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ELIZABETH GONZALEZ - DISTRICT COURT JUDGE, DEPARTMENT 11
MEET THE
INCUMBENT – Elizabeth Gonzalez, Department 11
Elizabeth Gonzalez handles business, civil and criminal cases. She was appointed to the district court in July 2004. Prior to taking the bench she practiced predominantly in complex civil litigation that included business, mass tort, and construction defect litigation. From 1986 to 1998 she was employed with the law firm of Beckley, Singleton, Jemison & List where she focused on these areas of litigation and served as the firm’s president from 1997 to 1998. From 1998 until taking the bench she operated her own firm.
Judge Gonzalez is a past President of the American College of Business Court Judges and a past President of the Nevada District Judges Association. She previously served on the Judicial Council of the State of Nevada, Supreme Court Jury Improvement Commission, the Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission, and the State of Nevada Ethics Commission.
Judge Gonzalez is the former President of the Board of Directors of Clark County Legal Services and a former member of the Eighth Judicial District Bench Bar Committee on Pro Bono. She has long been dedicated to the provision of legal services to all members of the community. Ms. Gonzalez was first recognized for her support of pro bono by the Clark County Pro Bono Project in 1992 and in 2002 was selected Attorney of the Year by the State Bar of Nevada Access to Justice Committee. She served on the Clark County Legal Services Board, which now coordinates the provision of pro bono services for all of Clark County for over ten years. In 2007 and 2012 she was awarded the Justice Nancy Becker Award of Judicial Excellence. The Trial by Peers Program is a partnership of the judiciary, the juvenile justice system, and the Clark County Bar Association diverting certain youthful offenders from the juvenile court system. In 2007 and 2010, Judge Gonzalez was selected as Judge of the Year by the Trial by Peers program.
Judge Gonzalez attained a B.A. in History, with honors, from the University of Florida in May of 1982 and received her law degree from the University of Florida College of Law in 1985. She was admitted to the State Bar of Nevada in 1985.
Since her admission to the Bar, Judge Gonzalez has served on many bar committees, including service as the Regional Chair for the State Bar of Nevada Fee Dispute Committee and a member of the State Bar of Nevada’s Functional Equivalency Committee. She also serves as a Master Emeritus of the Nevada American Inn of Court which has as its purpose the enhancement of Nevada lawyer’s practical skills, professional awareness and ethical responsibility.
Judge Gonzalez has given numerous seminars on business and construction defect litigation including the subjects of evidence, civil discovery, insurance issues, dispute resolution and construction defect issues.
MEET THE
Don brings an exceptional background to the Board of Governors. Don literally grew up in Nevada working in the trenches of our major industry: gaming. Combined with his extensive administrative law, litigation, trial and appellate experience in two states, Don’s work with various types of Federal, State and local administrative agencies gives him a unique perspective on specialized rules of practice and procedure, such as before specialized courts like the United States Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C. and the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Services. Don is ready for the challenges which administrative regulations and procedures are part of the daily tasks of a Member of the Board of Governors.
As a weekly contributor to and as a director and producers of weekly educational online podcasts on Firearms Laws, SelfDefense, and Political Issues, Don has practical and well-developed communication and research skills which are essential to working with others on the Nevada State Bar Board of Governors.
For example, immediately after Governor Sisolak ordered the closure of nonessential business as a result of the current COVID-19 epidemic, Don took swift and decisive action to send letters or emails to Governor Sisolak, the Nevada Attorney General, Sheriff Lombardo of Clark County, the Mayor of the City of Henderson, and the Henderson Chief of Police that Guns Stores in the State of Nevada could NOT be closed due to a specific Nevada Statute which prohibited such closures. Don’s letter to the Governor was researched and drafted within hours after the effective date and time for closure orders directed to non-essential businesses in Nevada. No one asked or paid Don to take action to keep Guns Stores open. This immediate action mirrors the type work which Don is ready to undertake as a Member of the Board of Governors. The Nevada State Bar and our Board of Governors, too, quickly formulated a plan to deal with COVID-19 as that epidemic impacted—and continues to impact— in the daily practice of law. Thus, Members of the Board of Governors have undertaken action and have implemented policies to deal with an emergency situation.
GOALS
As a member of the Board of Governors, I will adhere to all current By-Laws, and I will present and advance the following personal goals to:
Emphasize practical training in the courtroom or before tribunals exercising their jurisdiction over cases.
Emphasize the strengthening of ethical standards of practice.
Emphasize responsiveness to the everyday needs of every member of the State Bar of Nevada.
Emphasize responsiveness to the everyday needs of the public which needs and seeks competent legal advice.
Emphasize working with other members of the Board of Governors to debate, discuss, prepare and ratify their ideas for enhancing the integrity of the State Bar of Nevada.
LAWYER
Don has been practicing law for over 36 years. During this time period, Don has been involved with and tried over 70 jury trials in
MEET THE
California and Nevada of which two, high profile cases consumed 4 months each. Don has tried cases in several counties in California. By contrast, Don has had court hearings or trials in every county of the State of Nevada.
Don’s practice emphasizes trial work in the Federal and State Courts in California and Nevada. As an important practice area, Don’s involvement in Firearms litigation, licensing, and administrative Appeals, has resulted in representing clients before the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, and State and Local Administrative Agencies in California and Nevada.
Each year, on average, Don provides at least 100 hours of Pro Bono Service to impoverished or low income individuals, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Vietnam Veterans of Nevada.
Don also donates time and research as a Guest Lecturer in Constitutional Law at the Silver State Law Enforcement Academy in Henderson, Nevada.
Don currently has seven published Opinions in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Supreme Court of Nevada, the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, and in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.
PERSONAL
Don has lived with his family in Nevada for 49 years since I was 17 years old. Many of his aunts moved to Nevada in the 1960s. In the early 1970s, Don grew up working in motels on the Las Vegas Strip as a linen porter, a window washer and as a bus driver. Don worked to help support his mother and two sisters. Don was a night student in the very first classes offered in September 1971 at the Clark County Community College which was then and is still now a very small building on North Main Street.
Don enlisted in the United States Army in 1974 and I served in the Republic of Vietnam from August 1974 to October 1974, then at Fort Hood, Texas, and then in the Republic of Korea from November 1976 to November 1977.
Don always aspired to be a lawyer, so after he was Honorably Discharged from the Army in 1978, Don attended UNLV and graduated to go to law school in California because, in 1980, there was no law school in Nevada at that time. Don served on three National Moot Court teams as an Oralist and/or Writer for Southwestern University School of Law: these events were the Administrative Law Competition at the University of Dayton (1982), the Federal Courts Competition at the College of William and Mary (1982), and the National Competition (1983) held in San Francisco.
Don was admitted to practice law in California in 1983 and in Nevada in 1984. Don has always advocated intense and strong continuing legal education. So, subsequently in 1995 in association with the California CLE board, Don was accepted as a student InResidence at the Residential Program for International Continuing Legal Education Studies conducted at Brasenose College of Oxford University, in the United Kingdom.
