LAS VEGAS– James J. Pisanelli and Todd L. Bice, founding partners of the litigation firm Pisanelli Bice PLLC, were recently selected by their legal peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2015, a prestigious nationwide peer-review publication. Managing Partner Debra L. Spinelli was also selected by her peers for the third consecutive year for inclusion in the publication.
For the first time, Best Lawyers listed Pisanelli in the category for bet-the-company litigation, a primary focus of the law firm. The publication also listed him in four additional legal categories, including: commercial litigation, construction law, litigation – construction, and litigation – real estate.
In addition, Best Lawyers listed Bice for the first time in the category for appellate practice, recognizing Bice’s successful practice in the appellate arena. The publication listed Bice in four more legal categories, including: commercial litigation, litigation – first amendment, litigation – land use and zoning, and litigation – mergers and acquisitions.
Bice was also named the Best Lawyers 2015 Land Use and Zoning “Lawyer of the Year” in Las Vegas. The publication recognizes a single lawyer as the “Lawyer of the Year” in each practice area and designated metropolitan area.
The law firm received additional recognition in the publication with Spinelli listed in the commercial litigation category.
The Nevada Supreme Court should not permit a sore election loser such as Henderson’s Rick Workman to sandbag a duly elected official a year after the election, especially when he knew he could have brought a challenge earlier.
That’s the main thrust of a brief (posted below) filed by Henderson Mayor Andy Hafen’s attorney, Todd Bice, to a case in which Workman is seeking to remove Hafen from office, claiming he wasn’t eligible to be elected to his current term. The Nevada Supreme Court will consider the case, after Workman’s attorney, Stephanie Rice, has a chance to reply.
Rice is the lawyer who successfully argued the case of Lorton v. Jones, which held earlier this year that members of certain city councils — whether serving as a member of the council or serving as mayor — were limited to 12 years total, not up to 12 years as a council member and another 12 years as mayor. As a result, some term-limited members of Reno’s City Council were barred from running for mayor.
Workman later engaged Rice to challenge Hafen, who had reached his 12-year limit before running for and winning the Henderson mayoral primary last year. His action asks the Nevada Supreme Court to either allow him to challenge Hafen directly, in a proceeding known as quo warranto, or to force the attorney general to do so.
But Bice says Workman is out of luck, for several reasons.
The Henderson mayor’s attorney has been granted more time to defend the city official’s standing in office.
Mayor Andy Hafen now has until July 8 to respond to the Nevada Supreme Court’s request for more information in a term-limit case seeking his removal that was filed by a former candidate.
Hafen’s attorney, Todd L. Bice, requested and was granted the 10-day extension Friday because the attorney had “other matters that needed to be dealt with on a shorter time frame,” Bice said Monday.
The extension came the calendar day before Hafen, state Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and Secretary of State Ross Miller were scheduled to respond to a late May filing. Former mayoral candidate Rick Workman filed the challenge May 21 after Cortez Masto and Miller declined to consider removing Hafen from office following a February state Supreme Court ruling on term limits.
Once Hafen, Cortez Masto and Miller file their joint response, Workman will have 15 days to answer their counter argument. The court then will decide if it should intervene in the case.
Hafen was first elected to the City Council in 1987 and was elected mayor in 2009. He was re-elected last year after receiving 55 percent of the vote in the primary.
Workman, a city employee since 2000 who works for the Police Department as its criminalistics administrator, received 37 percent of the vote.
LAS VEGAS – James J. Pisanelli and Todd L. Bice, founding partners of Pisanelli Bice PLLC, announced that seven lawyers from the firm have been recognized on the 2014 list of Mountain States Super Lawyers, a renowned ranking of outstanding attorneys across the region.
Pisanelli and Bice were both among the select attorneys honored on this year’s list of top 100 lawyers in the Mountain States Super Lawyers, along with Managing Partner Debra Spinelli and attorney Jarrod Rickard.
Spinelli was also recognized as a Top 50 female lawyer.
In addition to the aforementioned litigators, Pisanelli Bice attorneys Eric Aldrian, Christopher Miltenberger and Jordan Smith were each named in the Mountain States Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” category. Miltenberger, a senior associate, earned his fifth distinction as a rising star, while Aldrian and Smith were recognized as rising stars for the second consecutive year.
LAS VEGAS – (June 1, 2014) James J. Pisanelli and Todd L. Bice, founding partners of Pisanelli Bice PLLC, announced today that eight attorneys from the firm were recognized on the prestigious list of Legal Elite 2014 by Nevada Business Magazine. The annual list highlights the state’s most outstanding attorneys.
Pisanelli and Bice were both among select attorneys honored on the Legal Elite list of Southern Nevada’s Top Attorneys. Attorneys Eric Aldrian, Magali Calderon, Christopher Miltenberger, Jarrod Rickard, Jordan Smith and Managing Partner Debra Spinelli were also recognized. In addition, Aldrian, Calderon and Smith were named to the publication’s Best Up and Coming attorneys list as well.
Legal Elite is an annual list honoring the most exceptional attorneys in Nevada. Lawyers are selected for Legal Elite based on peer nominations, and ranked according to where votes originated. This year’s Legal Elite polling had more than 6,400 unique votes submitted. The attorneys featured on Legal Elite 2014 garnered the top voting scores throughout the state.
