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CLAIBORNE BIOGRAHPY

Book Review

Flamboyant Lawyer in a Maverick Western Town, Las Vegas through the Eyes of Harry Claiborne. 

by J. Bruce Alverson.  211 pages.

The name Harry Claiborne continues to evoke strong opinions in Nevada.  The public mind may recall his fall from grace, but there is much more to his story and Bruce Alverson has brought it to the attention of the state.  This is a great book.  It’s essential reading for all Nevada lawyers, judges and legal scholars who seek to understand the growth and development of Nevada law and procedure since World War II.  Harry Claiborne (1917-2004) was a legendary Nevada attorney with almost 60 years of experience and we have his story, thanks to the talent and determination of Bruce Alverson.

Cliff Young, retired Supreme Court Justice and a trustee of the Nevada Judicial Historical Society, persuaded  Harry Claiborne to meet with Bruce Alverson, a noted Las Vegas Attorney and Historian.  The Judicial Historical Society documents the lives and work of Nevada Judges to assist public understanding of the judicial branch and its role in society.

This life was of interest to the Trustees because of Harry Claiborne’s rise from a trial lawyer to Federal Judge, and the subsequent trials, impeachment, conviction and return to practice as an attorney.  After several attempts, Bruce received a call from Claiborne who asked, when can we begin, and Bruce replied, tomorrow.  Bruce conducted the interviews with Harry Claiborne and used the material initially as a basis for his dissertation submitted for his Doctor of Philosophy degree in History at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.  The dissertation was favorably reviewed by members of the bench and bar. The Judicial Historical Society Trustees read it and urged Bruce to publish the document in book length.  This is the revised and edited result—Harry Claiborne from the post war years to his elevation to the Federal Bench. It is worthy of careful study.

Most lawyers keep silent about their cases and clients and carry their stories to their graves.  Because of the clarity of Claiborne’s memory and because Bruce was able to interview him near the end of his life, the book serves as a guide for historians researching diverse topics ranging from the changes to Nevada population, the nature and significance of ethnic groups, the evolution of public and private institutions, the rise of organized crime and the development of legalized  gaming.  The author has arranged the transcripts in a useful chronology that captures Claiborne’s youth in Arkansas, legal education, service in the military police in Las Vegas, as a police officer in Las Vegas and as a deputy district attorney in Clark County.  

The most interesting chapters extend to Claiborne’s private practice of law. The recollections of Claiborne and the scholarship of Bruce Alverson provide the reader with significant information on the on the present structure of Nevada Gaming regulation. For example, Claiborne recalled the personalities and issues in his representation of the Thunderbird Hotel. Bruce Alverson places them in this historical context: “ In 1955, Claiborne began representing the Thunderbird Hotel in the first and probably the most significant challenge to the state’s authority to regulate gaming licenses.  The legal issues, although procedural in nature, were critical to the state’s ability to enforce its decisions.  The issue was clear: specifically what standards, if any, must the state follow in considering the suitability of holders of gaming licenses, and what role, if any should the courts have in overseeing gaming control issues. It began with a sting operation, then a hearing before the state’s regulatory agency at the time (the Nevada Tax Commission), followed by a trial in Clark County District Court contesting the agency’s ruling, an attempted end run in the 1957 legislature by the Thunderbird lobbyists, and finally a landmark decision by the Nevada Supreme Court in May of 1957.”  Pp. 141-154. 

Claiborne’s role in the Thunderbird case and his insights into the response and decisions of the Tax Commission and of its chief administrative officer, Robbins Cahill are of great significance in understanding the impact of this multi level challenge to gaming regulation This is but one instance of the scope of Claiborne’s law practice involving powerful gaming clients in proceedings before the Tax Commission and later the Gaming Commission. 

For scholars, Flamboyant Lawyer  provides a platform from which to view the man behind the legend, and to take Claiborne’s recollections of the Nevada bench and bar to a level of understanding that clarifies many historical questions.  Chapters on Claiborne’s famous clients, his practice in mid century Las Vegas and his pro bono cases present gems of history.  His recollections of attorney Lou Wiener, gambler Benny Binion, and client Frank Sinatra reveal stories and relationships suspected but not previously documented.  Throughout the book are cases that Claiborne recalls with clarity involving Judges, attorneys and clients that illuminate the practice of law that was in many ways quite different than that practiced today.  In documenting the Judges and lawyers in this way Flamboyant Lawyer in a Maverick Western Town, Bruce Alverson supplements  Sam Davis’s 1913 publication History of Nevada and his treatment of the Nevada Bench and Bar during the early years of the twentieth century, and the scholarship of Russell McDonald on the evolution of Nevada law and prominent Judges and lawyers.

Alverson’s selections from the Claiborne transcripts present a master storyteller’s words about Las Vegas, the Clark County and Washoe bench and bar, his cases and experiences in the Nevada Assembly and in Nevada politics in a readable, chronological format.  What makes this significant is the way that the book places Claiborne’s recollections into the history of Nevada. 

Bruce Alverson examines the elements of Claiborne’s practice and its impact on Nevada. This is a book about the development of the legal culture of Nevada.  It is an emigrant’s story of growing up with the state and its legal community.  Told from Claiborne’s words and placed in context by an experienced attorney and historian, it adds immense value to our understanding of this turbulent time.  The book complements the understanding gained from other recent works on Claiborne that includes Mike Vernetti’s book, Lies Within Lies, and Michael Archer’s biography of Bill Raggio, A Man of His Word.  Both are worthy of study, but are concerned primarily with the events described in the last chapter of this book, “The Fall From Grace.” Alverson presents Claiborne’s views of this event,  but the real focus is the rise of Harry Claiborne in Nevada that leaves the reader with a useful sense of the man and his times.

We owe a great debt of gratitude to Bruce for bringing this work to press.  A copy of the book can be obtained by contacting Bruce Alverson, or Becky Linford, the book's editor, at Alverson, Taylor, Mortenson & Sanders, 7401 West Charleston Boulevard, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89117, or by telephone at 702-384-7000.  

Submitted by: James C. Smith, Esq. Reno, Nevada.

Oral Histories progress

                                                          Oral History Project Update

                Our Society received a grant years ago for the Nevada Legal Oral History Project.  Several have been completed and are available on the publications page of our website.  We also have transcripts of interviews with Justices Cameron Bater, E.M. Gunderson and Clifton Young and with Judges Peter Breen, Melvin Brunetti, Proctor Hug, Roger Hunt and Howard McKibben.  We also have transcripts from Frank Daykin, the former Legislative Counsel and attorney Herbert Jones.

                 This work is jointly sponsored by the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society and by the UNR Oral History Program.  Major funding was from the Jon Ben Snow Memorial Trust.  These histories are in the process of being edited for publication and distribution.  The Society has to confirm agreements with the interviewees or with their estates and we want to provide suitable introductions for the final publications.  

Our Medallions

Sample Medallions, the last shown is the common reverse side of the others.  
Current price $35 each, while silver is now about $32/oz.
One full ounce each, .999 proof, Carson City Mint.
Also available as a set in a display box.

Lincoln County Presentation

County Commission Chairman Tommy Rowe,

 Susan Southwick, Justices Pickering, Gibbons and Cherry

Early Lincoln County

Who’s on First in Lincoln County? Judge George G. Berry

Researched by Jeff Kintop and Peter J. Smith

Composed by Susan Southwick

It would seem simple to determine who was the first judge to preside in a Nevada county, especially in a relatively early, small county, but in Lincoln County there are complications, with perhaps three judges who could be considered “first.”  This essay attempts to clarify why George G. Berry should be considered the County’s first judge, although it is unlikely that he ever actually held court there.

Lincoln County was created February 26, 1866 (Stats. 1866, 131) with the provision that its judiciary be a part of the Fifth Judicial District until otherwise provided by law. George G. Berry was the judge for the Fifth Judicial District, and the court was in Winnemucca. Statutes at the time, unless specified otherwise, were to take effect from and after the date of passage. (Stats., 1865, 90). The very next day, February 27 (Stats. 1866, 139), the Nevada legislature reorganized the state’s judicial districts, specifying that the statute would be effective January 1, 1867.  Humboldt County was put in the Ninth Judicial District and Lincoln was no longer included, nor assigned to another district. It would have been left in limbo except that the law did not go into effect until the beginning of the next year, as specified. To further muddy the waters, in The State of Nevada ex. Rel. Charles A. Leake v. Henry G. Blasdel, 6 Nev. 40, 40 (1870), the Nevada Supreme Court, apparently not paying attention to the effective date of the statute, held that “Lincoln County was not included in any judicial district after February 27^th 1866, until the taking effect of the Act of 1867 (Stats. 1867, 129).”  This ruling, being more than three years after the fact, does not negate Judge Berry’s actually serving as judge for Lincoln from February 26 through December 31, 1866. 

Born in 1830, George Berry had served in the Mexican War in Texas, and in 1849 traveled to California. He was elected as a justice of the peace in Butte County, California in 1861 before moving to Humboldt City, Nevada Territory in 1862. He was admitted to practice law there in 1863.   He was elected Fifth Judicial District judge in 1866, serving until he resigned in 1871.  While judge, he became part owner and editor of the Humboldt Register  and, in fact, seemed to combine the practice of law with publishing newspapers for the rest of his life.  There is no known photo of Judge Berry, but he was described in one newspaper as being tall and resembling Senator Stewart; another referred to him as handsome, but he described himself in a “pen picture” in his own newspaper as follows:

My head measures just twenty-three and one-half inches, and I wear number

twelve boots—two significant facts that it should be well to note.  I am just

six feet high, spare built and weigh one hundred and sixteen pounds—fighting

weight.  With rifles or pistols I am a dead shot, and am now practicing the sword

exercise.  I never shoot a political adversary, but I scalp him—been so long on the

border that it comes natural.  The summit of my ambition now is to have the 

editorial sanctum of the Humboldt Register gorgeously decorated with Radical

(Republican) scalps—immaterial as to color or texture; black, auburn, tan or 

kinky, will do.

This self-description indicates he had a sense of humor, as well.

Because he was such a staunchly Democratic partisan, he was sometimes called the “Copperhead Judge of Humboldt County.”  He had aspirations to run for governor in 1870, but his partisanship led him to be roundly attacked in the Republican press and the effort failed.  In 1872 he purchased an interest in the Pioche Record, and at last moved to Lincoln County where he began to practice law again in partnership with former Virginia City lawyer, Francis L. Aud.

In 1880 he was practicing law in Tucson, Arizona Territory, and in 1881 began a partnership with former Nevada Supreme Court Justice James F. Lewis in Tombstone .  He served as a court commissioner there until 1885 and owned an interest in the Tombstone Epitaph. George G. Berry died in Tombstone February 13, 1891 at the age of sixty-one.

When Berry was Lincoln County’s judge, the county seat was in Crystal Springs, moving to Hiko in 1867; there is no record of an actual courthouse in Crystal Springs at that time, but the Annual Report of the State Mineralogist, 1867-68 (p. 80) did report one of sorts for Hiko.  James Hulse quotes a manuscript of the proceedings of the first Lincoln County Commission (October 29, 1867, pp. 18, 27) where Butler and Pearson’s Saloon was acquired for “county purposes.” Six months later they made arrangements to lease other property in Hiko to serve as a courthouse. The famous Million Dollar Courthouse wasn’t built until 1872 in Pioche.  Lincoln County Clerk Lisa Lloyd could find no court records dating back as far as 1866, and, as there was not even a stage route between Winnemucca and Hiko, it is doubtful that Judge Berry actually heard cases in Lincoln County. In those early days, there was a sparse population of mostly Mormon farming communities, among whom major crime was probably not an issue. Things were rougher in the mining areas such as Pahranagat, and at least one murder was reported, but it was handled by vigilante action. According to James Hulse, in Lincoln County, Nevada: 1864-1909 (p.68), things were so quiet that the county commission did not create a justice court and appoint a justice of the peace until 1869. 

While it seems evident that Judge Berry was the first judge, there are contenders for the position if one considers “first” to be a judge who actually had an impact on Lincoln County by being there to decide cases. The Act of 1867 (Stats. 1867, 129) named Hiko the county seat, stated that Lincoln County constituted the Ninth Judicial District and  required the Governor (Blasdel) to appoint a judge for Lincoln County until an election could be held. George G. Hubbard was appointed and Charles A. Leake was elected in November 1868 and served until his death in August 1870. 

Sources utilized:

Russell McDonald.  Nevada Judicial Biographies. Upublished manuscript. Pp. 14-15 Source of all personal information about Judge Berry, including quotations from newspapers.

James Hulse.  Lincoln County, Nevada: 1864-1909.  University of Nevada Press, 1971. Source of information on early government in Lincoln County, including extensive citations to original documents.

Statutes of Nevada, 1866, 1867

Leake v. Blasdel, 6 Nev. 40, 1870