Q&A with Daniel McNutt, partner with Carbajal & McNutt

The first half of Daniel McNutt’s adult life was spent with the Marines, serving as an infantry officer. The second half of his life was focused on the law, specializing in business litigation.

Whether it’s donning body armor or a suit and tie, McNutt feels at home.

McNutt has been a partner in the downtown Las Vegas boutique law firm of Carbajal & McNutt for the past seven years. From 2004-06, he was a solo lawyer after finding out life in the law trenches at his first law job at Lionel Sawyer in Las Vegas from 2001-04.

These days, McNutt works with his law partner Hector Carbajal. The duo has two paralegals.

But he noted, “We need more.”

The western Pennsylvania native didn’t set out to practice law.

McNutt, 42, enlisted in the Marines Reserves out of high school in 1989 and was a Pennsylvania State University graduate in 1993. After college, McNutt was commissioned as a Marine officer and served in Bosnia.

McNutt stayed in the Marines until 1998 before making history in Las Vegas as a member of the first law class at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Just because he looks like a lawyer in a dark suit and tie and attends court hearings doesn’t mean Marine life is too far away for McNutt. In 2009, McNutt took a year off from his law practice to volunteer in an infantry support role in Afghanistan.

Why leave the safe environs of a courtroom in Las Vegas for Afghanistan?

“I had a healthy amount of disdain for the political dialogue involving the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although that dialogue is inevitable, for me, the appropriate course was to express my thoughts with action, rather than words.”

Why did you want to go into the law?

When I left active duty in 1998, the only job I knew was a Marine infantry officer. Law school was the only advanced degree that interested me although I didn’t know much about the actual practice of law. In the end, I thought law school would be a good education and then I would figure out if I liked practicing law. I’m fortunate that I do, in fact, enjoy the practice of law.

Why did you want to volunteer for military duty in 2009?

I had been out of the Marine Corps for 11 years and a lot had happened in the world since I had last served in Bosnia in the 1990s. Many of my friends who remained on active duty had done multiple tours to Iraq and Afghanistan and I felt called to volunteer and shoulder some of the same risks that they were dealing with.

What was the biggest adjustment returning from duty and going to court?

Wearing a necktie initially seemed more restrictive than body armor.

What aspects of your military career have you been able to apply to law?

Any success that I’ve had has been the direct result of God’s grace and the lessons that my mom and dad instilled. Beyond that, the Marine Corps was an excellent place to learn the mental agility required to be an effective business litigator. Marine Gen. (James) Mattis said that he spent 30 years preparing for a decision that took 30 seconds. The law is similar ... because it requires lawyers to engage in detailed and extensive preparation so that they are prepared to execute their plan whenever the opportunity presents itself; be that in a hearing, a deposition or at trial.