Written by James T. Leavitt
At the time of this writing, I just got back from another great 40-Year Club Luncheon. I love the 40-Year Club Luncheon because it speaks to the very essence of our organization. That essence being a celebration of our unique legal community and those who helped build it. Every year, we have the honor of celebrating the giants of our legal community upon whose shoulders we all stand. Today, I got the opportunity to hear stories from those who started practicing in Clark County in 1986, 1981, 1976, and 1971. Justice Parraguirre was honored and told us all of some of his experiences. John Mowbray was also honored and was gallant enough to share his time with Senator Richard Bryant. Each of our honorees are a treasure of experience and history that this lunch every year gives us a glimpse of.
One theme that is almost always constant every year at this lunch is how much the honorees bring up the concept of civility in the profession. Nearly all of the honorees talk about how hard they and their colleagues would argue against each other in court and afterwards meet at a bar to share a drink. Most of them miss those days, but what they seem to miss the most about them was the relationships that they built.
Today in our post-COVID-19 world, we are all more isolated from each other than ever. Most of us rarely go in person to court or meet in person with our colleagues. The honorees always talk about what we have lost now that many of us no longer see each other in court. That loss being civility within the profession. Civility is created by having familiarity with each other and knowing who you are dealing with on a case. It is encouraged by actively getting to know each other within our legal community. I believe that the CCBA and the events that we throw act as a conduit to encourage familiarity and thus civility within our profession. We might not see each other at court anymore, but we can choose to share a drink with each other at the CCBA pub crawl or go to a baseball game together. The CCBA is actively working on helping bridge the familiarity gap so that we can all effectively advocate for our clients and be civil with each other while we do it.
About the author
James T. Leavitt operates Leavitt Legal Services, P.C. in Las Vegas, Nevada. His practice focuses primarily on bankruptcy law and criminal law. James earned his bachelor’s degree in U.S. History from the University of Nevada – Las Vegas and his Juris Doctorate at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. James serves as CCBA President through December 2026.
About the article
This article was originally published in the Communiqué (May 2026), the official publication of the Clark County Bar Association. See https://clarkcountybar.org/about/member-benefits/communique-2026/communique-may-2026/.
The articles and advertisements appearing in Communiqué magazine do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the CCBA, the CCBA Publications Committee, the editorial board, or the other authors. All legal and other issues discussed are not for the purpose of answering specific legal questions. Attorneys and others are strongly advised to independently research all issues.
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