Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the

Membership and the Board of Trustees

of the

Nevada Judicial Historical Society

September 14, 2012

Carson City, Nevada

Chairman Michael Fondi called the annual meeting to order at 12:25.  Present were trustees Peter Smith, Tom Perkins, Susan Southwick, Janette Bloom, Dennis Myers, Karen Baggett, Patricia Cafferata and Justice Mark Gibbons; Jim Smith arrived later.  Also present were members Christine Timko and Brad Williams, and guest Lynn Bremer.

The minutes of the Annual Meeting of September 16, 2011 were approved as mailed.  (Gibbons/Myers)

Janette Bloom presented the Treasurer’s 3d Quarter Report.  The balance for the period 9/1/11 through 8/31/12 was $5,787.77.  As of 9/14/12, the balance was $5,763.40, excluding dues just received.  The report was approved. (Smith/Gibbons)

Chairman Fondi  then reviewed the Annual Report, which is attached to the minutes.

Susan Southwick reported that trustees Michael Bowers, Michael Fondi,  Jeff Kintop, Don Klasic, Peter Smith, Karen Baggett and herself  were approved for terms ending September 2015.

Brad Williams reported on his part of the Joint Oral History Project, saying he had received tentative approvals for several of the large transcripts; most were being reviewed by the narrators or their representatives before being formalized.  These include Judges Brunetti, Hug, Reed, Atkins and McKibben.  The raw transcripts still need to be edited before being put on-line, and apparently Alicia Barber wasn’t able to do it over the summer as she had planned.  Brad and Alicia will provide a scope of the editing required to Patricia Cooper-Smith by September 27, and Brad will then submit a proposal to the Ad Hoc Committee to consider hiring Ms. Cooper-Smith.

Peter Smith reported on the Society’s web-site and blog.  He corrected the statement in the annual report that Patricia Cafferata’s articles, written for the Stat Bar journal, were actually on the blog.  He has them, but they are in PDF format and he doesn’t know how to add them to the blog.  Karen Baggett and Christine Timko offered to help with the technicalities.  He noted that many hits to the blog came from Eastern Europe.

Under New Business, Justice Gibbons recommended Hawthorne and the 5^th Judicial District and Yerington and the 3d Judicial District as potential sites for new plaques.  Peter Smith said that there were no plaques currently in the pipeline and that he and Jeff Kintop would have to look into the complexities of each to see if they could easily characterized with a “first.”

Jim Smith stated he thought the memorials from the Supreme Court Reports should be on-line and searchable.  Susan Southwick said she thought she recalled that the Archives had the texts on-line, but not in a searchable format.  Justice Gibbons and Christine Timko said they would talk to the Court Clerk about making them searchable.  Ms. Southwick said that West Publishing did not make any of the federal or state memorials available in its on-line publications and that one must do a manual search of the print volumes to find them.

The date for the 2013 Annual Meeting was set for September 20.

There being no further membership business, Chairman Fondi adjourned the Annual Meeting at 1:20.

He then called the Board of Trustees to order.

The corrected minutes of the Board meeting of March 16, 2012 were approved.  (Myers/Gibbons)

The minutes of the June 15, 2012 Board meeting were approved. (Baggett/Smith)

Justice Gibbons moved to re-elect Susan Southwick as Secretary; the motion was seconded by Patricia Cafferata.  Approved.

Susan Southwick added an item to the agenda at the request of Treasurer  Janette Bloom, who had left the meeting.  The Citigroup stock of 49 shares had been split into virtual worthlessness, and Ms Bloom felt it was best to just sell it; she required a letter of authorization from the Board to do so.  Mark Gibbons moved to approve the letter and Patricia Cafferata seconded.  Approved.

The next Board meeting was set for March 15, 2013.

Chairman Fondi adjourned the meeting at 1:25.

Respectfully submitted:

{unsigned}

________________________________________________

Susan Southwick, Secretary

AGENDAS - - - Annual Meeting of the

Board of Trustees and Membership

of the

Nevada Judicial Historical Society

Friday, September 14, 2012

Noon – 2:00 p.m.

Sassafras Restaurant

318 N. Carson St.

Carson City, NV

I.       Call to Order – Michael Fondi, Chair

II.       Approve Minutes of Annual Meeting of September 16, 2011 (board approved

      at March 2012 meeting)

III.      Treasurer’s 3d Quarter Report – Janette Bloom, Treasurer

IV.      Presentation of 2012 Annual Report – Michael Fondi, Chairman

V.      Confirmation/Election of New Trustees – Susan Southwick, Secretary

VI..      Report of Ad Hoc Committee on Joint Oral History Project

VII.      Report on Status of Web Site and Blog –  Peter Smith 

VIII.     New Business

IX.     Set Date for 2013 Annual Meeting

X.    Adjournment of Annual Membership Meeting

===========================================

XI.    Call to order of Meeting of Board of Trustees – Michael Fondi, Chairman

XII.    Approve Corrected Minutes of Board Meeting of March 16, 2012

XIII.   Approve Minutes of Special Board Meeting of June 15, 2012

XIV.   Election/Re-election of Office of Secretary

XV.    Set Date for March 2013 Board Meeting

XVI.  Adjournment of Board of Trustees Meeting

=============================================

Annual Meeting
September 14, 2012 in Carson City, NV
Details to be posted

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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.