing confirms that cars can easily deform and occupants injured in low speed crashes once you begin to look at the conservation of energy (momentum) and coefficient of forces transferred to the target car.

Dr. Kenneth Bahoora has been a treating physician in Nevada for 17 years. He graduated from Life University in Atlanta Georgia where he received his doctorate in chiropractic. He is credentialed and received specialized knowledge in accident reconstruction, spinal biomechanical engineering, spinal MRI interpretation, MRI physics, providing impairment ratings utilizing AMA Guides 5th & 6th Edition, examining and triaging the trauma patient and neurodiagnostic interpretation protocols. He lectures to doctors and the legal community on subjects including but not limited to trauma and injury protocols and crash dynamics and the trauma victim. He can be reached for further explanation at kmbdc@elitechiro.net or at 702-204-4240.

Patrick Sundby has decades of experience in the automotive industry, including several years in law enforcement collision investigation. He was also a driver training and firearms instructor in law enforcement and a police officer for 9 years before specializing in accident investigations. He has attended and taught at Prince William County Criminal Justice Training Academy in Virginia and studied at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia. His specialty is low-speed and catastrophic crashes and has testified over 500 times at various levels. He can be reached at 571265-8076 or patrick.sundby@gmail.com Dr. Mark Studin is an adjunct associate professor of chiropractic at the University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic, an Adjunct Professor of Clinical Sciences at Texas Chiropractic College and a clinical presenter for the State of New York at Buffalo, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences for postdoctoral education, teaching MRI spine interpretation and triaging trauma cases. He is also the president of the Academy of Chiropractic, teaching doctors how to interface with the legal community (www.

DoctorsPIProgram.com). He teaches MRI interpretation and triaging trauma cases to doctors of all disciplines nationally, and studies trends in health care on a national scale (www.TeachDoctors.com). He can be reached at DrMark@AcademyofChiropractic.com or at 631-786-4253.

REFERENCES: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. (2010, September). Bumper Test Protocol. Retrieved from Insurance Institute for Highway Safety: www.iihs.org National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. (2011, October 1). 49 CFR 581 - BUMPER STANDARD. Retrieved from U.S. Government Publishing Office: www.gpo.gov [1] Some factors are acknowledged but not discussed for ease of concept explanation.

[2] 1 mph = 1.47 fps, 2.5 mph * 1.47 = 3.7 fps [3] 1 mph = 1.47 fps, 6 mph * 1.47 = 8.8 fps [4]If the formula is completed with rounded numbers the answer is 40,025.76 not 40,042.8. The full numbers are not shown, but used, to ensure a match at the end of the equation.

First, when testing is done note the change in speed in the Tahoe is 5 mph (5 to 0). This is less than the speeds used by the Insurance Insti-

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 19

Death of the American Trial Lawyer – By Robert T. Eglet, Esq. Thomas Jefferson stated, “I consider [trial by jury] as the only anchor

ever yet imagined by man which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.” Our country’s citizens have fought and died for our right to a trial by jury. The deprivation of the right to trial by jury was of such great concern to our founding fathers that it was specifically listed as one of the grievances against King George III in the Declaration of Independence as justification for going to war in 1775. The right to a jury trial in civil cases is guaranteed by the Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution, and the constitutions of virtually every state in the union. The right to trial by jury in both criminal and civil cases is deeply ingrained in our sense of justice. But, while these constitutional rights have

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 22

remained in place since 1791, how civil cases are resolved has and continues to dramatically change.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote: “The founders of our nation considered the right of trial by jury in civil cases an important bulwark against tyranny and corruption, a safeguard too precious to be left to the whim of the sovereign…juries represent the layman’s common sense and thus keep administration of law in accord with the wishes and feelings of the community.”

Over 225 years ago, James Madison observed that, “trial by jury in civil cases is as essential to secure the liberty of the people as any one of the pre-existent rights of nature.” If we still believe this to be true, our liberty is in jeopardy. The civil jury trial is disappearing and appears to be rapidly approaching extinction, and with it will bring the extinction of the American trial lawyer.

Death Of The American Trial Lawyer

THE NUMBERS We have witnessed a near century-long decline in the ratio of civil cases resolved by trial, and a 30-year decline in the absolute number of civil jury trials in this country. Since the mid 1930s, the proportion of civil cases concluded by jury trial has declined from 20 percent to well below 1 percent in both our state and federal trial courts. While that 20 percent was a minority of cases, it was nevertheless a substantial minority, and a significant amount of a civil practice was trial practice. By 1940, the ratio of civil cases resolved by jury trial had fallen to 15.2 percent. By 1972, it was only 9.1 percent. Two decades later, the percentage of civil cases being resolved through jury trial was only 3.5. By 2002, the ratio of jury trials to civil case resolutions had decayed to a dismal 1.8 percent. In 2005, jury trials as a proportion of civil case dispositions waned below 1 percent where they continue to decline toward an effective rate of 0 percent.

Federal Court

Tort case trials have declined at an even more rapid and exponential rate over the past 50 years. In federal court in 1962, one out of every six tort cases filed was resolved by jury trial. By 2002, only one in every 46 tort cases filed went to trial. In 2010, the trial ratio fell dramatically to less than one in every 136 tort cases filed. Today, it is believed to be fewer than one out of every 200 tort cases filed in federal court ever reaches trial.

Over the past 50 years, civil actions filed in Nevada state and federal trial courts have significantly increased. Yet, the number of civil actions resolved by jury trial has diminished at an alarming rate and continues to decline, year after year, in both the proportion of jury trials to case filings and the absolute number of jury trials. In 1962, there were 5,802 civil trials in our federal courts. By 2002, the number of civil actions resolved by trial dropped by 22 percent to 4,569; despite an overall increase of 514 percent in the number of civil action filings during the same period of time. Between 1991 and 2010, our federal courts saw the absolute number of civil jury trials decline by an astonishing 52.3 percent.

State Court

The story is the same in our state trial courts, where the overwhelming majority of civil jury trials occur. During the same 19-year period (19912010), the absolute number of civil jury trials plummeted 52 percent, as well. In 1992, in our nation’s 75 most populous counties, there were 22,451 jury trials. By 2001, that number had plunged to 11,908, and in 2005 there were only 10,813 jury trials…fewer than half the number from 19 years earlier. By 2002 only 0.6 percent of all civil cases in our state courts were resolved by jury trial. Today, the downward spiral continues toward zero.

In 2012, the percentage of civil cases that went to trial in Texas was 0.4 percent. In one of the major counties in Texas, where there are 14 dedicated civil district court trial judges, there were only 48 civil jury trials in 2014— fewer than four jury trials per judge. In the entire state of Iowa during 2014 there were only 184 civil jury trials, and in 13 Iowa counties there were no jury trials whatsoever…civil or criminal. In 61 of Iowa’s 99 counties there were three or fewer jury trials during the entire year. In Oregon, by 2008 the percentage of civil cases resolved by jury trials had dropped to

0.4 percent. In Tennessee, the number of jury trials in state civil trial courts fell from 2,000 in 1990 to 1,000 in the year 2000, to 384 in 2008. In Florida’s county civil trial courts, from fiscal years 1986-1987 through 2009-2010, the jury trial rate was effectively zero. In 1986-87 there were 776,904 civil case dispositions and only 108 civil jury trials (0.0139 percent). In 20092010 there were 2,696,314 civil case dispositions, but only 119 by jury trial (0.0044 percent). In Nevada during 2014 there were 49,458 total civil case dispositions, but only 176 civil jury trials, a dismal 0.35 percent jury trial rate. (What is particularly disturbing about that percentage is that it is above the national state average, which hovers around 0.25 percent.)

The dwindling number of civil jury trials in this country has been steep and dramatic. Every courtroom lawyer in America knows, empirically, that there has been an exponential decline over the past 50 years across all state and federal courts in both the percentage of civil cases resolved by jury trial and a significant decline in the absolute number of civil jury trials over the past 30 years. We have gone from a civil justice system where jury trials were routine to one where jury trials have become nearly extinct.

THE CAUSES The list of causes responsible for the alarming decline of civil jury trials includes: the rise of alternative dispute resolution (ADR); escalating costs of litigation, particularly the extraordinary expansion of discovery that has added unnecessary costs to trying cases; the adoption of a judicial philosophy of discouraging trial; the enormous increase in granting summary judgments, particularly in our federal courts; the expansion of federal pre-emption; and tort reform, including the capping of damages and attorneys fees, as well as giving certain people or entities immunity, which has lead to a lack of trial skills or experience of the current generation of lawyers.

ADR

Historically, most civil cases resolve by settlement and will continue to do so; however, the privatization of dispute resolution through arbitration may be the largest contributor to the disappearance of the American jury trial.

This has disturbing consequences. In private arbitration, the pleadings, testimony, documents and findings are all hidden from public view. Both the public and the press are barred from the arbitration room. ADR is largely unregulated and in nearly all cases, private. Today, nearly every consumer and employment contract requires the consumer and employee to waive their Seventh Amendment constitutional right to jury trial and to resolve any dispute by private binding arbitration. Our Supreme Court has undermined Americans’ Seventh Amendment right by its erroneous decisions interpreting the Federal Arbitration Act to substitute juries with arbitrators whenever possible. There are important and inappreciable social benefits that result from public trials. Trials effectuate positive change.

They engender manufacturers to make safer products. They encourage health care providers to provide safer care. They inspire motorists to drive with more caution. Trials force employers and governmental entities to

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Death of the American Trial Lawyer create and implement affirmative policies. Trials bring the light of public scrutiny to what private arbitrations keep hidden in the shadows.

Litigation Costs and Discovery

Pre-trial discovery used to consist of receiving a few hundred pages of documents, serving at most 20 interrogatories and taking a couple of onehour depositions. During my first 4 years of practice, my boss and mentor Mitch Cobeaga would come into my office on a Friday afternoon about once a month and ask if I had a “clean suit.” My response was always “yes,” although I doubt my response would have mattered. Mitch would then drop a file on my desk (this was back when we used paper) and say, “Good.

You’re going to trial Monday.”

Back then, the file would nearly always consist of merely the plaintiff ’s medical records, answers to 20 stock interrogatories, and a 40- to 50-page deposition of the plaintiff. Granted these were not large cases, but we did not take the depositions of the healthcare providers, the eyewitnesses or the traffic officer, and the plaintiff ’s lawyer did not take the deposition of the IME physician. No one hired an accident re-constructionist, biomechanical engineer or a slew of other experts, and we simply tried the case and learned to think on our feet. Now, discovery consists of receiving multiple disks or an external hard drive with millions of pages of documents (the types of cases I am trying now are much different); multiple experts’ reports; countless volumes of written discovery; and endless depositions of every single person who might have some piece of information that could possibly be relevant to the case.

some trial judges utilize summary judgment to manage their docket and regularly take triable cases away from juries. In the federal courts, more cases today are disposed of by summary judgment than through jury trials. Only two decades ago jury trials occurred at twice the rate that summary judgment was granted.

Federal Pre-emption

For centuries, federal pre-emption was narrowly construed. Today, however, it is applied broadly, stripping state court juries of their traditional areas of jurisdiction and replacing them with federal standards that provide scant, if any, protection for people. Especially in the area of mass torts and product liability cases.

Today, cases of injured consumers are swept into multidistrict litigation (MDL), which is managed by the federal courts. The MDL structure, while not without benefits in some cases, usually results in extensive delays that cause most consumers to choose (or be essentially forced) to settle cases without a jury trial.

Tort Reform

For decades, big business and the insurance industry have demonized our civil juries while most lawyers and the judiciary did little to defend our Seventh Amendment right. Many civil defense lawyers propagated the myths manufactured by the chamber of commerce and their allies of the “litigation explosion” and “run-away juries.” It is no coincidence that the steep decline in the absolute number of jury trials started during the same years these myths gained wide acceptance. As a result, Congress and legislatures throughout the states have restricted access of our citizenry to their constitutional right to jury trial through so called “tort reform,” by placing caps on damages and additional burdens on the ability of tort victims to seek redress for their injuries. A civil justice system without a jury serves business interests and the elite…at the expense of the people.

Pre-trial discovery has unfortunately and unnecessarily become too expensive, resulting in lawyers trying far fewer cases. Colossal pre-trial discovery is now the lifeblood of “litigators,” the term adopted by discovery/ motion lawyers who do not try cases. The unprecedented cost of discovery discourages clients and their lawyers from going to trial. Clients are also pressured into ADR by their “litigators,” who are too inexperienced or too scared to go to trial. What does it say about the state of the American trial lawyer that many partners in litigation firms have never actually tried a jury trial to verdict?

Judicial Philosophy Against Trying Cases

Many judges in both state and federal courts have embraced a philosophy of discouraging trials and view themselves solely as case managers. Many judges see jury trial as a burden or a “failure” of the parties to reach a resolution. Rules, policy statements and judicial expectations in many jurisdictions place emphasis on how quickly they dispose of cases, resulting in some judges pressuring parties to settle and adopting the view that a case going to trial is a failure of the system. They often profess, “a compromised settlement is always better than a great trial result.”

Is that really what our country’s founders believed?

The Rise Of Summary Judgment

The rise of the use of summary judgment to dispose of cases by our judiciary has added to the decline of jury trials. There is an argument that

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“I consider [trial by jury] as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.”–Thomas Jefferson

THE CONSEQUENCES Civil jury trials have become so rare that most young lawyers have never had the experience of trying a civil case before a jury; and, they never will.

It is undeniable that the average lawyer of today has less trial experience than the average lawyer of yesterday. What may be of greater concern is that within the lawyer population, the absolute number of experienced trial lawyers continues to dwindle.

Americans typically (and rightfully) get upset with the prospect of infringement upon their constitutional rights, such as their First Amendment freedom of speech or religion rights, or their Second Amendment right to bear arms. Yet we are witnessing our Seventh Amendment right to a civil jury vanish with imperceptible protest. For those of us who believe that a jury trial is a fundamental and important civil right and that it evidences the very best of our government, this phenomenon is frightening.

Trial strategy and cultivation of jury trial skills are quickly and quietly becoming relics of the past. Lack of genuine trial experience increases the probability that a lawyer will make errors in the early stages of a case, because it is difficult to understand the importance of each step of building a case unless you understand the whole picture. It is like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle without the picture on the box lid. In the absence of trial experience that teaches lawyers to think on their feet, they will be unable to deal with the rare case that is tried before a jury. The failure of young trial lawyers to acquire trial experience essentially guarantees that there will be no next generation of great American trial lawyers.

Exacerbating this problem is the practice by most lawyers of making settlement decisions based on historical data from other settlements, creating a closed feedback loop or echo chamber that threatens to move our legal system further away from normative notions of justice amongst its citizens. With a significantly depleted civil jury bar, the valuation of cases is often left to private mediators or arbitrators, most of whom have little to no recent trial experience, giving them no understanding of case values.

This is accelerating a downward spiral in which “trial” lawyers with little to no trial experience settle cases with no real experience from which to determine the value a jury would place on their case. This produces a system in which cases do not settle for their true value. Instead, they settle for the “going rate” established by past settlements of similar cases in which other inexperienced “trial” lawyers and mediators bargain for settlements that have no relation to how a jury would value the case, because they have not seen enough jury trials to tell them how a jury would value the case. This problem will persist if there are not enough jury trials to tell us how juries value certain cases in the community.

“Because securities class actions rarely if ever go to trial, settlement judges, like lawyers, have little relevant experience to draw on other than their knowledge of settlements in similar cases . . . their role becomes not to increase the accuracy of settlements, but to provide an impetus to reach some settlement. In the absence of information about how similar cases fared at trial, settlement judges could be an important force in maintaining a “going rate” approach to settlement.” Janet Cooper, Do The Merits Matter? A study of settlement of securities class action, 43 Stan. L. Rev. 497,567 (1991) There is a startling percentage of cases settling in error. National statistics establish the percentage of error for plaintiffs is 61 percent, versus a defendant’s error rate of only 24 percent, with only 15 percent of civil cases set-

Death Of The American Trial Lawyer tling for the proper amount. The mean cost of error for plaintiffs is $43,100 per case, representing billions of plaintiffs’ lost dollars…compensation to which they are entitled.

Inexperience leads to fear. Fear of going to trial adds pressure to a downward spiral of fewer trials. Add to that pressure the escalating costs of discovery and trial court judges placing far too much pressure, far too often, on parties and lawyers to settle, and the result is the extraordinary crisis of the death of the American Trial Lawyer. This begs the question, if we are raising a new generation of “trial” lawyers for whom trial is merely a theoretical concept, do lawyers who have little or no trial experience have an ethical obligation to inform the client who is about to hire them as a “trial” lawyer of their lack of trial experience?

The vanishing number of jury trials presents a paradox. Lawyers regularly settle cases because they have neither the experience, nor the skills to try them. This results in even fewer and fewer cases being tried. With fewer trials, fewer lawyers will gain any meaningful trial experience. What happens when all the lawyers with any meaningful trial experience die off?

This alarming trend represents an erosion of the founding principles of our country. As Thomas Jefferson recognized, a jury of our peers is the most effective check against state power and has been the cornerstone in our judicial system since our nation’s birth. It legitimizes the law by providing opportunities for citizens to validate civil statutes and common law, and to apply them to the facts of specific trials, creating a common sense of justice. Additionally, the ever-shrinking number of jury trials limits access to justice for many.

The disappearance of civil jury trials has an effect on not just lawyers, but on our clients and our citizenry. Fewer trials mean fewer citizens participating in jury service, and for most Americans, jury service is the only opportunity they will have to play an important role in governmental decision making, other than casting their vote in an election. Many citizens feel disenfranchised to varying degrees, feeling they lack adequate representation, and as a result they are distrustful of government and its representatives. The value of having the public involved in our justice system is immeasurable, and jury service educates the public about the justice system, the role of the rule of law, and the juror’s role in the system.

U.S. District Judge William G. Young in his “Open Letter to U.S. District Judges” said it best: “Our willingness, as a society, to drift from the use of juries reflects a failure in the understanding of the jury’s essential function in our American democracy. The jury system is direct democracy at work . . . . When people recognize that they have been cut off from their opportunity to govern directly through citizen juries, the sense of government as community—as a shared commonwealth—is severely diminished . . . the moral force of judicial decisions—and the inherent strength of the third branch of government itself—depends in no small measure on the shared perception that democratically selected juries have the final say over actual fact-finding.”

The Federal Lawyer, July 2013, 30, pg. 32.

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THE END? Several years ago, the journal of the American Bar Association in its section on litigation published the following obituary:

Death Of The American Trial Lawyer

“The American Trial Lawyer, who enhanced the lives of so many Americans and made the United States . . . a just nation, passed away recently.

Although a precise age is uncertain, the American Trial Lawyer was believed to have been at least 371 years old at the time of death. The cause of death is uncertain . . . but was not sudden. In fact, the American Trial Lawyer had been placed on the endangered species list a decade or so before death. The autopsy determined that the American Trial Lawyer most likely died from a long term, progressive illness that began more than 40 years ago . . . and was exacerbated by a genetic mutation of the civil justice system that came to be known as arbitration and mediation . . . and the spread of inaccurate information about frivolous lawsuits and verdicts like the McDonald’s ‘Hot Coffee’ case.”

The disappearance of the civil jury trial poses a clear and present danger to our civil justice system and to our democratic society. We are now falling deeper and deeper into a chasm of privatization of our civil justice system through private arbitration and other forms of ADR. I believe in the jury trial. The jury trial, with all its faults, is our purest form of self-government. I believe jurors work diligently to reach the right decision, and to leave feeling good about their service and about the justice system. The loss of that citizen participation in government cannot be measured in dollars. It means fewer and fewer of our citizens will have the opportunity to participate in our American experience of self government that our founders worked and fought so hard to establish. I believe that through the American jury, decisions of justice are vested where they belong: with the governed.

If this year’s presidential election has taught us anything, it is that a large segment of the American population trusts neither the current executive in chief nor the legislative branches of our government. If we do not collectively start finding ways to preserve the civil jury trial—not just in right, but in reality—how long will it be before the American people no longer trust the country’s judicial branch and start viewing judges with the same attitude they view the elected members of the other branches of government? This implicates the “bulwark against tyranny and corruption” about which Justice Rehnquist spoke. American citizens must remain a part of the judicial process so that they do not lose faith in their community or their country.

Are we witnessing the end? Will we continue to passively watch the ratio and absolute number of jury trials decline to zero? If we do, will there be a need for trial courts and trial judges? Will the loss of jury trials result in the loss of a continuous flow of relevant appellate opinions based on jury trials? Will we allow ours to be the last generation of American Trial Lawyers?

Robert Eglet has tried more than 120 civil jury trials to verdict, including some of the largest personal injury verdicts in the country in 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2013. Eglet was named National Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2013 by the National Trial Lawyers Association and National Lawyer of the Year in 2010 by Lawyers USA. He has been honored twice by the Nevada Justice Association as Trial Lawyer of the Year (2005, 2012) and in 2013, Eglet received the National Thurgood Marshall Fighting for Justice Award. The National Law Journal has named Eglet’s firm as one the “12 Best Plaintiff ’s Law Firms in the Country” and one of the “50 Best Trial Firms in America.” Eglet lectures regularly on trial practice and innovation in the courtroom.

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 27

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2015 | Pg. 23

MEET THE

INCUMBENT Judge Eric Johnson T hey say cats have nine lives, but Judge Eric Johnson has reinvented himself within his profession so often, and with so many

accomplishments, he might be one of those rare humans who has a little feline in him. Appointed as judge in May 2015 by Governor Brian Sandoval, before his seating on the bench last year this UNLV Boyd School of Law grad spent 32 years as an attorney in a head-spinning number of forms: with the U.S. Department of Justice as part of its employment program for honor law graduates; as a Special Attorney with the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section; and as Assistant U.S. States Attorney with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada, where for a decade he led the Organized Crime Strike Force, and for 2 years he was chief of the entire crime division.

Johnson’s strong suits are varied, and are concentrated in areas requiring a strong mind and voice to defend those who need it most.

His intellect and ethics are matched by his compassion and desire to share knowledge with others, which has led him to be a regular instructor of trial advocacy and strategy at the Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center, among other posts.

Below he shares with Vegas Legal Magazine what inspires him and drives him…and, he reveals that sometimes, a few tears are just what you need to know your defense is on the right track.

Vegas Legal: What does being a judge mean to you?

Judge Eric Johnson: Prior to my appointment to the bench last May, I was a prosecutor in Southern Nevada for almost 32 years with the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney’s Office. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to prosecute and try a wide breath of cases involving domestic and international organized crime, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO), murder and violent crimes, narcotics, money laundering, terror-

ism, corruption, and casino and complex fraud. I’d also spent the last 12 years with the U.S. Attorney’s Office as chief of the Strike Force, and then as chief of the Criminal Division for the state. This allowed me to work with local, state and federal law enforcement and prosecution offices to push initiatives to more effectively prosecute and keep guns out of the hands of violent criminals and drug traffickers; to target and prosecute the leadership and most violent members of street and prison gangs; and to successfully indict child exploitation cases involving child pornography and the trafficking of children for prostitution.

I feel that my experiences in dealing with complex litigation and working with victims and witnesses of crime—the diverse cultures of our community and federal, state and local agencies and businesses—trained me in applying the law, and exposed me to virtually all aspects of our community. My work has given me an understanding of different people and their motivations, fears and hopes; and, most importantly, it has shown me the importance of our justice system in our community.

In coming to the bench I wanted to use this background to make a positive impact in the state justice system and our community.

I have been in Southern Nevada for the last 32 years and I have grown as an attorney as the community has grown in size and complexity. This is my home and community, and I believe through my position as a district court judge, I can make a meaningful contribution to our community.

VLM: What was the most memorable case you tried as an attorney before taking the bench?

JJ: That is a tough one to narrow down. The Herbie Blitzstein RICO murder trial was the last of the old La Cosa Nostra mob cases in Las Vegas. Blitzstein was Tony “The Ant” Spilotro’s chief lieutenant Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 31

MEET THE INCUMBENT before Spilotro was killed, and ultimately Blitzstein also met with an untimely death.

There was the U.S. v. Murray Wilson trial where the defendant brought in Russian mob members out of Brighton Beach in New York to do a credit marker scheme out of the old Dunes. The father of our main witness in that case tried to extort money from the defendant to send his son to Israel for the trial, which definitely did not help the credibility of our witness.

Then there was the U.S. v. Chun Lok trial where members of a Chinese Triad set up a false shuffle cheat at three casinos, and our insider witness disappeared before trial. I remember a defense attorney commenting to me before trial that no one had won a cheating case without a cheating device or an insider. I found that gratifying when we eventually convicted everyone.

U.S. v. Bobby Mitchell was another trial where we proved that a boxing manager was able to fix fights to attempt to get his fighter a shot at a heavyweight title fight. The chairman of the Nevada State Athletic Commission testified that he thought the fight we charged was a good fight, but we proved to the jury it wasn’t, and ESPN featured the case on its program Outside the Lines.

But I would have to say the most memorable trial for me was U.S. v. Steve Homick. This case had everything. It involved a criminal organization that perpetrated at least three different murder episodes (including the first triple homicide in southern Nevada) and what became known as the “Ninja” or “Yom Kippur Murders” in southern California. In addition to the murders, the group was involved in the trafficking of narcotics and arson for profit. I and my co-counsel took over the case about one month before trial.

The trial involved over 100 witnesses from numerous states and included wiretap evidence, surveillance testimony, handwriting comparison, and tool-marking forensics. Our witnesses ranged from a movie and television curator from I believe University of Southern California—who discussed the hair-combing habits of Kookie on the TV show 77 Sunset Strip to explain some code the defendants used in one of the murders—to a prior Penthouse magazine “Pet of the Month” who fortunately awoke at the start of an arson of the house where she was sleeping and got out the other 20 occupants before the building completely burned.

The trial started the Monday after Thanksgiving and went nonstop except for Christmas, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day, through the end of January. The murders and crimes were horrific and I still remember three members of the jury crying as I gave my opening.

For a trial attorney, that is a good start to a trial.

VLM: It feels somewhat impossible to top what you just explained, but if you can answer this, what’s been the most memorable case you’ve presided over as a judge?

JJ: I have had two cases that I think were particularly memorable since coming on the bench just 11 months ago.

In State v. McClinton, the defendant was charged with sexually assaulting the 14-year-old daughter of his girlfriend. What made the case significant was that the defendant had been incarcerated for almost 6 years without a trial. The defendant had gone through Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 32

nine attorneys during that time and kept demanding more continuances because his attorneys were not trying his case the way he believed the case should be tried. I said the attorney merry-goround was over and he was going to trial as soon as possible. He was difficult to control and frequently made outbursts in court. I even had a closed-circuit video set up in a room separate from the court because I anticipated the defendant being belligerent in front of the jury. Ultimately, I talked the defendant through the trial with minimal issues. However, State v. Tiaffay was my most prominent trial. It was a first-degree murder trial I presided over within the first few months on the bench and it involved a firefighter who hired a homeless man to kill his estranged wife with a hammer. The trial lasted 2 weeks and included a penalty phase where both the victim’s and defendant’s family spoke. The homeless man also testified against the defendant. It was a very emotional trial. The jury took a long time deliberating, I think, because they had a hard time grasping why or how anyone could commit the crimes charged.

The media heavily covered the case and CBS’s 48 Hours and NBC’s Dateline both did episodes about it.

VLM: Favorite and least favorite thing about being a judge?

JJ: I know my department staff would want me to say my most favorite thing about being a judge is working with them. It is true that I am blessed with a great support staff. My JEA, Kelly, came with me from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. I have a great courtroom clerk, Linda, who clerked for Judge Mosely. I have been lucky to find my law clerk, Josie; court recorder, Amber; and marshal, Bruce.

However, since coming on the bench, I have really appreciated the chance to look at new legal issues and research and write orders that the attorneys for the cases and the bar hopefully find valuable.

Last year, I really appreciated the chance to consider the scope of the Nevada constitution’s provision allowing voter recall of public officials, and the application of the Nevada Supreme Court’s Hallmark decision to the current state of biomechanical engineering science.

As for my least favorite thing, I am always saddened when I sentence defendants to probation rather than prison in hopes that they will truly try to make changes in their lives, and a month or two later they are back before me on a probation violation. We can’t just send defendants to prison and hope they don’t commit new crimes when they get out. We have to find a way to break their dependence on drugs or deal with their lack of employment or mental health issues. But when the defendant makes no effort to take these steps on their own and violates probation, I am always disappointed to be back having to consider the need to send them to prison.

VLM: Have you ever experienced a situation where you had to support a legal position that conflicted with your personal beliefs?

JJ: Fortunately, in my work as a prosecutor I was protecting the public from criminals and didn’t have to deal with defending people whose conduct I may have found personally abhorrent. I have a real appreciation for many of the defense attorneys I have dealt with both as a prosecutor and a judge, and the work they do defending their clients and assuring their clients’ rights are upheld

Judge Eric Johnson

regardless of who they may be or what they may have done. Our criminal justice system could not work, and the public would lose confidence in the decisions of our criminal courts, without these attorneys making sure the system works for everyone.

VLM: Has there ever been a situation that tested the limits of your patience? What is your advice for a situation like that?

JJ: Every now and then my patience is challenged when attorneys get into arguments between themselves in court. I cut off such conduct fast and make sure the attorneys talk to me and not fight with each other. To calm emotions, I have added a message from Thomas Jefferson on each counsel’s tables, saying, “If angry count to 10. If very angry count to 100.”

VLM: Do you have any attorney pet peeves?

JJ: I am unimpressed receiving courtesy binders of exhibits with minimal citation references in the briefs, and having attorneys expect me to find whatever they are referring to in the binders. When I am in trial, I dislike attorneys spending considerable time eliciting testimony that has no purpose with proving their case or dealing with the defendant’s defenses. It is hard to see where attorneys may be going with a witness’ testimony, and I hate to do anything that may throw off an attorney’s strategy or considered trial plan. But I am annoyed when at the end of a trial, I look back and see large and time-consuming portions of testimony that clearly had no impact on a party’s trial strategy. Finally, too often I see attorneys filing (at the last minute) oppositions, replies and supplemental briefs, [sometimes] the night before the hearing or even the morning of.

VLM: What’s your best piece of advice for litigants or remember explaining that not all oak was alike and its strength deattorneys?

JJ: I think the judges you interview say this over and over, but it is the key to success in the courtroom, and that is “be prepared.”

When I do continuing legal education (CLE) talks, I always tell attorneys to think about how they intend to get in every piece of evidence and be prepared if the other side just doesn’t let the evidence in. Attorneys always seem to be shocked when they offer something and the other side objects on foundation. Attorneys, even veterans, need to go back and look at the foundational questions.

Attorneys frequently don’t know what or how to get in business records or impeach a witness with prior testimony. They often respond to objections saying, obviously, the evidence or testimony is accurate and they could establish foundation but they are trying to save time. I am all in favor of saving time, but foundation is foundation and parties need to be able to meet the requirements of the rules of evidence if the other side puts them to the task.

VLM: What is your passion outside of the law?

JJ: I have a passion for woodworking that I never seem to have time to realize. I regularly attend Colonial Williamsburg’s woodworking conference every year and have lots of good intentions but never get as far as I would like with projects. However, at my very first civil motions calendar I did appreciate an attorney asking to admit biomechanical evidence and arguing I should admit it because “the human body is like piece of oak with specific dimensions.” I

pended on its grain, and any flaws and other factors. I think the attorney wished by the end he had used another example. My wife, Susan, and I also have taken up running in the last 5 years. We have used this as an opportunity to go on trips together and separately to some places we probably would have never just gone to, such as Rio de Janeiro; Berlin; Tromsø, Norway; and Seoul, Korea.

VLM: Have to ask: What do you love most about Vegas?

JJ: I know you want me to say the shows or casinos or the fantastic natural features around us, but I really appreciate the breath of the law here. I have often told people that Las Vegas has the presence of a small city but with large city or international business and legal challenges. So much cash passes through our casinos, so many domestic and international travelers come through our airports and hotels. We have had to deal with the mob, and emerging organized crime. We have had to combat massive fraud, international money laundering, gangs, and violent crime. The diversity and significance of the legal work we do here is recognized with the growing presence of large domestic and international law firms operating here. But on a more personal level, I have loved our time with our kids and all the opportunities Southern Nevada has offered them through Green Valley High School and club sports programs.

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WINTER LAUNCH PARTY

JANUARY 22, 2016 SKYFALL LOUNGE DELANO HOTEL LAS VEGAS

SHOW DON’T TELL

Animated Trial Graphics Provide An Edge In Litigation.

-By Peter Laurent

Common wisdom says that settling out of court is the modal civil case outcome. However this does not necessarily link settlement to plaintiff success. According to a 2009 study from Cornell University, accounting for cases which have been terminated the success rate for civil cases which settle average at only two-thirds1. In fact, plaintiffs that do go to trial have only a 47% success rate in trials for personal damages2.

When there’s little more than a coin toss to decide the success of your case, it’s no wonder more and more firms are looking for an edge in their persuasion techniques. Introducing digital animation as support for a plaintiff ’s argument is a recent courtroom innovation. Digital animation is what you see in Hollywood movies.

It offers the ability to recreate an incident in a virtual world. This is a powerful means to convey a complex message in a courtroom situation.

Have you ever had a case where your client has a rock solid defence on paper, but describing the emotional state of the client or the sequence of events just flies over the heads of everyone in the room?

Crucial pieces of your argument, such as the layout of the events and environment, or emotional pressure on the plaintiff, can be quickly forgotten without a visual representation for jurors to easily grasp.

Visuals can:

• Stick in long-term memory • Transmit messages faster • Improve comprehension • Trigger emotions • Motivate learners Standardised memory tests, such as the Wechsler Memory Scale (1946), show that people quickly forget about two-thirds of what they hear. Many studies draw similar conclusions.

This is where an animated video, clearly demonstrating the events as your client recollects, can be a game-changer in your case. More than simply showing the arrangement of an event in real-time, an effective digital animation can show the emotional stress or physical injury as if the event had been captured by a film studio. It is far easier for the average person to remember a scene from a movie than a passage from a book.

A more recent study in 2011 by Dr Ken Broda Bahm took 1,375 eligible jurors and presented them with the same case using five different methods: (1) No graphics and (2) flip charts (3) static graphics (4) animated graphics (5) a full immersion of both animated and static graphics. Not surprisingly, the full immersion method worked best. When the jurors attention was fully engaged with graphics emphasising the attorney’s dialogue at all times, they

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg.37

became more responsive and attentive and therefore more likely to appear in the shot. Once everything is ready they add the lighting reach the verdict desired3. and shading, and finally animate the moving parts using inverse kinematic skeletal rigs, path constraints, motion capture, and parAs an example of how a digital animation video works, in a case ticles or other visual effects. of drunken behaviour on an empty freeway late one night in Las Vegas, one of the co-defendants drove their BMW into the safety Like any other art form, these techniques can take a lifetime to railing, blocking several lanes. When a police officer pulled over master. to check on the driver, the officer was struck by a speeding truck.

The officer survived and took action against the driver of the truck. At this point there may be some feedback from the attorney to get the exact feeling from the animation that they are trying to convey.

There are so many pieces of circumstantial evidence in that one The artist will make any adjustments and send off the completed paragraph that it would be pored over and picked apart many files for the computer network farm to create the final images. times before any party could agree on a settlement or a verdict being reached. The amount of personal anguish suffered by the police The result of coming prepared with an animation can devastate officer is difficult to gauge years after the events have occurred. But your opposing legal team’s defences, or gain unprecedented levels in a video (created by Litigation Document Group) used to help of empathy from a jury to decide in your favour. re-stage events, the viewers could see the correct procedures being followed by the officer, and get a sense of how violent the impact 1. Eisenberg, Theodore and Lanvers, Charlotte, “What is the Settlement Rate and Why Should We Care?” (2009). Cornell Law Faculty Publications. Paper 203. http://scholwas on his body. arship.law.cornell.edu/facpub/203 Creating animations takes the latest in computer software and hardware, often an entire ‘farm’ of computers working in a network to output the final image. However the computer doesn’t know what to create without a highly qualified artist to shape the visuals.

The artist will take the reference material supplied by the attorney and create a rough layout of the scene in 3D space. Most objects start out as a basic cube. The artist then cuts and reshapes it like clay until they have a basic shape of a car or human or anything else needed. They then paint the colours onto a flat image and apply this to the model, and repeat the process for everything that will

2. Theodore Eisenberg, Neil LaFountain, Brian Ostrom, and David Rottman, Juries, Judges, and Punitive Damages: An Empirical Study, 87 Cornell L. Rev. 743 (2002) Available at: http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/clr/vol87/iss3/2 3. Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm, Adapting to Jurors, Comprehension Opening Statement | See more at: http://www.persuasivelitigator.com/2011/07/show-dont-just-tell-continuity.html Peter Laurent is the animation director at Litigation Document Group, a one-source, one-solution company for servicing the varied litigation needs of today’s law firm. Its in-house printing company provides business cards, brochures, marketing material, while also fulfilling services like 3D animation, medical records retrieval, redacting, courtroom equipment rental, and many other services. For a full list of services, visit www.ldglv.com.

First-Person Perspective: Demonstratives Make Trials Fun – By Ramzy Paul Ladah, Esq.

“If a picture says a thousand words,” then how many words do videos convey? I have found demonstratives to be the most important part of presenting evidence at trial. If a juror cannot understand the evidence, it is worthless. They can listen to a medical expert, a biomechanical expert or an accident reconstructionist testify for hours (and half the time, I think they’re in a coma); but when I start showing demonstratives and animations—and get the expert to stand up in front of the demonstrative and explain it—all of a sudden, the jury comes alive. They come out of a coma, and it all clicks. Jurors’ ears perk up, their eyes open wide, and like magic, it all comes together. Without demonstratives or animations, we run the risk of everything going over the jurors’ heads.

This is especially true in complicated motor vehicle accidents involving numerous vehicles, where video demonstratives or animations are everything. They can give the jury a perspective of how severe the collision actually was and, more importantly, give jurors an idea of how the plaintiff did nothing wrong. When video animations have sound, it’s even better. The jury feels like its in the accident.

Aside from the pragmatic logistics of using them, for those of us who try cases, we also know how much more fun demonstratives and animations make a trial.

Asking questions for hours on end can get boring and dull, even for the attorneys up there asking the questions. Throw a video animation into the mix, some demonstratives of the human body, demonstratives showing how the biomechanical forces influenced the collision or the fall, and all of a sudden it is much more fun.”

Ramzy Paul Ladah, Esq., is an attorney at Ladah Law Firm in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION –By Mark Fierro

“An attorney’s duties do not begin inside the courtroom door. He or she cannot ignore the practical implications of a legal proceeding for the client. Just as an attorney may recommend a plea bargain or civil settlement to avoid the adverse consequences of a possible loss after trial, so too an attorney may take reasonable steps to defend a client’s reputation and reduce the adverse consequences of indictment, especially in the face of a prosecution deemed unjust or commenced with improper motives. A defense attorney may pursue lawful strategies to obtain dismissal of an indictment or reduction of charges, including an attempt to demonstrate in the court of public opinion that the client does not deserve to be tried.”

— Justice Anthony Kennedy U.S. Supreme Court, Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada, June 27, 1991

One of the most important areas that an attorney can consider is defending their client when they have been attacked or demeaned in the media...“the court of public opinion.”

Next month, June 27 marks the 25th anniversary of a landmark decision in the U.S. Supreme Court, where the court of public opinion was at the heart of the case Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada.

In 1987, Dominic Gentile was a rising star in Nevada’s legal community. He was known as a resourceful criminal defense attorney who had authored several articles about criminal law and procedure, and had served as an associate dean of the National College for Criminal Defense Lawyers and Public Defenders. Gentile would later become a professor at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law.

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In the 1987 case, Gentile found himself in the unenviable position of having to defend his client against a multiple-felony indictment in the case of Western Vault. And in doing so, he had to point a finger at the only other possible culprits: undercover detectives in the elite intelligence division of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

Soon, Gentile found himself swimming against the tide of 17 articles in the Las Vegas Sun and Las Vegas Review-Journal, and a number of TV news stories. One of the TV reporters writing about him was me, when I was covering the courts for KLAS TV Channel 8, the CBS affiliate in Las Vegas.

As a result of the U.S. Supreme Court decision, the functions of the courts and public relations were officially wed and put into perspective in a landmark ruling that would recognize and guide that grey area known as “The Court of Public Opinion.” The case involved the Jan. 31, 1987 burglary of Western Vault, a private, independent, 24-hour access vault that allowed customers to lock up valuables with minimal paperwork…a factor that appeared to be a genuine business advantage for local drug dealers. At the other end of the spectrum of Western’s Vault’s clients were the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s undercover detectives, who stashed roughly $300,000 in travelers checks for a “flash roll,” and four kilograms of cocaine. The drugs and money had been used as part of an undercover operation.

THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION When the case went to trial six months later, Gentile prevailed on all 11 felony charges after a two-week jury trial. That high-profile win guaranteed Gentile star status among the criminal defense bar.

But that star looked like it would soon tarnish when the state bar of Nevada filed a complaint against Gentile, alleging violation of Nevada Supreme Court Rule 177, which governs pre-trial publicity.

After a hearing, the Southern Nevada Discovery Board of the State Bar concluded that Gentile had violated the rule and recommended a private reprimand.

Ouch.

Gentile lost. Then, he appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court, and he lost again…that time, in a public hearing. Now, what would have been a private reprimand had turned into a full-blown public nightmare.

But this is where it gets interesting: Gentile took the matter to the United States Supreme Court. And he won. The case became a landmark First Amendment decision and Dominic Gentile became a nationally recognized First Amendment expert defending media outlets and individuals on First Amendment cases all over the country.

‘Don’t play with them anymore.’ People are ostracized.

Turn their back to people. Not necessarily because they believe that the allegations are true, but they simply just don’t have room in their lives for such controversy. So in those instances, you do have to push back in order to be able to minimize that kind of damage…not just to a person’s reputation, but to the moral capacity that the person is going to need to fight the allegations.”

Mark Fierro began his career as a reporter/anchor at KLAS-TV, the CBS television station in Las Vegas. He worked at the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. He served as communications consultant on IPO road shows on Wall Street. He provided litigation support for the Michael Jackson death trial. He is president of Fierro Communications, Inc., and author of several books including Road Rage: The Senseless Murder of Tammy Meyers. He has made numerous appearances on national TV news programs.

Get more with Dominic Gentile on The Court Of Public Opinion !

In his landmark writing, Justice Kennedy penned one of the more memorable, succinct remarks the court had ever issued: “Nevada’s application of Rule 177 in this case violates the First Amendment.”

Not much gray area there.

In a recent interview, Gentile outlined some pretty solid rules for entering the fray when members of the media pursue a client. I’m reprinting a portion of his words, verbatim:

“Whenever you’re dealing with a public figure, whether it be an elected official, or a business person who has a high profile, or a well-known business person who is not ordinarily in the media but is at the moment, you have many things to protect besides the individual from an adverse decision in a courtroom.

Watch Online www.vegaslegalmagazine.com/court-public-opinion

“You have to, No. 1, protect the business that is associated with that person or vice versa. You have to protect that person’s family from the moral negative impact of this kind of adverse publicity, because in the face of such publicity, children’s playmates’ parents will tell their kids,

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 41

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 34

REPUBLICAN CZAR

WEIGHS IN ON THE BIG RED MESS —By Charlotte Evans

The Republican Party is in an absurd state of chaos, but make no

mistake: Masterminds at the highest level are engineering a plan to win the White House. That plan could include placing Nevada’s Governor Brian Sandoval, one of the nation’s most popular governors, in the No. 2 slot on the Republican ticket (behind one of the party’s—shall we say—more “palatable” candidates.) A Kasich/ Sandoval team, for instance, could be a game-changer for the Republican Party. It would also be a never-before-seen presidential power play for the State of Nevada. If the Republican “establishment” is banking on a late and lucky shuffle of the deck of candidates for a win in November, Las Vegan Sig Rogich may be the quiet man mixing the cards.

Behind the scenes, Sigmund “Sig” Rogich is one of the most powerful Republicans in the country (considered in some circles to be one of the most influential people on the planet). Although this Las Vegas High School graduate flies largely under the public’s radar, given the chance, the halls of Congress hush to eavesdrop on his every word. He’s the quintessential power broker, credited with helping George H.W. Bush win the White House by driving his powerful media campaign and advising his strategy. Among his many titles, Rogich served as a top aide to the first President Bush and as United States Ambassador to Iceland, his native country before his family set roots in Las Vegas in 1954. His sage advice has been sought for decades by presidents, governors, party brokers, and the world’s business elite during a long and illustrious career that started with him as a bellman and busboy on the Las Vegas Strip. Rogich founded Nevada’s largest advertising firm, R&R Partners, and today his work continues as president of his international media relations firm, The Rogich Communications Group (RCG). We caught up with him in late April.

Cover Story

SIG ROGICH

Vegas Legal Magazine: Certainly there’s a more delicate way of phrasing this, but the reality is that it’s being asked rather bluntly on television and across the country: What the hell is happening right now to the Republican party?

Sig Rogich: Well there’s not a lot happening to the Republican Party that hasn’t happened to all parties in the past. The Democratic Party, with crazy primaries of Hubert Humphrey and Edmund Muskie in 1968 and later, Howard Dean, come to mind. But if you look at it objectively, about 35 percent of the GOP is not happy with the party. The same is true of the Democrats, and it’s not that far removed from the way things have been historically. The 35 percent or so that Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are getting is indicative of that.

VLM: Is the GOP’s internal divide a historic turning point or a huge speed bump?

SR: That’s a good question. I don’t believe that having Trump as the standard bearer for the Republican Party can do anything but spell disaster.

And so it could mean a generation of regrouping. Let’s face it: Republicans cannot win the presidency now or in the future without getting about 35 percent of the Latino/Hispanic votes in America. Anything less means the GOP loses traditional Republican states like Georgia and North Carolina, to name a couple. Republicans should have that Latino vote because they believe in the same important issues such as family and religion and a work ethic of fair pay for hard work. Latinos have pride and do not want handouts, and the GOP has done a miserable job of letting them know that we share in those common beliefs. Donald Trump and his message of anger and hatred is just what we cannot have if we are going to be successful.

VLM: How will the Tea Party figure into the election?

SR: Tea Party members will vote for the GOP nominee. Make no mistake about it. And Hillary as the Democrat nominee will energize the base if the nominee is anyone other than Trump.

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SIG ROGICH VLM: Clearly, the Republican establishment wants to shift support away from Donald Trump. Do you anticipate a bloody summer in this regard, and is it likely your voice will be increasingly called upon behind the scenes and in public?

SR: I think Donald Trump is doing exactly what I thought he would do... self-destruct. His salvo on abortion is a perfect example of his free-wheeling, off the cuff, lack of political savvy and understanding the difference between earning television ratings as a celebrity figure and being a candidate for the most important office in the United States, if not the world.

I expect either Cruz or Kasich to be the nominee and I look forward to helping in any way I can.

VLM: How will the makeup of Congress be affected by this election?

SR: Well if it were Trump, I believe Republicans would lose control of the U.S. Senate as well as about 25 seats in the House, not to mention about 15 legislative bodies across America. But with another nominee, I think the U.S. Senate can be held, and many of the other scenarios [would] change too.

VLM: What will be our next president’s biggest challenges?

SR: There are many, but we will have to undo the last 7 years of the current administration’s lack of respect and understanding for our position and our obligation in the world. We lost 50 years of diplomacy, maybe more, in just 8 years. And the sad part is that it may take us another 50 years to get back to where we were. I am a great fan of Winston Churchill and I am reminded of his quote: “The price of greatness is responsibility.”

VLM: Nevada has one of the most popular Republican governors in the country right now. What are Governor Sandoval’s options? How would you advise him?

SR: Well I’ve said for a few years now, our governor is the perfect candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court. As a former attorney general, legislator, federal court judge, and now governor, he has a resume that has to be envied by many. I think his future is still defining itself, but I think it offers opportunities that haven’t even been mentioned yet. Certainly if Republicans win the White House, this governor can be an instrumental player at the highest levels. He’s special for sure.

VLM: You speak of Sandoval as “a player at the highest levels.”

Can you be more specific? Would you forecast a VP slot for him? A cabinet post, an ambassadorship, if not the Supreme Court?

SR: Well I think Governor Sandoval is a candidate for all of the above.

Certainly he would be an extraordinary interior secretary and a Republican president would find him very attractive as a Supreme Court justice that could easily pass congressional approval.

VLM: Nevada’s Republican governor is popular, but is the Nevada GOP in good shape or in need of some tuning?

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SR: The party of today is reminiscent of the party of 1964, when the John Birch Society was the Tea Party of that day. But it will coalesce and vote heavily against Hillary, in my opinion. However, as I’ve said, that will not be the case if Donald Trump is the nominee, because many moderate and liberal Republicans will stay home.

VLM: What are the biggest issues facing Nevada today, and what would you like to see Republicans, or Democrats, accomplish here?

SR: Water, water and more water. We have unlimited space and opportunity, but we need to protect our water resources. And that’s why Harry Reid was the perfect senator at the perfect time when it came to protecting our state’s water for future generations. It’s why I, and hundreds of other Republicans, supported his re-election. Granted, many did not entirely support his politics, but he was the most powerful ally we could have when it came time to negotiating for and protecting our water resources on the Colorado River and beyond.

VLM: You have known former President George H.W. Bush for many decades and are credited with helping him win the White House. What has that friendship meant to you?

SR: It’s been a blessing and a great honor. I’ve yet to meet anyone I admire more. His sense of propriety and decorum are lacking in today’s political world. He had a deep understanding of service to the people and what his office represented to our nation, and that was reflected in his thoughtfulness in how he did things, what he said, and more importantly when he chose to act. I had the privilege of traveling with him to nearly 50 countries and 50 states and several hundred cities in the world, and to witness his interactions with people at historic times in our lifetime was truly something to behold. I have since had a chance to reflect and measure his accomplishments, and those of us who were by his side were there with great pride. All he did was make us look good. We are still friends today and I am grateful to have the unique opportunity to hear his thoughts on the world, and I can’t think of anything but a sense of pride that he allowed me to help him in my small way.

VLM: A lot of people, especially Republicans, turn to you for advice. Whom do you seek out for counsel?

SR: I seek out those people I respect and with whom I’ve worked in past or with whose work I’m familiar. The senior levels of the political universe comprise a relatively small universe and I’ve had some very good advice from friends on the other side of the aisle. There’s just no license to good thinking and I look at some things that the opposition has done and think how a tweak here and there would have worked for our clients too. And I’m sure that is something that can cut both ways when the folks we are working against see some of our work. But those were reflections on the old days when I was fully engaged in this business called politics and management. In today’s world, the best taskmasters are those that have adapted to the world of social media and instant communication. These guys and gals are the smartest, regardless of which party they support. And I just wish that I had many of them by my side in the early days of my career.

Today’s intellect is remarkable.

IN DEPTH WITH

Sig Rogich VLM: As we head toward print, news of the Panama Papers leak is starting to spread across the globe. The Prime Minister of Iceland just stepped down amid revelations his family had millions stowed in an offshore company. As the former United States Ambassador to Iceland, how do you feel this will impact Iceland?

SR: I think Iceland will overcome this issue, which was not so much one of criminality, but of perceptions. Iceland, as you know, went through a terrible banking crisis and overcame it; but the idea that the prime minister wasn’t sharing in the pain of his people—by sending his family fortunes to an off-shore site like Panama to minimize his tax exposure—was just too much for the public to handle and so he was forced to step down.

But from what I understand, the prime minister was not doing anything illegal, but rather was punished for minimizing his tax burden through legal channels, and his only mistake appears to be utilizing the system to his advantage.

VLM: The volume of information expected to come out in the Panama Papers leak is incomprehensible. Will it touch Las Vegas’ legal and financial communities? Is there tension surrounding this?

SR: I don’t think it will reach Las Vegas from a banking standpoint, but it certainly hit home when stories broke about all the legal accounts that were set up here by the same attorneys who coordinated all of this since its inception. Nevada offers significant business opportunities and incentives for businesses here and we shouldn’t let this issue get in the way of our friendly business climate. I know that LLCs offering anonymity plays havoc with some members of the press who want to know every owner of every company, but I would hate to see the laws changed until there are real reasons to do so.

VLM: What accomplishment are you most proud of?

SR: I guess just being a good businessman and an honorable one. The rest just sort of came instinctually. I grew up here in Nevada, at a place called Victory Village, in a 500-square-foot house for six of us. To think about going from there to being an assistant to the president of the United States, flying hundreds of thousands of miles on Air Force One and just being able to offer some advice to America’s president, how can that not be among the greatest honors of my life? But I would also say, being able to help and fight for my state along the way is also a proud accomplishment. However, I would like to add that what I am most grateful for in my career, are the people I have had the honor to work with and call friends over the years.

Whether it was in politics or business, I have always felt extremely fortunate to be surrounded by such talented, thoughtful and dedicated people.

VLM: As you mentioned, your friendship with President George H. W. Bush continues today. Obviously much of what you share is highly confidential; however, is there something you have experienced recently that you would feel comfortable sharing with us?

SR: About six weeks ago I had a long, three-hour lunch with the president, Barbara, Jim Baker, the former secretary of state, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham. All I can say is that the conversation was spirited and the world’s events were discussed, and I didn’t see any lack of enthusiasm or knowledge of world and domestic events on the part of the president. He was just fun to be with, and James Baker’s views on the world are always on point.

Charlotte Evans is an award-winning journalist whose honors include multiple categories of Emmy, RTNDA, WIC, and Golden Mic awards. She has lived in the Las Vegas Valley since 1992, and for more than 17 years she anchored the news at KLAS-TV, the CBS affiliate in Las Vegas. Evans is director of operations for VLM, and freelances as a writer and media relations specialist.

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BUSINESS SIN BUSINESS CITY CITY REPORT

REPORT “Wall Street is the only place that

people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice “Stop chasing thetake money and start from those who the subway”

chasing the passion.”

-Warren Buffett –Tony Hsieh

LEGAL GLOBALIZATION • PG.49 SOLAR POWER UNDER SEIGE • PG.53 THE INSIDE TIP • PG.56 LAND ROVER SUNSET DINE AND DRIVE • PG.59

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 47

Are You Ready For

Legal Globalization?

– By Sabrina S. Siracusa

The business world has become a global society where organizations are constantly expanding to foreign markets and making international investments. Globalization is transforming the way law is practiced while creating new global legal institutions and standards.

It’s no surprise that globalization is also changing the direction that many law firms are taking. Business law is globalizing fastest of all as nations agree to standardize regulations, rules and legal practices as part of a global community. The need for global law firms has increased as diplomats have created international rules for many areas of corporate law, including bankruptcy and intellectual property. The trend seems to be the globalization of business law in order to serve giant, transnational organizations.

As a result, some of the larger firms are creating mega law firms that reach across the borders with thousands of legal professionals in place.

The Pros and Cons of Law Practice Globalization

Globalization has become a practicable option as law firms continuously search for ways to grow and stabilize themselves as profitable businesses. It is not unusual to expand services to meet the needs of clients. For example, a real estate client may decide to purchase property overseas. If your law firm is not prepared to provide legal representation in the transaction, it may also lose a valuable client and referrals to other clients.

An advantage law firms have over other globally inclined businesses is that legal professionals are providing a service, not a tangible product. Therefore, they don’t have to worry if there’s a strike by employees, delays in shipping or a natural disaster in another part of the world. For the most part, as long as the technology used to communicate and practice law has not been affected, legal professionals can continue to provide services with minimal or no disruption.

When considering global expansion of your firm, it is important to consider the pros and cons of this type of expansion. A benefit of globalization is the ability to meet the global needs of existing clients. Globalizing your law firm will also allow you to provide services for new and existing clients who are interested in global transactions.

Globalization of your firm also provides an edge over firms with no international presence—an obvious plus when clients need legal representation for international matters.

As with any decision, the possible negative effects must also be considered.

Due to differences in currency and an ever-changing global economy, currency fluctuations can cause a positive or negative shift of your firm’s revenue.

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ARE YOU READY FOR LEGAL GLOBALIZATION?

Another consideration is the investment of time by your firm’s management team to expand into the global market. The task requires designation of global staff, as well as blending national and international offices into one united law firm.

Resources Needed for Law Firm Globalization

No discussion of globalization is complete without the mention of additional legal training and advances in technology…one of the main reasons that globalization has dramatically increased in recent years. Resources helpful or needed to compete in a global environment include: The LLM Degree: Although not required, a LLM degree has become highly desirable for attorneys looking to expand their services globally as it is an advanced law certification that has global credibility. When a law firm has associates with an LLM degree, it is set apart as a firm that is committed to and knowledgeable of globalization. LLM programs are offered by law schools in the United States and Canada.

Highly Accessible Time Management and Billing Software: It is crucial to the successful globalization of a law firm to have software that will keep track of a large number of legal staff and that will provide accurate billing. Attorneys should be able to access programming online to track their billable time. Most time management software programs also have apps so users can use their cell phones or other mobile devices, while syncing with accounting to produce an accurate invoice for clients. With solid legal billing software in place, law firms can maintain accurate billing practices no matter where their attorneys and staff members are located.

Cloud-Based Software: Merged law firms or firms that set up global offices need to be able to share highly confidential information through a secure

platform. Understandably, the idea of sharing case and client information can be unnerving for most legal professionals. Confidentiality should always be a concern; but the opinion is that cloud sharing is an acceptable method for storing and retrieving client and case information. For example, the Arizona State Bar’s Committee on the Rules of Professional Conduct, concluded in Opinion 09-04 (Dec. 9, 2009), that a law firm may use an online file storage and retrieval system that enables clients to access their files over the Internet.

A Final Word

Successfully globalizing a law firm relies heavily on a firm’s strategy to expand its own services and establish itself in foreign markets. This means having working knowledge of how law firms are run in foreign markets and solid knowledge about how technology can help a firm expand. If you want successful law firm growth, you need to know what you can offer, as well as know your reasons for expansion and how you intend to succeed with your new offices and fellow associates and partners.

The reality is that even if you don’t become a global law firm, you will have to work with and be affected by firms that have an international presence.

As technology continues to expand, and makes global transactions easier to facilitate, clients will gravitate toward firms that can work with them no matter where they are located.

Sabrina Siracusa is Las Vegas-based freelance copywriter. With an undergraduate degree in psychology and an ABA Paralegal Certificate, Siracusa’s specialty is crafting content for legal, medical and career-based websites.

SOLAR UNDER SIEGE

How Will Nevada Navigate The Changing Tide of Energy Consumption?

– By Brian DiMarzio

Our country is in the midst of a paradigm shift in the energy

industry. The price of renewable power generation is dropping dramatically, while the cost of new coal plants continues to rise.

President Obama’s Clean Power Plan will be the first federal policy limiting the amount of carbon pollution that energy generators emit into the atmosphere. We are also seeing the end of coal-burning power plants, like the virtually shuttered Reid Gardner plant in Moapa and the Valmy power plant in Northern Nevada’s Battle Mountain, which is slated to close by 2025.

In addition to the Clean Power Plan, Nevada law requires that the state “encourage private investment in renewable energy resources; stimulate the economic growth of this state; and, enhance the continued diversification of the energy resources used in this state.”

Renewable energy sources like geothermal and solar will generate our state’s energy in the future.

This new movement toward renewable energy is putting unprecedented pressure on the state’s monopoly utility, NV Energy, from rooftop solar installers, consumers, environmentalists, and the gaming industry. The rapid proliferation of rooftop solar installations across the valley—allowing consumers to generate their own power to defray the electricity costs they incur from NV—appeared to catch the utility company off guard, causing it to respond aggressively by using its vast political power to push through Senate Bill 374 as the 2015 legislative session was coming to a close.

Senate Bill 374 gave the Power Utilities Commission (PUC) wide-ranging discretion (and near total regulatory control) over net metering. The commission rewrote the rules and rates of rooftop solar, allowing for all net-metered customers to become a new rate class, separate from non-solar customers. These solar-generating customers will also see their basic service charge increase from $12.75 to $38.51 over the next 5 years. While the service charge increases, the amount customers are reimbursed for energy they produce will drop to 2.6 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2020 from what was once 11 cents per kilowatt-hour. The new rates make it significantly less attractive for new customers and considerably more costly for existing net-metered customers.

This outraged rooftop solar installers who claimed the new rates would effectively cripple the industry and result in the loss of thousands of jobs. Local rooftop solar installer 1 Sun Solar claims its business has dropped 95 percent since the PUC decision. Nevada’s two largest solar installers, Solar City and Sun Run, have ceased operations.

Existing net-metered customers now facing rapidly rising rates for their solar installations were infuriated with what they thought was a bait-and-switch by the utility monopoly, resulting in a class action lawsuit seeking “restitution for anti-competitive actions, deceptive and unfair trade practices, monopolization over the electric utility in Nevada, price discrimination and artificial price inflation.”

As the net metering controversy rages on, NV Energy now faces another far greater threat: Technology giant Switch Communications and the powerful gaming companies Las Vegas Sands Corp., MGM Resorts International, and Wynn Resorts Ltd., all filed exit applications seeking to purchase power on the open market or generate it on their own.

Switch came to an agreement to buy 100 percent clean energy from the utility to be produced at a facility soon to be under construction. Las Vegas Sands Corp., MGM Resorts International and Wynn Resorts Ltd., are teaming up to support a ballot initiative petition for a constitutional amendment allowing Nevada energy consumers “the right to choose their service provider from an open retail market based upon price, reliability, and other important factors.” The passage of this initiative would effectively end NV Energy’s monopoly in the state.

It’s clear that the way our state generates energy is changing. Like the rest of the country, Nevada is moving away from coal plants like Valmy and toward renewable sources like geothermal and solar.

What’s less clear is who will be generating energy in the evolving renewable energy landscape. Rapid technological advancements are making it possible for major industries like gaming and individual consumers to purchase cleaner and cheaper energy on the open market (or to create their own energy), leaving NV Energy’s monopoly under siege.

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 53

Identifying Familial Financial Priorities

Although the American family has always shown great resilience

through the ups and downs of our dynamic economy, the slow recovery we’re experiencing now is compelling many to not only reconsider their priorities, but re-evaluate the financial strategies they may have put in place only a few years ago.

A recent study commissioned by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) and conducted by Forbes Consulting Group in 2013—State of the American Family: Families, Financial Attitudes & Planning—found that families’ financial priorities are focused around four specific areas: income, savings, retirement and debt.

The challenge for many of us is determining which of the four areas should be our primary focus. Ultimately, only you can decide where to put the majority of your financial efforts. Factors such as age, marital status, number of dependents, and short and long-term goals all will play a part in your decision making. That’s the easy part. The hard part is trying to balance all four at the same time—which you will have to do— along with the rest of your day-to-day life.

What follows are some salient points about each priority.

Income

Your income(s) is the source of funding for most everything you enjoy in life. In fact, when viewed over the span of your entire working life, your income may be your most valuable asset. For those whose priority is to use their income to build and accumulate assets for the future, your first step should be to protect your income (consider starting by asking your employer about Group Long-Term Disability options). Once secure, look for ways to increase or supplement it. What “side hustle” could you do in your free time to generate additional income?

Savings

If savings is your top priority (for the purchase of a home, a child’s education, or another reason), view the sacrifices you make now as the foundation for building and accumulating wealth. First, create a budget that will identify how much, and for how long, you will need to save to reach your goal. Start your savings plan by creating an emergency fund (equal to six months of income); then, investigate various savings vehicles available.

Consider making arrangements to automatically withdraw money from

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 54

your paycheck or checking account. “Set it and forget it” is an ideal way to save.

Retirement

Regardless of your age or situation, retirement planning should be a priority for everyone. Once you have an idea about how much income you’ll need in retirement (70 percent of current income is a good rule of thumb), the simplest way to save for retirement is through your employer’s 401(k) or similar plan. If your employer does not offer a qualified retirement plan (or you are self-employed), create your own by using an IRA (traditional or Roth) or Self-Employed Pension plan. Also, consider whole life insurance. While primarily purchased for its death benefit, the build-up of the cash value in a whole life insurance policy is guaranteed, and can help give you a reliable source of supplemental retirement income.

Debt

Many Americans, especially younger Americans, are saddled with debt.

Whether student loans, mortgages or credit card debt, large amounts of debt cause many of us to focus exclusively on paying down the debt…and for many, this approach would be a mistake. It is important to recognize that even with high levels of debt, you can still take steps toward securing your income, savings and retirement plans.

Do you sometimes feel caught between providing financial support for your children and saving enough money for your own retirement? Are you concerned that you aren’t doing the right things to prepare for your family’s future? Help is available. Contact a trusted local financial professional to help you assess and address your family’s needs.

Kyle Lum is a financial representative with MassMutual Boulder Basin, which represents MassMutual and other companies, courtesy of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual).

Insurance products issued by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual)(Springfield, MA 01111) and its subsidiaries, C.M. Life Insurance Co. and MML Bay State Life Insurance Co. (Enfield, CT 06082).C.M. Life Insurance Co. and MML Bay State Life Insurance Co., are non-admitted in New York. © 2015 Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, Springfield, MA 01111-0001 CRN201701-186438

THE INSIDE TIP With John Tippins

With The Right Team And Some Delegation, You Can Achieve More As a business owner you can’t help but want to have your hands on every

facet of your business. Problem is, you’re only one person. Hiring the right team of employees to work under you is vital to the strength and longevity of your business. There’s an old saying I’m sure you’ve heard: “Your business is only as strong as your weakest employee.” A weak employee can hold up an entire office at times so even though you may hate to terminate employees, you need to face reality because business is business and you need to “cut the fat.”

Now, once you have established that your staff is ready, willing and able to perform their tasks you need to find your “star” to manage the office.

Any successful business must have good employees, but most successful businesses would be more successful if only the good employees were properly utilized. Your office manager should be someone who is reliable and always proactive in completing tasks. You don’t want someone who constantly needs to be told what to do. Instead, you need someone who knows how to keep busy looking for more work to complete or even improve. It is also crucial that you choose someone who is respected amongst the rest of your employees.

Next, (and this is the hard part) you need to trust your manager. Let go.

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 56

This doesn’t mean you should just pass down tasks and look away with expectation of it being completed perfectly to your desires. Instead, assign work through your manager that doesn’t have strict deadlines so there is room for error. Start slow, but as your manager is able to correctly assign tasks to others and complete the work correctly and efficiently, you can slowly start adding to his or her plate of tasks.

At the end of the day although you may feel compelled to oversee every facet of the business, you have to be able to trust your employees to complete work correctly and efficiently. A great business owner needs a great support system. In my business I find that the more time I have to spend inside the office working, the less money I make because let’s face it, in a city like Las Vegas all the “big money” is made while out socializing and networking with clients and customers.

John Tippins is the CEO of Northcap, owner, operator and listing brokerage for over 2,000 distinct high-rise and mid-rise units in Las Vegas including The Ogden, Juhl, Palms Place Condo Hotel & Spa.

Land Rover Treats Customers to Sumptuous Food and Sun-setting Sights – By Rick Nelson

Sometimes a car can be more than just a car. When it comes to

Land Rover, the statement could not be more true. More than just an SUV, a Land Rover comes with a membership to some truly elite experiences. The Land Rover Las Vegas Sunset Dine and Drive at Ascaya was billed as a unique way for customers to see some of the amazing capabilities of their vehicles, but participants got something else just as valuable: a five-star dining experience.

A group of 24 couples were selected by 12 of Land Rover’s sales guides as well as the owners of Ascaya, a living community in southeast Henderson. An hour before sunset on a warm, clear Thursday night, a mix of both Land Rover Las Vegas customers and Ascaya residents met at Land Rover Las Vegas’s luxury tent— situated on a large vacant Ascaya lot over 5,000 feet up a challeng-

ing dirt trail—with a 320-degree view of the city and desert. With the smell of prime rib eye steaks sizzling on the grill (prepared by Chef Fernando of Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse), it was an experience to behold.

Besides the steaks, the two-hour dinner menu comprised lobster bisque and salad to start, with mashed potatoes and asparagus as sides. Vegetarian clients had delicious choices as well. Diners were sarinated by music from cover musician Glen Nowak, a local musical legend.

By the time dinner was over, the sun set at the perfect time while everyone enjoyed Del Frisco’s signature lemon cupcakes…a sweet treat to end a perfect night.

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 59

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Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 61

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Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 65

Art Appeal THE SMITH CENTER –By Myron Martin

Four years ago, The Smith Center was born out of community

need. Research showed that the Las Vegas Valley was the largest community in North America without a world-class performing arts center. We were known as the “entertainment capital of the world,” but we lacked a significant community asset that served the people who live here. That’s not to say that locals had zero access to culture: Ham Hall at UNLV served our city very well for 25 years.

But we knew that great cities also had non-academic centers that added to the vitality of the region.

The group responsible for The Smith Center took its duties very seriously. Members set high goals, had significant conversations with the community and created a well-crafted public/private partnership that allowed elected officials at the state, county and city levels to put aside partisanships and do something spectacular for the people who live here. Meanwhile, the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation found a way to create a lasting legacy by making the single largest philanthropic contribution in our state’s history. It committed $200 million to help fund The Smith Center (including Reynolds Hall and the Boman Pavilion) as well as Symphony Park, the Discovery Children’s Museum, and our parking garage. They did this because they saw The Smith Center as the single most important project to be built in our lifetimes in Southern Nevada. In addition, there were 57 other gifts of $1 million or more, and thousands of people made gifts of all sizes to make this project possible.

cision seriously, right down to the bathrooms, which are not only abundant but located throughout the facility so that they are easily accessible no matter where you sit.

Speaking of sitting, you may have noticed that there are no columns or other structural elements obstructing your view, and that we insisted that our mohair-covered seats not only have more leg room but also greater width in order to add to patron comfort.

And, the acoustics are wonderful. (By the way, the center created more than 3600 construction jobs at a time when our community needed these jobs the most.)

POLLSTAR magazine, a concert-industry trade publication, ranked the top-100 theaters in the world last year, and not only did The Smith Center make the cut, but we were ranked in the top 10…in the world. Needless to say, we are proud that the center has exceeded expectations.

We looked at the greatest buildings in the world for inspiration and set out to do something that some thought was impossible: build a facility with extraordinary craftsmanship based on those great facilities that had been built (many of which were 100 years old or older). David M. Schwarz Architects was selected to design The Smith Center because of its proven ability to create timeless, classic buildings. We toured great halls, took thousands of pictures and hundreds of pages of notes before we drew the first lines on paper.

In a city where buildings are torn down for sport, we were committed to build something for generations. Every decision was made with this in mind.

Great architecture and great construction can create a great building. But I believe that it is what happens inside the building that really makes a difference. It’s hard to believe that The Smith Center just celebrated its fourth anniversary, and it is exciting to know that we have served two million patrons, and 250,000 students in this short period of time. I look forward to writing next time about how the center has created new opportunities for our kids to be inspired, and how the vast variety of programming means that there is something for everyone at The Smith Center. A quick view of our upcoming show schedule will entice you to come check it out for yourself!

Using marble for floors and walls and limestone for exterior surfaces not only helped to create a lasting facility, but also allowed us to earn LEED Gold status as a green building. We took every de-

Myron G. Martin is president and chief executive officer of The Smith Center. Martin earned a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of North Texas, and an MBA from Golden Gate University. A proud Las Vegan, Martin calls Henderson home with his wife Dana Rogers Martin and daughter Molly.

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 66

THE HEART OF THE ARTS. ®

In the heart of our city, there’s a place that’s celebrated around the world.

It’s our city’s heart of beauty and creativity.

It’s the heart of learning and inspiration.

The heart of magic.

And it was built just for you.

Experience it and let your life be changed in brilliant new ways.

TheSmithCenter.com 361 Symphony Park Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89106 | 702.749.2000 | TTY: 800.326.6868 or dial 711

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Andrea Goss, Randy Harrison, Tommy McDowell and the 2016 national touring cast of Roundabout Theatre Company’s CABARET. Photo by Joan Marcus

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BAR REVIEW Beer Park

ing a beautiful Strip view and near-perfect sports event-watching on the many televisions in and around the space.

Puts Whimsy Back In Your Week

Bonus? The “beer” in “Beer Park” delivers an impressive selection of 100 draft, canned and bottled options, including 36 on tap.

Beer Park. It’s a park. With beer.

Need to unwind? If a bird’s-eye view and a cold brew tickles your fancy, you need to consider Beer Park as you tap out of your next busy week and into some rest and relaxation. Because you know what they say about all work and no play. Makes for very dull Jacks and Jills. Even in Sin City.

By Jen Chase

If the concept feels a little plebian for your typical Vegas night out, I want you to close your eyes and imagine the last time you had a work week so busy it made you wince. Feel the frenzy of your phone calls ringing in your ears, and the filings and the managing of your clients. Did all your writing stress you out? How about the pre-trial notes, the admin, the arguing, the settling? If adulting is hard, so is lawyering. It’s varied, intense, and it’s also your livelihood, so its peaks and valleys are ones you need to manage with grace. Or else.

Know what helps? Down time. Down time that’s smartly scheduled. And for the times you crave unwinding and can’t bear the thought of one more schmancy-spaced, martini-powered outing, Beer Park may be your answer.

The city’s first rooftop bar and grill—clocking in at 10,000 square feet of space atop Paris Las Vegas—Beer Park brings to the Las Vegas Strip both the fun of a simulated backyard party replete with outdoor grill, picnic tables, grass, and life-size games like Jenga, Connect Four and even a giant tricycle. (And who doesn’t love a giant tricycle?)

Bonus? With sports-bar environs reserved on the reg for ‘burby venues, Beer Parkers get to enjoy the excitement of being on the Las Vegas Strip without the hassle of the hustle below. It’s good energy, in a space proffer-

Despite its name, at Beer Park, suds ain’t the only thing you can get from a spigot. There’s a creative collection of cocktails on draft, too, for imbibers looking for something a little different: Kentucky Lemonade features Bulleit Rye whiskey, triple sec, and fresh sweet and sour mix. It pours to icy perfection as the antidote to Vegas’ dog days of summer. (And fall. And spring. And sometimes even early winter.)

Touchdown Smash serves up Skyy Dragon Fruit vodka, citrus liqueur and fresh watermelon…the latter of which can keep the ol’ bod hydrated and is even a known stress fighter thanks to watermelon’s lycopene (the stuff that gives it its rosy hue). This pour is poetry if you’re the type to get a hot collared during games where touchdowns and smashes are working against you.

LOCATED AT PARIS LAS VEGAS HOTEL & CASINO 3655 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89109

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 69

SOLVING MEDICAL MYSTERIES Stem Cell Medicine In Las Vegas – By Susan Gonsalves

One man had a number of disc problems as well as severe hand

and foot arthritis, the latter causing swelling that necessitated special shoes. One woman was told she needed her feet amputated due to decade-old wound ulcers. And one doctor—William H. Baumgartl, MD, MSME—treated them both with stem cell procedures that he is happy to report reduced the man’s swelling (orthopedic shoes be gone), and the lady’s wounds have nearly healed.

tients who have sought help elsewhere without success, noting he is “unfazed” when trying to come up with solutions for complex medical problems that have baffled others.

“There’s been remarkable change,” says Dr. Baumgartl. “It’s nothing short of amazing and very gratifying to work with advanced stem cell procedures.”

A University of Florida Medical School graduate, Baumgartl received his undergraduate and master’s degrees from Virginia Tech in mechanical engineering, a fact that has proven invaluable to his job now. “The engineering field is based on training you to think and learn knowledge,” he says. “I went to so many lectures on how to solve problems. It’s all about figuring things out that were never done before.”

Baumgartl is the director of Stem Cell Therapies at Nevada Spine Clinic, and heads up the center’s Second Opinion/Consult Program for Advanced Pain Diagnosis. He’s also the go-to guy for pa-

“What we see in medicine is something we’ve never seen before,” he says. “Some doctors are insecure to come up with a solution. I’ve always tried to take an engineering approach to medicine. I like to Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 71

SOLVING MEDICAL MYSTERIES

see medical mysteries and solve them.”

Regenerative medicine is gradually becoming the focus of Baumgartl’s practice at Nevada Spine Clinic, where he landed a year ago following a 20-year career in the California’s San Francisco Bay. There, he developed various techniques for pain control.

Acknowledging that the Food and Drug Administration limits what procedures U.S. practitioners can perform using stem cells, Baumgartl notes that he has treated patients successfully using adipose, or fat tissue, as a source of stem cells to migrate to damaged areas and repair them. He also takes a holistic approach to relieving patients’ pain and works closely with his colleagues at the center to find the option that best suits the situation.

The Nevada Spine Clinic comprises two orthopedic surgeons, two physician assistants and two pain management specialists. The team provides what he calls an “integrated one-stop shopping” environment for patients with spinal and orthopedic problems: individuals can get evaluations, imaging, pre-care before surgery, advanced surgery, and after-care/rehabilitation, all under the same roof.

“The goal is to make life acceptable for them,” says Baumgartl. “The magic happens here.”

Double-boarded in anesthesiology and pain medicine by the American Board of Anesthesiology, Baumgartl has had training in hormone replacement therapy, addiction medicine, acupuncture, and orthopedic surgery…all of which helps him to consider a patient’s hormones, nutrition and mental well being as he develops big-picture pain management plans.

“We carefully construct what [treatment] makes sense for each patient,” he says.

The first line of defense for pain is usually drugs: namely, opiates and narcotics, which, he says, are not effective long-term and may actually increase pain over time. Addiction to these substances has also been well documented. Adverse effects to the immune and cardiovascular systems are also consequences.

Emphasizing that pharmaceuticals play an important role in patient care, Baumgartl says that there are alternatives to solving problems, and that drugs should be selected and engineered speVegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 72

cifically to address the patient’s needs. For example, medicines can be engineered into a cream to apply locally, blocking the pain on the spot and avoiding interference with brain signals while still providing relief.

Implantable pump and stimulator technologies are other techniques he employs. A spinal pump, for example, works by delivering pain medication directly into the spine in lower doses over time. Additionally, modern spine stimulators can feature 32 points of contact and a variety of 1,200 frequencies. The wires, covering a large area, are connected to a battery and the lead spacing generates the necessary interference pattern…in short, sending a signal from the stimulation to override the patient’s pain signal while improving oxygenation onto extremities to the tissues. The doctor notes that some patients can’t stand the feeling of stimulation, but when the process is done at higher frequencies, it is so fast they cannot feel it.

“You are only limited by your imagination,” Baumgartl says, about creating and finding solutions to medical issues. “Engineering allowed my career to take off. It is the best preparation for medicine there is. I’ll find a solution to work for patients. If there is no solution, I’ll create one for them.”

The fact that Baumgartl is a jazz saxophone player and pianist (in college he minored in piano performance) also gives him insight into his work.

“I understand musicians who come in. They don’t have to explain why having soreness in their finger concerns them. Or a violinist whose shoulder hurts. I understand, ‘This is a big deal,’ and work to help them heal as quickly as possible.”

Baumgartl feels fortunate to practice medicine in such an emerging field. “I’m really excited that we can now make things happen. Stem cells are the future of medicine. They can be used to repair damaged tissue and in spinal cord injury rehab,” he says.

“In 10 years, I believe there will be no joint replacements. You’ll see the number of spinal surgeries go way down. It’s exciting.”

Susan Gonsalves’ 30-year career in journalism has included newspaper, magazine and higher education work with an emphasis on mental health, business and entertainment topics. She is based in Massachusetts.

VEGAS LEGAL HAPPY HOUR

APRIL 11, 2016 SALUTE TRATTORIA ITALIANA RED ROCK CASINO & HOTEL LAS VEGAS

Power To The Lunch Got A Business Lunch To Schedule?

These Trusted Vegas Eateries Help You Impress During Your Most Powerful, Mid-day Meals.

– By Jen Chase

Vintner Grill

The power lunch. It’s the meal more serious than breakfast and less social than supper yet it’s where impressions are made, deals are sealed, and what you schedule to start a working relationship. Or end one.

This special kind of lunch requires a special kind of environment. You know what we’re talking about. Places people go to be seen (or not).

The ones where the moment you enter, your eyes consciously and unconsciously scan the space to see who’s there…and most every time there’s a bona fide Who’s Who diner a few feet away.

That, is when you know you’re in a power restaurant.

We asked VLM’s Publisher Tyler Morgan, and its Director of Operations Charlotte Evans—two Vegas professionals who have had their fare share of power-lunch fare—to tag team spouting off about three places that fit the proverbial PL bill. Turns out, the perfect power-lunch spot can be anything from cheerful and casual to hushed and broody. Which is good, since the most important attribute of a PL restaurant is having a vibe for all needs.

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 74

Power To The Lunch

Vintner Grill 10100 W Charleston Blvd.

Las Vegas, NV 89135 vglasvegas.com

“As a power-lunch destination, Vintner Grill is decidedly cheerful. I can never recall actually seeing anyone in a bad mood there. Ever. The layout is open and flowing with a lot of natural sunlight and fresh air. The decor is stylish…and so are the diners: At Vintner Grill, most people ditch the business drab for casual chic.” | Charlotte Evans Fan favorites: Cheese and charcuterie plates; varied wine list; unique bread basket; lamb Bolognese.

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 75

Power To The Lunch

Triple George Grill 201 No. 3rd Street Las Vegas, NV 89101 triplegeorgegrill.com “Triple George has a vintage Vegas feel, with its private booths set up for added privacy for business lunches. It also has a very classic, New York City-style menu, with burgers, steaks, salads, fish, and cheesecake. Vibe-wise, you walk in the place and see a lot of men in suits and ties. (And did I mention Triple George has an incredible bacon cheeseburger?)” | Tyler Morgan “I think the hostesses at Triple George are accustomed to making very quick eye contact with every person who enters the restaurant. As soon as diners walk in, their eyes dart across the room to see whom else is there. It’s almost as if they’re scanning the space to decide where people will be best seated…ascertaining a lay of the land to ensure a good co-mingling of patrons (or, to keep certain folks far apart…guess we’ll never know!) In my experience, the conversations at Triple George can be lively or hushed, and they always seem to have an air of importance. Often, customers will circle the bar taking the long route on the way to the restroom. All the better to see and be seen….” | Charlotte Evans Fan favorites: Steak; crab cake; buttermilk fried chicken with bacon gravy. And the cheeseburger. Because Tyler says it’s huge and delicious.

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 76

Dining

“A perfect spot to exude professionalism.”

DW Bistro

6115 S. Ft. Apache Rd., Ste. 112 Las Vegas, NV 89148 dwbistro.com “On the surface, DW Bistro is a more casual establishment than what one thinks of as a power-lunch restaurant, but it’s extremely popular in the southwest part of town. Something that stands out is that the menu is on the creative side: it’s a mix of Mexican and Jamaican. The vibe is relaxed but amid its crisp white decor there’s an air of elegance that makes it a perfect spot to exude professionalism. | Tyler Morgan Fan favorites: Seared ahi tuna salad; jerk chicken; pesto torte; and, unlimited mimosas…for the power lunch that gets rescheduled to a power brunch.

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 77

10

FOODS FOR BETTER SLEEP –By Maryam Rastkerdar

Trying to get more sleep? Start with making changes to your diet. Eating

the right food at the right time before bedtime may help with falling asleep faster and improve the quality of sleep. Food high in simple carbohydrates puts the body on a sugar rush and drops the blood sugar during sleep, causing the body to wake up in the middle of the night.

1. Walnuts

Not only do walnuts contain their own source of melatonin, they also contain high amounts of tryptophan. Tryptophan is a sleep-enhancing amino acid that once converted into serotonin and melatonin helps with setting the body’s sleep-wake cycle and facilitates in falling asleep faster.

2. Almonds

Rich in magnesium, a mineral that promotes both sleep and muscle relaxation. Studies have shown that a low magnesium level will lead to less time staying asleep. Almonds have the added benefits of supplying proteins that help with maintaining a stable blood sugar level while sleeping.

3. Lettuce

One of the benefits in consuming lettuce is that it contains lactucarium.

Also known as “lettuce opium”, lactucarium has sedative properties, which helps speeding up the sleep time. Because of the sedative effects on the brain, a salad with dinner is a great option for improving the sleep time.

4. Fish

Most fish specially tuna, halibut, and salmon are high in vitamin B6, which the body needs to make melatonin. Melatonin is a sleep-inducing hormone that is triggered by darkness.

5. Cherries

Tart cherries are not only delicious, but they are also very effective in treating insomnia. Studies have shown that cherries help with boosting the supply of melatonin in the body. Eating a serving of fresh, frozen, dried

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 78

cherries or even drinking a glass of cherry juice may be a beneficial way of helping with sleep.

6. Bananas

Bananas are an excellent source of magnesium and potassium which help to relax muscles. They also contain vitamin B6, which the body needs for making melatonin, one of the key calming hormones for the brain.

7. Cereal

A bowl of cereal before bedtime, especially whole grain cereal with low sugar content may help with better sleep. Complex carbohydrates increase the availability of tryptophan in the bloodstream, increasing the sleep-inducing effects.

8. Dairy products

Yogurt and milk contain tryptophan, but also have a surprising sleep-inducing nutrient: Calcium. Research has shown that calcium deficiency makes it difficult falling asleep. That means a serving of Greek yogurt before bedtime might be a great way of speeding up the sleeping process.

9. Oatmeal

It’s warm, soft and soothing. In addition, oatmeal is rich in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon and potassium—the key nutrients to support sleep. But go easy on the sweeteners; too much sugar before bedtime can have an anti-calming effect.

10. Herbal Tea

Chamomile tea is a very helpful and safe sleeping aid. Drinking chamomile tea is associated with an increase of glycine, a chemical that acts as a mild sedative and relaxes the nerves and muscles. Another sleep inducing option is passion fruit tea. Because of its high content of harman alkaloids, passionflower has a mild sedative effect leading to restful and deep sleep.

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Avoiding Workout Woes Best Practices For Exercising Safety As You Re-enter Seasonal Activities.

– By Andrew M. Cash, M.D.

As summer approaches the Las Vegas Valley, many of us have

pulled our running shoes out of the closet in preparation for enjoyable outside activities. But it is important to be mindful of injuries that can occur after prolonged inactivity during the winter months, and even more important to think about taking extra steps toward maintaining optimal safety.

The tendons, muscles, ligaments, and soft tissues of the musculoskeletal system need to be conditioned in preparation for resumption of last year’s activities. Prolonged inactivity followed by over-stressing the soft tissues—particularly the tendons and ligaments around the joints of the arms, legs and spine—can lead to injury. Sometimes the injury is acute, as in a traumatic rupture to the Achilles tendon (the tendon in the back of the heel), and sometimes it is the result of sudden overuse as with tennis elbow (the tendon and muscle around the elbow).

Warm It Up

Many people are in fact mindful about their re-entry to exercise, and consider their joints to be shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles…but they are not aware that the spine has more joints than all of those larger extremity joints combined. Back and neck sprains can occur suddenly or with chronic overuse. So I would like to remind you that although it is summer and it is expected to be seasonably warm in Las Vegas, it is important to warm up before any sudden or prolonged activity. The benefits of warming up extend past the musculoskeletal system: It is important to get the heart and blood pumping before jumping into activity that could quickly elevate blood pressure and strain your heart muscle.

Safety In Numbers

Something easily overlooked when considering exercise safety is the benefit of working out with a partner, or engaging in group activities. Rupturing your Achilles—which instantly prevents you from putting weight on the injured leg—can be more easily helped with your tennis partner by your side, or by having people in your vicinity, than if you are jogging a trail three miles from civilization.

Right Tool…Right Job

Also, ensure you have the proper equipment. Find suitable footwear for your activity of choice…which includes updating your footwear, since no doubt your favorite running shoes have worn down over the last 10 years.

Mindfulness Matters (and so does routine)

Stay in the moment about your surroundings, and keep aware about traffic, curbs and changes in terrain (e.g., when sidewalk turns to trail, and vice versa). It’s equally advised to get into a habit of exercise, and continue summer activities with some routine.

Injuries occur more commonly with “weekend warriors” who are appropriately named because they are less active during the week.

I understand that many of us have prior commitments, including jobs and social calendars that prevent working out or running, etc., throughout the week; but if you find time to incorporate a routine you will be better off.

Water Is Your Friend

As always, please stay hydrated. It may be difficult to gauge your hydration while you are active, so watch for signs of heat stroke… particularly in desert summer temperatures. These signs may include headaches, dizziness, weakness, cramps, nausea, or vomiting.

Counter-intuitively, by the time heat stroke occurs there is actually less sweat than there is red, hot and dry skin. Rapid breathing and heart rate are also signs that can be confused with activity, but both are heat-stroke related and require immediate attention by medical personnel. Please call 911 if you or someone exercising around you is showing heat-stroke signs during activities.

All said, being prepared and safe will help you enjoy an active Las Vegas summer, no matter how high the temps rise.

Andrew M. Cash, M.D., is a board certified orthopedic surgeon who specializes in neck and back with a focus on non-operative treatments. His practice—Desert Institute of Spine Care—is located at 9339 West Sunset Rd., Suite #100, Las Vegas, NV 89148. For more information, visit www.disclv.com or call 702.630.3472.

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 81

Knowing

When To Bail – By Susan Gonsalves

Iintontuition.

It plays a crucial role in Amanda Doyle’s life. In June 2013, it led her to launch Blondies Bail Bonds LLC, and it carries over everything she does owning and operating a one-woman business in an industry dominated by men. Her company logo, depicting

a leggy, scantily clad blonde with handcuffs around her ankles, does its job by attracting clients. However, it is Doyle’s compassionate approach that keeps her business going strong.

Vegas Legal Magazine: Did you always work in the legal field and if not, what drew you to start a bail bonds company?

Amanda Doyle: For 15 years, my background was in the spa industry—managing and directing spas— and that involved everything from facials and skin care to massages.

I was working for a company and decided that I didn’t want to work for anyone else or answer to another person. A friend had a bail bonds business and he needed help running it, so I decided to help him out. You just need someone to show you the ropes and I did that for six months before going on my own.

There’s no special training needed. You’re lending people money and you have to use your gut intuition just to listen and feel people out.

VLM: Is it rare for a woman to be a bail bondsman?

AD: It’s very rare. It’s definitely a man’s business. I did research and that’s what it is like across the board. When I go to industry conventions, it’s about 80 percent male and 20 percent female.

VLM: Are there advantages to being a woman in this field? If so, what are they?

AD: Absolutely! Most importantly, when someone goes to jail for the first time, he or she is scared, and a female has more compassion and intuition when helping that person. Also, I’m a mom and when a mom goes to jail, I’ll certainly take extra time to speak to her and often listen to crying on the other end of the phone. I don’t think a male would do that for very long.

VLM: What is your day like? Is it true most of your calls occur between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.? What does the job entail?

AD: My day includes getting my son off to school, making lunches, etc., and a lot of times my nights run into the morning, if I’m out at 2 a.m. posting bail at the jail, for example. On average, I get two or three work calls per day so I’m back and forth a lot. It is not

Blondie’s Owner // Amanda Doyle

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 83

Your Best Friend In Vegas always a client that calls. Sometimes it is a family member and it may take several days to get the money. The ones that go easy take one phone call.

Basically, a person calls me and says, `I’m in jail. arrested for DUI.’ I get a co-signer, wake them, explain what forms to fill out and if the person skips bail, the co-signer is responsible.

Work can be done by fax, email or with the older generation, I meet them at home or office. I get payment; drop off bond. After 24 hours, I meet with the client and if he or she shows up, everything is good.

VLM: What is the most difficult part of your job?

AD: It’s repeat offenders, or people who lie to me. I give people chances and some constantly let me down. People don’t show up to court. I have to hunt them down if they’ve gone far off into hiding.

Some scenarios that you see on bounty hunting shows are my real life. When they don’t want to show up and need to be hunted, it’s frustrating. It results in a bad end.

VLM: What part of your job do you most enjoy?

AD: The rewarding part is that it gives me the freedom to be a mom and not be stuck behind a desk all day. I can pick and choose my schedule and be there for my son. Also, I always encourage clients to call me with good news. I become more of a friend to them and offer advice. So, I’ll get calls maybe months later from them saying, ‘hey, I got a job!’ or they call and we celebrate a length of sobriety time in their lives.

It’s not always, ‘bail me out.’ I’m a support system for my clients and I get positive feedback.

VLM: What do you deal with in terms of crimes?

AD: In Vegas, it’s a party-24-hour town. Most cases are DUI, domestic violence and armed drugs possession. If the person makes it home, sometimes he’ll fight with a spouse and that turns into a domestic situation.

cuffs and legs because it goes along with Vegas. I get numerous comments…especially about the legs. The logo is fun, eye catching, and it has worked and been memorable because people talk about it.

VLM: I heard you were approached about doing a reality TV show.

AD: Yes, NBC wanted to know what life was like for a bail bondsman in Las Vegas. Via email, I sent back answers to a lot of questions sent by producers. I haven’t heard anything back, and that was January, so I assume nothing will come of it. A lot of colleagues have been approached and it doesn’t go anywhere. Would I do it?

Absolutely. It would be neat.

VLM: Do you have any staff members?

AD: Me, myself and I. If I have to go out of town, I have a friend where I can transfer calls. I’m a control freak and I’ve seen scenarios where employees steal, etc. I’m not at a desk. I carry two cell phones. It is just another cell phone in my purse—not a big deal.

That’s what separates my business [from others]. I don’t have staff that could stray from my guidance. I’m the decision maker and clients deal directly only with me.

VLM: What are the qualities of a good bail bondsman?

AD: First, you have to be a good listener. It’s not just the sell for me.

It’s emotional. You need to be caring and compassionate. ‘Therapy is over,’ my husband says at times to me.

VLM: Do you ever refuse to take on a client?

AD: You never know who you are dealing with. I say ‘no’ and use intuition. Women are just amazing at a lot of things—multitasking, motherhood…I have a read on people. I may listen to one conversation and then the story might change. I call them out on it, and tell them I’m not interested in helping. I’ve refunded people money. Plenty of bail bondsman will take junk bail but I don’t want to chase people.

I’ve had many cases where clients have multiple charges and I become a counselor to them. They are scared. Some have children at home or in a social worker’s care. I not only help get them out of jail, but I’ll assist them by recommending a 12-step program and show them that there is free help out there.

VLM: Have you ever been in a scary situation because of your involvement helping clients?

AD: I had a girl with an abusive boyfriend who I counseled and got help. I told her what he was doing to her was not right and I wasn’t going to bail him out. She had battered women’s syndrome and got upset with me at first. He learned I helped her and ran his mouth off but it happens when you put yourself out there.

I have addictions in my family, so it is not new to me. If I hear signs that these people need guidance, I’ll point them to programs that have worked for my family and can work for them.

VLM: Do you plan to continue in this field long term?

AD: Absolutely. I won’t ever work for anyone else or at a desk job again.

People are scared to death in jail…scared of the inmates. I’ll talk them through it all—through the night if necessary. I know my competition and no one else is doing that because they’re worried about the bottom line.

Susan Gonsalves’ 30-year career in journalism has included newspaper, magazine and higher education work with an emphasis on mental health, business, and entertainment topics. She is based in Massachusetts.

I still have connections years after with these people. A lot of the time, it is somewhat personal for me.

VLM: What was the thinking behind your logo?

AD: I’m blonde myself, and I wanted the hot pink-blonde-hand-

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 84

Heroin In Nevada – By Rivkela Brodsky

With the passage of time, Joe Engle has gotten comfortable telling this

story: It will be 5 years on July 21 that Engle came home from work to find his eldest son, Reese, dead from a heroin overdose. Reese was 19.

“I still have the text messages on my phone. I remember talking to him July 20, 2011,” says Engle. Reese had recently moved back in with Engle after seven months sober and working a job in northern Nevada. “He went up there with a backpack. He came back with a car, and boxes and boxes of stuff, and a girlfriend,” Engle said. “He was a dynamic young man.”

Reese’s addiction started a couple years prior when he started drinking, smoking weed, and taking prescription medications. “I never realized it escalated to heroin until the last year, year-and-a-half,” Engle said. “That’s when I realized the severity. I spent a lot of waking hours trying to manage his addiction. He was clean and sober seven months and then he came back to live with me. He was home three days. That’s when I found him.”

Engle says Reese had plans to join the service. He found an appointment card in Reese’s wallet to meet with a recruiter set for a week after his death.

“He was going to go get his life together. He was trying. All the girls loved him from a young age. He had lots of friends. The drugs are so powerful.”

Engle is a single dad and has three other sons; two who were living with him at the time. “We were crushed; immeasurably crushed,” he says. “It was just a fog. The first year after his death we were just making it through the motions; you are barely surviving.”

Engle, who has been clean and sober for 22 years but never did heroin, had the recovery community to lean on, although traditions did not embrace speaking out. However, a mentor said this to Engle at the time: “Joe, you need to talk about it. It’s going to help you and help other people.”

Engle has taken that to heart. “I haven’t stopped talking about it,” he says.

He is a founder of the Las Vegas chapter of There Is No Hero In Heroin (TINHIH), an advocacy and referral service nonprofit that has raised money and awareness about the issue hitting families and communities nationwide.

The nonprofit has been successful in raising money to provide 30-day scholarships for a recovery house, where someone coming out of heroin addiction rehab can live while trying to find housing and work. The organization also pushed for state legislation to expand access to Naloxone, a drug that can block or reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, which was signed into law last year.

“Generally, addicts don’t have a voice,” says Engle. “They typically don’t vote; they typically don’t pay taxes because they don’t work. My voice works and I want to speak for those who can’t speak for themselves. I don’t know a heroin addict who really wants to use. They really don’t. When they get to that point, they don’t know any other way to live.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids— primarily prescription pain relievers and heroin—are the main driver of overdose deaths nationally. Opioids were involved in 28,647 deaths in 2014 and opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 2000, according to the CDC. Nevada is not included in states with the highest rates of drug overdose deaths: West Virginia, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Kentucky and Ohio.

In fact, Nevada has seen its overdose death rate drop by 12.8 percent from 2013 to 2014, according to CDC numbers. However, the Clark County Coroner’s Office has noted an uptick in deaths involving heroin—48 in 2013 became 56 in 2014 and 76 last year.

Analysis done by a news and information website, HealthGrove, in Febru-

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 85

Heroin In Nevada ary ranked Nevada as No. 1 in drug-poisoning deaths based on information from the CDC. That was attributed to the rise in the use of heroin and prescription pain killers.

Heroin-related overdose deaths have more than tripled since 2010, according to the CDC, and from 2013 to 2014, heroin overdose death rates increased by 26 percent, with more than 10,500 people dying in 2014.

“There is a big spotlight nationally, so locally there has been an influx of phone calls to me,” Engle says. TINHIH has been around for 2 and a half years and this is the busiest that I’ve seen it, and the numbers are supporting that. We are losing more people to heroin-related deaths than when we started.”

Dr. Mel Pohl, medical director of Las Vegas Recovery Center and a national expert on heroin use, said he’s seen a dramatic increase in heroin addiction and overdose deaths over the past 3 years. “We have a population that is used to instant activity, and marginal behavior—at least in parts of the city—and 24-hour [availability],” he says. “People can make money here and have an expendable income. More often, drug use is the consequence of that constellation of events.”

About 25 percent of patients the center admits are under 25 years old, Pohl says. “Heroin is always the drug of choice, in addition to marijuana and sometimes meth.” This growing trend tends to affect more affluent, Caucasian males under 25, he said.

In 2013, non-Hispanic whites aged 18 to 44 years had the highest rate for heroin overdose death, according to the CDC. The CDC also notes that while use has increased 50 percent among males between 2002-04 and 2011-13, use has increased 100 percent among females. Use has increased 109 percent among 18- to 25-year olds and 58 percent among those aged 26 and older.

Solutions to this issue often involve prescribing other opioids like Suboxone to help manage heroin addiction. There has also been a national push to increase the availability of naloxone, which can reverse an overdose.

Pohl suggests that medication, while it may help in the short term, is not the long-term answer to this issue.

“We are talking about adolescents and young adults who are struggling with life,” he says. “They need habilitation skills, they need to learn how to live, deal with challenges in their families, find a way to a better life that doesn’t involve drugs. I’m a big fan of 12-step programs.”

The Las Vegas Recovery Center uses other methods like mindfulness training and Motivational Interviewing, a technique using a person’s internal motivations to effect change, as part of its treatment programs.

“The heroin deaths have not gotten better since my son’s passing,” Engle says. “We’ve barely scratched the surface. We need some big changes. I’m optimistic and hopeful; it just takes a long time to instill changes.”

Rivkela Brodsky is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon. She writes about mental health, psychology and health care issues. Find Rivkela the Writer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter @Rivkela To learn more about There Is No Hero In Heroin (TINHIH), visit its website at www. tinhihlasvegas.info

Get more with Mel Pohl on addiction in Las Vegas

“Most of the people who are using and abusing heroin are not the average pain patient who goes to a doctor for a prescription,” Pohl says. “Most of the people who are becoming addicted to heroin are using the drug to escape from negatives—which is often withdrawal, or a crummy life filled with disappointments, that many of us have—or to get high.

“The high is pretty elusive after using heroin for not too long. It’s not like it’s a great fun life and everybody is getting high. It’s a lot of physical dependence and trying to escape from the withdrawal.”

Many of those addicted started with prescription medications and have switched to the cheaper and more readily available heroin, sometimes laced with fentanyl, another potent opioid, Pohl says. “And it’s now readily accessible in a smokable form and so the phobia about needles is overcome. The net effect is an easier path to this very potent, very addicting drug for people who are already primed to go looking for something to get intoxicated.”

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 86

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Lifestyle Factors Can Play An Important Role In Keeping Cosmetic Surgery Safe.

–by Julio Garcia, M.D., FACS.

Some individuals seeking cosmetic surgery are considered poor

candidates because of specific lifestyle factors that can seriously impact their safety in the operating room and during recovery. As plastic surgeons are first and foremost physicians, and it is in all of our professional interest is to help patients achieve a better quality of life by improving both the way they look and the way they feel.

To that end, a new patient education initiative by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery encourages patients to adopt daily habits that promote good health, both in preparation for and following cosmetic surgery.

Serious medical conditions make cosmetic surgery unadvisable for a small number of patients. For example, overweight individuals or smokers also may be told “no” or “not yet” when seeking cosmetic surgery from a board-certified plastic surgeon. When a patient is overweight or obese, the potential risks associated with surgery and anesthesia can be greater. In some cases, I may recommend postponing surgery until the patient has reduced his or her weight.

Smoking, as well as chronic exposure to secondhand smoke, can make someone a poor candidate for cosmetic surgery. Smoking will decrease the blood flow to the skin and deeper tissues and that can make wound healing following surgery impaired. It also increases the risks associated with sedation and general anesthesia.

I advise all of my patients to quit smoking for a four-week period before and after surgery. (Of course, I would like to see my patients who smoke give up the habit entirely and often may refer patients to smoking cessation programs, as smoking can also affect skin aging as well as the already know risks of cancer and heart and lung disease.)

Doctors must use good judgment when evaluating patients for surgery, and patients must assume responsibility for following preand post-surgical instructions designed to increase safety and avoid complications. I believe that patients should carefully select their plastic surgeon on the basis of appropriate plastic surgery training and American Board of Plastic Surgery certification. Board-certiVegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 89

Lifestyle Factors fied plastic surgeons are committed to patient safety and to helping patients adopt healthier lifestyles.

Some of the lifestyle factors that may be discussed during the plastic surgery consultation include: • Current weight and history of weight fluctuations • Nutrition and vitamin supplements • Exercise frequency and type (aerobic/non-aerobic) • Smoking habits and exposure to secondhand smoke • Alcohol consumption • Sun exposure • Sleep patterns • Stress level and coping mechanisms Lifestyle factors are not only a consideration in terms of whether a patient can safely undergo cosmetic surgery, but they often determine the quality and longevity of surgical results. For example, if patients have not learned to control their weight before undergoing liposuction, the odds are they won’t maintain the full benefits of the procedure and may gain fat in other areas that were not treated. In the case of patients who have undergone facial rejuvenation,

it’s essential that they learn proper techniques of sun protection to avoid accelerating the skin’s aging process and undoing the positive results of surgery.

We plastic surgeons are increasingly advocating for our patients an “anti-aging” lifestyle. Maintaining a healthy diet and weight, stopping smoking, moderating alcohol consumption, getting plenty of sleep, avoiding excessive sun exposure, and reducing stress all have been shown to improve health and, in many cases, lengthen life.

A large portion of those who come to me for cosmetic surgery already are very health-conscious. Many of my patients see cosmetic surgery as just another aspect of self-maintenance. The goal is to encourage patients to think about looking good and living a healthy lifestyle as part of the same continuum.

Julio L Garcia, M.D., FACS is a board-certified plastic surgeon with a practice devoted to cosmetic surgery and age management therapies. Learn more about his practice by visiting www.lvcosmeticsurgery.com

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PARTNERS IN OUR COMMUNITY:

INTRODUCING LAS VEGAS RECOVERY CENTER –By John Seeland, JD, MBA, MHS

We would like to thank Vegas Legal Magazine for the opportunity to be

a community partner. This is an important and natural partnership in that we share a belief in the significance of addressing substance use disorders in our legal community.

Substance abuse and addiction represent a local, as well as national public health crisis that have myriad adverse effects on individuals and families, both directly and indirectly. Nowhere is this clearer than in the current epidemic of opioid painkiller abuse and addiction sweeping Nevada and the United States. A report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics states that overdoses involving both prescription painkillers and heroin have tripled in the last 10 years. Nevada is among the top five states in the nation for its rate of the fatal misuse of opioid pain medications. With Las Vegas leading the way, Nevada ranks near the top among states where painkillers are over-prescribed, according to another CDC study (http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/ opioid-prescribing/).

We appreciate the opportunity to inform and inspire the readership of VLM. Our mission over the next year is to provide important information on substance abuse and highlight local events and initiatives that can positively impact our legal system and community. We will do this through unique articles about substance use disorders and chronic pain as they relate to legal issues.

It is essential that we are aware of what is happening in our community— both from the standpoint of challenges and potential solutions. As you may or may not be aware, Governor Brian Sandoval declared September as National Recovery Month in Nevada. Notable smaller-scale grassroots initiatives supporting recovery from addiction are already well underway and ongoing. Nonprofit organizations such as the Foundation for Recovery (FFR) and There is No Hero in Heroin (TINHIH) have developed programs to provide support to Nevada residents impacted by addiction.

As a community, we have a responsibility to educate, advocate and inspire.

Substance abuse and addiction are “equal-opportunity” afflictions: medical disorders with no regard to income level, career path, race, ethnicity, age, gender, or sexual orientation. We must promote the understanding that addiction can affect anyone at any time, and that recovery is possible—for the individual and their family members. If we are to make real progress in prevention, early intervention, and helping those who suffer from addiction access quality treatment and find long-term recovery, we must put addiction stereotypes—such as addiction is a function of character or only certain types of people become addicted—to rest.

About Las Vegas Recovery Center

Our nationally known treatment programs, led by Mel Pohl, MD, FASAM, provide residents of our community an environment where they can achieve abstinence-based recovery from addictive disorders, as well as chronic pain. Las Vegas Recovery Center (LVRC) is more than a treatment program. It is a resource that Nevadans can turn to in their darkest hours.

Since 2003, we have been a critical source of hope and healing for thousands of people, helping them to turn their lives around.

Through a continuum of care that utilizes inpatient and outpatient programming and integrates an exceptional family component to fortify our clients’ support systems, in addition to recovery/sober living housing, we offer one of the most comprehensive addiction treatment approaches available. Out treatment methods are evidenced-based and adapted to the specific needs of each individual. Over the years, we have experienced great success working with impaired professionals, helping physicians, attorneys, and nurses recover, retain or regain their professional licenses, and return to the workforce.

In addition, LVRC is nationally recognized for our work with men and women who have become addicted to opioid pain medications in an attempt to find relief from chronic pain. We receive frequent referrals from workers compensation providers when their clients find that opioids no longer work, or the ravages of addiction begin to outweigh any benefit provided by medication prescribed by well-meaning physicians.

Vegas Legal Magazine Spring 2016 | Pg. 93

HUMOR // Spring 2016

“What?! I thought what happens in Panama stays in Panama!”