Sunday, September 26, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NEVADAN AT WORK: Phil Aurbach; Shareholder, Marquis & Aurbach law firm

Marquis & Aurbach shareholder Phil Aurbach speaks in his office Tuesday. He said he particularly likes training the firm's young lawyers and says persistence is a key to success. Photo by Clint Karlsen.

Not long after he graduated from Las Vegas' Clark High School, local attorney Phil Aurbach was playing on a court, not practicing in one, when he learned what would become a valuable professional skill.

It was during a tennis game in Arizona that Aurbach first appreciated the value of a "psych out," those subtle little verbal jabs designed to wreak mental havoc on an opponent's best-laid plans.

Facing a less-talented, older player, Aurbach walked away a loser after his tormentor continually goaded him into errant shots by encouraging the then-college student to serve his balls harder than he normally would.

"He'd say, `Give me your big serve,' and I kept double faulting," Aurbach recalled from his Summerlin law office. "I was a better player, but he won because he got into my head. ... That's something I've never forgotten."

Nor has Aurbach forgotten to pass on what he's learned to younger attorneys at the local law firm that bears his name, Marquis & Aurbach. He said sharing his experiences with others is one of the most-enjoyable aspects of his job.

And while he insists it's no psych out, Aurbach is also quick to point out the many aspects of the modern legal system he does not enjoy, including dollar-driven attorneys and judges who actively solicit election campaign funds from lawyers they oversee in court.

Question: If you change anything about the legal system, what would it be?

Answer: I would stop judges from being elected. It's horrible for a judge who's in an election to have to say, "I'm going to throw more people in jail" (to woo voters). That may get them elected, but it may not be the right thing in a particular case.

The integrity of the judiciary is critical to how our system functions. We should at least have the appearance that judges are above it all and not beholden to special interests.

In Nevada, lawyers give money to judges (for their campaigns), so you could go in front of a judge not knowing whether the lawyer on the other side has given more than you have. Hopefully that won't make a difference ... but I don't think a judge should be put in a position to say, "Phil, I need some more money."

Question: What would you suggest instead of elections?

Answer: We should have a panel, a judicial selection committee of lawyers and lay people who make a decision of three qualified applicants and the governor picks one of them. Once those judges are in office, the public would vote to keep them or get rid of them, showing that type of public vote of confidence.

Question: Did you know at an early age that you would become a lawyer?

Answer: My dad was in the gaming business (as a pit boss at the Desert Inn), so he had no contact with (the legal industry). We had no relatives who had any contact with it, so I got out of college and taught tennis for a little bit before I started to work as a management trainee at (Las Vegas' former) Valley Bank.

For some reason I had to go see an attorney with my parents, and he had such a great-looking desk that I decided to take the Law School Aptitude Test. ... I didn't do so well, but I was encouraged by the wife of former Congressman Jim Santini to take it again. I got a much better score, got into law school and went from there. It was a total fluke that I went to law school.

Question: But training young attorneys is one of your favorite aspects of your work?

Answer: When you come out of law school you're a blank slate, so it takes (a new attorney) a year for them to figure out what the rules are, what you can and can't do and how the game is played. It takes three to five years to become a C (grade) attorney, and five to 10 years to become a B or an A attorney. It's a long gestation, so I enjoy helping to guide them.

Question: What makes a good attorney?

Answer: In one word, persistence. A mediocre, C attorney who can follow through and get a case to trial consistently is really an A attorney.

Question: Mediation is an aspect of law you particularly enjoy. Why?

Answer: You get to act almost like a family counselor ... and try to help them craft a settlement. Probably 70 percent of the commercial cases I act as a mediator on settle right then, and the ones that don't narrow their gap substantially.

Having people that are locked in bitter battles is emotionally draining but really rewarding, probably the most rewarding thing I've done as a lawyer.

Question: Is mediation a large part of your practice?

Answer: I'd like to do more of it, but it's a minor part. Mediation hasn't quite caught on to where attorneys are recommending it to their clients.

Question: Could that be caused by lawyers who are looking to prolong a case to compound the fees they collect from clients?

Answer: That's exactly right. One of the things that I don't like about practicing law is that it's become a business and less of a profession. The dollar drives what a lot of attorneys do. It's like the old saying, "The presumption of innocence arises upon the payment of my retainer."

Some lawyers will, as long as their client has money, bill them hourly to string things along as opposed to look toward settlement and what's in the client's best interest.

Question: Does that explain your firm's willingness to do so much pro bono work?

Answer: Absolutely. We try to give back to the community. If you've ever been sued, you know that nobody likes to be in litigation.

Question: How do you find pro bono clients?

Answer: Clark County Legal Services has a pro bono section that's run by Barbara Buckley. We volunteer to be on the list and advance it from there. ... It's pretty rewarding to be able to take the legal system and use it for people who are disadvantaged and don't have the wherewithal to pay an hourly rate for a commercial attorney.

Question: Although you've practiced your entire career in Southern Nevada, have you observed how your profession may differ here when compared with other cities?

Answer: In the past few years, we've grown so fast with so many people in the valley and the number of lawyers has grown also. Because of the opportunities here, lawyers have poured in just like the regular population.

As the bar gets bigger, it becomes more anonymous. ... When you don't know the attorney on the other side, there are more personal attacks and nastiness between the lawyers, infighting to show their clients who's the big dog. That's been a gradual change here over the past 10 or 15 years, which I think is just awful.