On May 7, 2020, the Nevada Supreme Court issued an administrative order, ADKT 0553, which amended Nevada Rule of Appellate Procedure 21. This order, which took effect on June 7, 2020, imposes, for the first time, limitations on the length for writ petitions. Specifically, a petition for extraordinary writ relief is now limited to 15 pages, 7,000 words (for proportionally spaced typeface, like Times New Roman), or 650 lines of text (for monospaced typeface, like Courier), whichever is longer. If the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals directs the real party in interest to file an answer to the petition, then the answer, reply, and any amicus brief are subject to the same page, word count, or line count limitations.
Moreover, the petition, and any applicable answer, reply, or amicus brief, must now include an NRAP 32(a)(9) certificate of compliance, setting forth the word or line count for the brief as well as information about the word processing program and font. A sample of the certificate of compliance can be found in Form 9 of the Nevada Rules of Appellate Procedure.
Similarly, the petition, and any answer directed by the Court, must also now include an NRAP 26.1 disclosure statement. The disclosure statement must list all parent corporations for the filing party and any publicly held company that owns ten percent or more of the filing party’s stock (or disclose that no such corporations or companies exist).
Finally, if you believe that you will need to exceed the new limitations on the length of briefs in writ proceedings, you can file a motion requesting such relief. However, keep in mind that the Court does not look favorably upon these motions and they are not routinely granted. You must be able to demonstrate diligence in limiting the length of the brief and good cause to exceed the limitations. The motion must also be accompanied by:
Disclaimer
The information provided in this article does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All information, content, and materials available in this article are for general informational purposes only. The information in this article may not constitute the most up-to-date legal information. Any links to third-party websites included in this article are only made for the convenience of the reader, and the author of this article does not recommend or endorse the contents of the third-party sites.
Readers of this article should contact their attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular legal matter. No reader of this article should act or refrain from acting on the basis of information in this article without first seeking legal advice from counsel in the relevant jurisdiction. Only your individual attorney can provide assurances that the information contained herein — and your interpretation of it — is applicable or appropriate to your particular situation. Use of, and access to, this article, or any of the links or resources contained herein do not create an attorney-client relationship between the reader and author.
All liability with respect to actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this article are hereby expressly disclaimed. The content of this article is provided “as is;” no representations are made that the content is error-free.
If an adverse order or judgment has been entered against you or your client, and you are considering an appeal but are unsure how to initiate the process, here are three important steps to get you started:
First and foremost, you must determine if the adverse order or judgment is appealable. If the order or judgment resolves all claims, counterclaims, cross-claims, and/or third-party claims alleged by all parties in the action, then you may file an appeal. If, after entry of the adverse order or judgment, some claims still remain unresolved in the action, then you have three options: (1) review Nevada Rule of Appellate Procedure 3A(b)(2)-(10) to determine if the order or judgment entered against you is included in one of the nine categories of non-final judgments and orders for which an appeal lies; (2) file a motion with the district court requesting that the adverse order or judgment be certified as a final judgment pursuant to Nevada Rule of Civil Procedure 54; or (3) file a Petition for Extraordinary Writ Relief with the Nevada Supreme Court requesting that the Supreme Court exercise its discretion to review the interlocutory (non-final) judgment or order.
If the adverse judgment entered against you is appealable, you will likely need to obtain a stay of enforcement of and/or execution upon the judgment. Once written notice of entry of the adverse judgment has been served, the prevailing party is only barred from attempting to enforce and/or execute upon the judgment for thirty (30) days, pursuant to Nevada Rule of Civil Procedure 62(a). To extend the stay for the period of the appeal, you must either post a supersedeas bond for the amount of the judgment entered against you, plus anticipated costs associated with the appeal and anticipated interest on the judgment during the pendency of the appeal, or you must file a motion for a stay with the district court.
Once you have determined that the adverse judgment or order is appealable, and determined that you have the means to post a supersedeas bond or otherwise obtain a stay of execution of the judgment, you are ready to file a Notice of Appeal. The Notice of Appeal must be filed in the district court within thirty (30) days of service of the written notice of entry of the judgment or order. This deadline cannot be stayed or continued; however, this deadline can be tolled by the filing of a motion for judgment pursuant to Nevada Rule of Civil Procedure 50(b), a motion to amend or make additional findings of fact pursuant to Nevada Rule of Civil Procedure 52(b), a motion to alter or amend the judgment pursuant to Nevada Rule of Civil Procedure 59, or a motion for a new trial pursuant to Nevada Rule of Civil Procedure 59. If any of these four motions is timely filed in the district court, then the deadline to commence the appeal is tolled and the Notice of Appeal must be filed within thirty (30) days of service of the written notice of entry of the order resolving the motion.When you file the Notice of Appeal, you must also file a Case Appeal Statement in the district court and pay the Supreme Court filing fee of $250.00. The content for both the Notice of Appeal and the Case Appeal Statement can be found in Nevada Rule of Appellate Procedure.
Disclaimer
The information provided in this article does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All information, content, and materials available in this article are for general informational purposes only. The information in this article may not constitute the most up-to-date legal information. Any links to third-party websites included in this article are only made for the convenience of the reader, and the author of this article does not recommend or endorse the contents of the third-party sites.
Readers of this article should contact their attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular legal matter. No reader of this article should act or refrain from acting on the basis of information in this article without first seeking legal advice from counsel in the relevant jurisdiction. Only your individual attorney can provide assurances that the information contained herein — and your interpretation of it — is applicable or appropriate to your particular situation. Use of, and access to, this article, or any of the links or resources contained herein do not create an attorney-client relationship between the reader and author.
All liability with respect to actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this article are hereby expressly disclaimed. The content of this article is provided “as is;” no representations are made that the content is error-free.
As a result of the March 1, 2019 amendments to the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure, there is now an additional step that litigants must take before they can subpoena a witness in Nevada. Under NRCP 45(a)(4), if you wish to subpoena a witness in order to obtain documents, electronically stored information (such as emails, metadata, Excel spreadsheets, and the like), other tangible or physical objects, or even the right to inspect the premises at issue in the litigation, then you must now provide advance notice to all other parties of your intent before serving the subpoena on the witness. Specifically, you must serve all other parties in the action with a notice and a copy of the subpoena at least seven (7) days before service of the subpoena on the witness. The seven-day notice period is designed to permit each party time to make objections to the subpoena and time to seek issuance of a protective order, where necessary.
The new notice requirement does not alleviate the need to provide the witness with his or her own time period in which to lodge any objections to the subpoena. NRCP 45(c)(2)(B) still provides that the witness may lodge his or her own objection to the subpoena before the time specified for compliance in the subpoena, or within 14 days of service of the subpoena, whichever is earlier. Keep in mind that the court can quash or modify a subpoena if it fails to provide reasonable time for compliance. Thus, it is best practice to provide the witness with at least seven (7) to fourteen (14) days to comply with subpoena, although a longer period of time may be required for subpoenas requesting production of a large quantity of documents or documents containing a significant amount of privileged or confidential information. Therefore, if you are thinking about serving a subpoena for the production of documents, you will need to plan accordingly and make sure to serve your notice of the subpoena at least fourteen (14) to twenty-one (21) days before the compliance deadline in the subpoena, if not earlier.
This notice requirement is not required for subpoenas commanding the appearance of the witness for a deposition, hearing, or trial. However, it likely will be applied to subpoenas duces tecum served on Nevada residents for actions outside of Nevada.
Disclaimer
The information provided in this article does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All information, content, and materials available in this article are for general informational purposes only. The information in this article may not constitute the most up-to-date legal information. Any links to third-party websites included in this article are only made for the convenience of the reader, and the author of this article does not recommend or endorse the contents of the third-party sites.
Readers of this article should contact their attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular legal matter. No reader of this article should act or refrain from acting on the basis of information in this article without first seeking legal advice from counsel in the relevant jurisdiction. Only your individual attorney can provide assurances that the information contained herein — and your interpretation of it — is applicable or appropriate to your particular situation. Use of, and access to, this article, or any of the links or resources contained herein do not create an attorney-client relationship between the reader and author.
All liability with respect to actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this article are hereby expressly disclaimed. The content of this article is provided “as is;” no representations are made that the content is error-free.
There is nothing quite like striking out on your own and forming a new firm. But in their enthusiasm to do so, some lawyers forget to pay attention to details. I know this, because someof them later become my clients. What follows is a discussion of some problems that I have seen - over and over again.1."I'm outta here. Who's going with me?"Most small firms and solo practitioners star somewhere else - often at another law firm.Their departure carries with it a host of ethical issues. These include:
Each of these issues must be addressed by a lawyer who contemplates leaving an existing firm. The following resources wil be very helpful if the reader is in that situation. ABA FormalEthics Opinion 99-4 i 4: Ethical Obligations When A Lawyer Changes Firms (9/8/99); Lateral Hires: A Primer To Minimizing Imputed Disqualification; Nevada Lawyer, March 2013;Unfinished Business, Nevada Lawyer, March 2013.2. "But Where Will I Go?"The first stop for many departing lawyers is shared space, with other lawyers, other law firms, or non-lawyers. This is permissible, but presents a host of issues, including:
3. "How Do I Get Their Attention?"The Nevada Supreme Court recently amended the Nevada attorney advertising rules (RPC 7.2, 7.2A and 7.3). ADKT No. 445, filed 11/13/12. These amendments significantlychanged the rules for advertising fees, the requirements for disclaimers, statements of past results, and targeted mail to potential clients. If you are going to advertise, you have to knowthese rules. A good place to start the pursuit of knowledge is the article by Glenn Machado, Assistant Bar Counsel, in the Nevada Lawyer, January 2013.4. "How Far is Too Far?"Lawyer web sites and blogs can be deemed to be advertising. A lawyer who blogs (boasts) about past successes is engaging in commercial speech and is subject to the Bar's advertising rules. Hunter v. Virginia State Bar, Case No. 121472 (Va. S. Ct. 2/28/13). Be careful what you put on Facebook.5. "Sign 'Em Up."Once attorney and client have agreed upon the engagement, a retainer agreement should be executed by the parties. This is mandatory in contingent fee cases (RPC 1.5(c)), but should be done in every case. The retainer agreement does many things. It-· Identifies the client. Do you represent the shareholders, the officers, the directors, the corporation?
A good retainer agreement will cover all these points, and more.6. "Let 'Em Go."When the engagement is concluded, it is important to memorialize the conclusion in a disengagement letter. Nothing fancy; just a letter stating that the matter has concluded, that theattorney-client relationship has ended and that the attorney has no further obligations to the client regarding advice on the matter. This does two things:
In sum, starting a new law firm is exhilarating. I know the feeling. Keeping these issues in mind wil make your solo/small-firm life easier.Mr. Kennedy labored for many years in the vineyards of a large-firm. He now tends the vines on a much smaller estate (Bailey.:.Kennedy) where he advises many solo and small-firmpractitioners. This article is adapted from the CLE presentation made by the author and David Merril to the CCBA on May 8, 2013. If the reader wants copies of any of the materialsreferenced in this article, please e-mail Mr. Kennedy at dkennedy(fbaileykennedy.com.