Nevada
Prominent Nevada legal firm looks back on 75 years of operations
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There aren’t many Nevada companies that have been around for 75 years, but a prominent law firm with offices in Reno, Las Vegas and Carson City claimed that distinction last month.
McDonald Carano, which has more than 60 lawyers and government relations professionals, was founded in 1949 as Bible & McDonald by former World War II fighter pilot Bob McDonald and Alan Bible, who served as a member of the U.S. Senate from Nevada for 20 years. They knew each other in the Nevada attorney general’s office.
Don Carano, a name familiar to those who know the gaming industry, joined the firm in 1962, becoming a partner a year later.
The Carano family founded Eldorado Resorts in the early 1970s, and the company’s original flagship property, the Eldorado hotel-casino in downtown Reno, recently observed its 51st anniversary.
The Carano casino group was the eventual acquirer of Caesars Entertainment Corp. for $17.3 billion in 2020, and Eldorado changed its name to Caesars Entertainment Inc. With that transaction, the company surpassed MGM Resorts International as the largest gaming operator in the United States.
Importance of experience
The legal profession certainly crosses paths regularly with gaming. Hardly a Gaming Control Board or Nevada Gaming Commission meeting occurs without at least one representative of McDonald Carano making an appearance on behalf of a gaming client.
“Experienced legal counsel, with knowledge of Nevada’s Gaming Control Act and commission regulations, are vital to our state’s regulatory process,” said Kirk Hendrick, chairman of the Gaming Control Board. “Knowledgeable gaming counsel ensures that licensees and applicants receive proper advice regarding how Nevada’s gaming regulators strictly protect our state, its citizens and visitors.”
While Hendrick declined to speak about specific law firms or attorneys, regulators always seem comfortable talking with representatives of McDonald Carano, and its gaming law practice, which includes A.J. “Bud” Hicks, the firm’s gaming and administrative law chair; A.G. Burnett, a former Gaming Control Board chairman; partners Gregory Giordarno and Dennis Gutwald; and attorney Kelci Binau. All have had either regulatory or representative roles with gaming organizations.
Over the years, the firm has represented clients in some high-profile Las Vegas events.
In 2021, when the Seminole Indian Tribe’s Hard Rock International announced its agreement to acquire The Mirage from MGM Resorts International for $1.07 billion, McDonald Carano represented Hard Rock for the transaction’s regulatory approval. The firm also served as local counsel on various real estate matters involved in the acquisition.
Liberty Media Corp., the commercial rights holder of Formula One racing, brought the Las Vegas Grand Prix to the Strip in November. In 2022, McDonald Carano represented Liberty Media in connection with several real estate matters, including the acquisition of land for its race course and location of the pit and paddock.
But the firm isn’t just about gaming and tourism. It has a wide variety of expertise in employment and labor law, real estate and land use, energy, environment and natural resources law, trusts and estates, construction law and litigation, bankruptcy and government affairs and advocacy.
The firm is part of the city of Las Vegas’ outside counsel in its fight over development of the shuttered Badlands golf course.
“It’s truly remarkable that we are celebrating that 75th anniversary,” said George Ogilvie III, the firm’s managing partner as well as the managing partner of the Las Vegas office. “I look at some very, very venerable old-line law firms in Nevada, both in Reno and Las Vegas, and they’ve either split up or been absorbed by regional or national firms. It’s remarkable that one of the first statewide law firms still remains independent and standing. I think it’s a tribute reflective of a culture that Bob McDonald instilled in this law firm that exists today.”
Firm viewed like a family
Part of the reason for that is that attorneys view the firm as a family and few people leave once they’ve become established — unless they’re appointed to judgeships. Seven McDonald Carano alumni have been appointed or elected to serve as judges in federal or Nevada judicial roles, and two more have served as judges and have since left the bench.
“I tell people if I ever leave the law firm it’s probably because I’m incapacitated or doing something else besides practicing law,” said partner Ryan Works, chair of the bankruptcy, insolvency and financial restructuring practice. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Firm members are proud of their Nevada heritage and their record of giving back to their communities through pro bono and other charitable work. More than 80 percent of the firm are native Nevadans.
Some members of the firm are literally family.
Partner Joshua Hicks, chair of government affairs and advocacy, said he grew up idolizing many of the partners, including his gaming attorney father, A.J. “Bud” Hicks, and his uncle, Larry Hicks, who died May 29 in Reno after being struck by a vehicle.
“Because my father was a partner at the firm. I got to know them over the years through my dad being there and spending time at the office for various things. And I definitely grew up really admiring and having a lot of respect for the people who were at the firm. They were pillars of the community, involved with just about everything.
“My uncle Larry Hicks, who was here before he went onto the federal bench, and guys like John Frankovich and Leo Bergen who are still around and working,” he said. “It was kind of like a Major League Baseball team of lawyers. It was a team I always wanted to play for once I decided to become a lawyer and go to law school.”
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.
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Nevada
Nevada election officials certify enough signatures for Robert F Kennedy Jr to appear on ballot – Times of India
![Nevada election officials certify enough signatures for Robert F Kennedy Jr to appear on ballot – Times of India Nevada election officials certify enough signatures for Robert F Kennedy Jr to appear on ballot – Times of India](https://static.toiimg.com/thumb/msid-112059104,width-1070,height-580,imgsize-772487,resizemode-75,overlay-toi_sw,pt-32,y_pad-40/photo.jpg)
Strategists from both major parties fear he could tip the election against them, though a big blow to his campaign came when he did not qualify for the CNN debate in June. Instead, he held a separate event where he responded in real time to the questions that were posed to President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
There still could be room for legal challenges. Last month, state and national Democrats filed a lawsuit challenging Kennedy Jr’s standing on the Nevada ballot as an independent because of his affiliation with political parties in other states.
The verified signatures came in a petition that Kennedy Jr’s campaign scrambled to submit after the Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar’s office clarified guidance that would likely nullify his original petition because he did not list a running mate.
The campaign had filed a lawsuit against Aguilar’s office over the state requirement that independent candidates must name their running mate by the time they start gathering signatures. The campaign said that they received approval in January from Aguilar’s office allowing them to collect the required number of signatures for a petition that did not list his vice presidential selection.
Aguilar’s office had said in a statement that they sent correct guidance to all independent candidates that had filed petitions for ballot access “well in advance of the deadline to submit signatures”.
Kennedy Jr picked California lawyer and philanthropist Nicole Shanahan as his running mate in late March.
State and county election officials verified over 22,000 signatures on the new petition, well over the requirement of just over 10,000.
Nevada
RFK Jr. meets signature requirements to appear on Nevada ballot
![RFK Jr. meets signature requirements to appear on Nevada ballot RFK Jr. meets signature requirements to appear on Nevada ballot](https://www.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/19438781_web1_RFK-JR-JUL13-24-Jacobi-012.jpg)
Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign submitted the required number of valid signatures in order to appear on Nevada’s ballot in November, the secretary of state’s office confirmed Friday.
Kennedy’s campaign in Nevada submitted more than 22,000 valid signatures to county clerks in early July in order to qualify as an independent presidential candidate.
In a notice sent Friday, the secretary of state’s office said that based on the examination conducted by county election officials, the office determined that the total number of signatures exceeds the number of valid signatures necessary to declare the petition for candidacy necessary.
The Kennedy campaign must next submit the names of the six primary and six alternate electors that would certify the election for Kennedy if he were to win.
Notice of Sufficiency of Petition for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Independent Candidate for United States Preside… by Jessica Hill on Scribd
Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.
Nevada
Planning phase underway for College of Southern Nevada's northwest campus
![Planning phase underway for College of Southern Nevada's northwest campus Planning phase underway for College of Southern Nevada's northwest campus](https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/d625ab3/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1280x672+0+24/resize/1200x630!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fx-default-stgec.uplynk.com%2Fause%2Fslices%2Fc35%2Fb9cd621bb5cc43d8b6bdc641d1acdca8%2Fc358941fa93e4a40b2fc4f6be03c5438%2Fposter_4f649453d6184a0f9b7a60a1197515f8.jpg)
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The development of the College of Southern Nevada’s Northwest campus has taken another step forward after the state allocated $4.5 million for the planning phase, said CSN’s Vice President of Academic Affairs James McCoy.
He showed me the plans that they’ve come up with so far, which includes photos from similar campuses in other parts of the country.
“The blue would be a 60,000 square foot law enforcement academy coupled with some general education and student support services to support those students and others throughout the northwest,” he told me as he pointed to the tentative plans. “It would include the parking as we talk about the land development. You need that. It will include the central plant to operate the campus and the building.”
They’re still deciding on whether an emergency vehicle operations course will be included in phase one.
The reason he calls them potential plans is because the project is based on funding by the state legislature.
“Our goal is to be 100% construction documents in hand by the time the legislative session is wrapping up, so June of 2025,” he said.
Then come the inspections and everything else needed before construction can begin.
As for the cost of the actual construction, it’s yet to be determined.
“Still a work in progress,” said McCoy. “We’ll know much more as the state public works prepares for the presentations of all the capital projects for the entire state. That is slated for Aug.28 and 29.”
By the time it’s all said and done, the first phase has to be shovel ready by June 2026, or else they risk losing the land.
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