People on the Move: Aug. 16-22

Alexis Michaud is of counsel at McCormick Barstow. Michaud advises on business and estate planning, entity formation, contract review, mergers and acquisitions and succession planning.

Dustun Holmes joined Pisanelli Bice as an associate attorney. He practices commercial litigation.

Mahna Pourshaban, Michael Lin and Trevor Waite are associate attorneys at Alverson, Taylor, Mortensen & Sanders. Pourshaban’s practice focuses on transportation law, products liability and premises liability. Lin handles the defense of personal injury, products liability, professional liability and insurance bad faith matters. Waite practices in the firm’s transactional law department with a focus on corporate law, business transactions, real estate, domestic law and estate planning.

Jeff Silver joined Dickinson Wright, where he practices gaming law. Silver was co-founder of Gordon Silver, as well as a former Clark County chief deputy district attorney, a member of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board and an executive at various resort hotels. Other attorneys who joined Dickinson Wright are members Jennifer Ko Craft, Michael Feder, Eric Hone and John Krieger along with Joel Schwarz as of counsel and Joanna Myers and Gabriel Blumberg as associates.

Kristina R. Weller joined Richard Harris Law Firm as an associate. Weller practices interpleader, personal injury, medical malpractice, mass torts and product liability law.

Michael Whittaker is an associate attorney at McDonald Carano, practicing estate planning, charitable planning, trust and estate administration, and taxation law.

V.R. Bohman, Daniel Ivie and Robert Schaffer joined Snell & Wilmer. Bohman practices commercial litigation. Ivie and Schaffer are staff attorneys.

Russel Geist, an associate at Hutchison & Steffen, was appointed to the advisory board of the Congressional Award Council of Nevada.

Marilyn Goforth, legal administrator at Kolesar & Leatham, is on the national planning committee for the Association of Legal Administrators’ 2016 Conference and Expo.

JW Advisors founder and partner Kirk Jacobson joined the Nevada Bar Foundation board of directors. He is the only non-attorney director on the board. The foundation helps people access justice and legal education programs. Jacobson also serves on the State Bar of Nevada Clients’ Security Fund Committee.

Georlen “Jori” Spangler joined the board of the Southern Nevada Association of Women Attorneys.

Douglas Kurdziel joined Alverson, Taylor, Mortensen & Sanders, practicing civil litigation defense with an emphasis in professional liability and health care law.

Thomas Fell is a director at Fennemore Craig. Fell practices business restructuring, bankruptcy, creditors’ rights, business litigation and landlord/tenant law.

Robert C. Kim is managing partner of Ballard Spahr’s Las Vegas office. Kim was administrative partner and represents clients on corporate governance matters, mergers and acquisitions, capital formation, SEC reporting and gaming compliance. He succeeds Bill Curran.

Eric Dobberstein of Dickinson Wright was reelected to the State Bar of Nevada’s Board of Governors.

Presiding Civil Division District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez received the Clark County Law Foundation Liberty Bell Award for her work establishing the Civil Law Self-Help Center, which helps people who represent themselves. The nonprofit Legal Aid Center operates the center at the Regional Justice Center in cooperation with the Eighth Judicial District Court. Gonzalez is the 2014-15 president of the American College of Business Court Judges and serves as a master emeritus of the Nevada American Inn of Court, which works to enhance the practical skills and ethical responsibility of Nevada’s lawyers.

Multiple attorneys received the Lawyer of the Year designation from Best Lawyers, a peer-review publication. They include Maria Nutile, Nutile Law; Mark Ferrario, Edward Quirk and Mark Tratos, all of Greenberg Traurig; J. Randall Jones and Will Kemp, both of Kemp, Jones & Coulthard; Edwin Keller Jr., Kamer Zucker Abbott; Steven Oshins, Oshins & Associates; Ellen Schulhofer, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; Jeffrey Silver, Dickinson Wright; Laura Thalacker, Hartwell Thalacker; J. Colby Williams, Campbell & Williams; and Carol Davis Zucker, Kamer Zucker Abbott.

Nevada Chief Justice James Hardesty appointed a commission created by the Nevada Supreme Court to study guardianships in the state. The Commission to Study the Administration of Guardianships in Nevada’s Courts will review the processes for creating guardianships and conservatorships, stakeholder accountability, judicial training, court documentation and tracking, and resources for administrating guardianships. Hardesty will serve as chairman. Other members are Frances Doherty, Cynthia Dianne Steel, Egan Walker, Michael C. Sprinkle, Trudy Andrews, Deborah Bookout, Rana Goodman, Jay P. Raman, Terri Russell, Kim Spoon, Susan Sweikert, Michael Gibbons, Nancy Porter, William Voy, Becky Harris, Glenn E. Trowbridge, Julie Arnold, Kathleen Buchanan, Susan Hoy, Kim Rowe, David Spitzer, Timothy Sutton, Elyse Tyrell and Christine Smith.

McDonald Carano acquired the Reno law firm Avansino, Melarkey, Knobel, Mulligan & McKenzie.

Richard Bryan and John Mowbray, directors at Fennemore Craig, were re-elected to the board of directors for the Mob Museum.

The 2015 list of Top 100 Mountain States Super Lawyers includes J. Bruce Alverson and LeAnn Sanders, Alverson, Taylor, Mortensen & Sanders; Dennis L. Kennedy, Bailey Kennedy; Kirk B. Lenhard, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; Jay Young, Howard & Howard Attorneys; Brett A. Axelrod, Fox Rothschild; Todd L. Bice and James J. Pisanelli, Pisanelli Bice; Peter W. Billings, Fabian Clendenin; Daniel F. Polsenberg, Dan R. Waite, Thomas G. Ryan and John E. Bragonje, Lewis Roca Rothgerber; L. Grant Foster, J. Walter Sinclair, B. Newal Squyres, Joe M. Teig, George M. Haley, Mona L. Burton and Bradley T. Cave, Holland & Hart; Donald J. Campbell and J. Colby Williams, Campbell & Williams; Candace C. Carlyon, Carlyon Law Group; Jennifer Ko Craft, Joel Z. Schwarz, Jeffrey A. Silver, John L. Krieger, Eric D. Hone and Michael N. Feder, Dickinson Wright; Joseph P. Hardy, Gordon & Rees; Kenneth E. Hogan, Hogan Hulet; Mark A. Hutchison, Hutchison & Steffen; J. Randall Jones, Kemp, Jones & Coulthard; Edward L. Kainen, Kainen Law Group; David R. Koch, Koch & Scow; David E. Leta and Alan L. Sullivan, Snell & Wilmer; Steven J. McCardell and David W. Tufts, Durham Jones & Pinegar; Steve Morris, Morris Law Group; Nicholas J. Santoro, Santoro Whitmire; Terry N. Trieweiler, Trieweiler Law Firm; Abran E. Vigil, Ballard Spahr.

Several Nevada law firms and lawyers landed in the top tiers of the 2015 Chambers & Partners Guide.

• The firms include Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Holland & Hart, Parsons Behle & Latimer, Campbell & Williams, Kemp, Jones & Coulthard and Fennemore Craig.

• Top attorneys in corporate and commercial law include John Fowler, Woodburn and Wedge; Michael Bonner, Greenberg Traurig; David Garcia, Holland & Hart; Robert Kim, Ballard Spahr; Ellen Schulhofer, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; and Jeffrey Zucker, Fennemore Craig.

• Top attorneys in environment include Greg Walch, Holley, Driggs, Walch, Puzey & Thompson; Linda Bullen, Bullen Law; Jim Butler, Parsons Behle & Latimer; and Ross de Lipkau, Parsons Behle & Latimer.

• Top attorneys in gaming and licensing include Frank Schreck, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; David Arrajj, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; Anthony Cabot, Lewis Roca Rothgerber; Mark Clayton, Greenberg Traurig; Alvin Hicks, McDonald Carano Wilson; and Jeffrey Silver, Gordon Silver.

• Top attorneys in labor and employment include Patrick Hicks, Littler Mendelson; Gregory Kamer, Kamer Zucker Abbott; Gary Moss, Jackson Lewis; Mark Ricciardi, Fisher & Phillips; Elayna Youchah, Jackson Lewis; and Andrew Brignone, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.

• Top attorneys in litigation include Dennis Haney, Holley, Driggs, Walch, Puzey & Thompson; Leon Mead; George Ogilvie III, McDonald Carano Wilson; Georlen Spangler, Weinberg, Wheeler, Hudgins, Gunn & Dial; Todd Touton, Touton Law; Donald Campbell, Campbell & Williams; J. Randall Jones, Kemp, Jones & Coulthard; Dennis Kennedy, Bailey Kennedy; Kirk Lenhard, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; Steve Morris, Morris Law Group; J. Stephen Peek, Holland & Hart; James Pisanelli, Pisanelli Bice; and Kent Robison, Robison, Belaustegui, Sharp & Low.

• Top attorneys in real estate include Leslie Terry Jones, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; Michael Buckley, Fennemore Craig; Karen Dennison, Holland & Hart; Jim Mace, Greenberg Traurig; Stephen Rice, Rice Reuther Sullivan & Carroll; Jeffrey Zucker, Fennemore Craig; and Christopher Kaempfer, Kaempfer Crowell Renshaw Gronauer & Fiorentino.