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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.