{"id":250230,"date":"2022-12-28T20:36:06","date_gmt":"2022-12-29T02:36:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=250230"},"modified":"2023-01-03T05:45:00","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T11:45:00","slug":"nevada-attorney-sam-lionel-remembered-for-legendary-commitment-to-casino-clients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nevada-attorney-sam-lionel-remembered-for-legendary-commitment-to-casino-clients\/","title":{"rendered":"Nevada Attorney Sam Lionel Remembered for Legendary Commitment to Casino Clients"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Preeminent Nevada attorney Samuel \u201cSam\u201d Lionel passed away on Friday at the age of 103. He was remembered this week as the dean of the Nevada bar.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_250232\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-250232\" data-style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-250232\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/lionel1-142x95.jpg\" alt=\"Attorney Samuel Lionel (second from left) and his wife Lexy \" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-250232\"class=\"text-description\">Attorney Samuel Lionel (second from left) and his wife Lexy (left) with US Sen. Harry Reid (seated) and his wife, Landra Gould Reid. Samuel Lionel passed away last week and was recalled for his prominent legal career. (Image: UNLV)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Lionel practiced law until he retired at the age of about 100. For decades, he and law firm colleagues represented many of Las Vegas\u2019s casinos and hotels.<\/p>\n<p>Among his clients were Del Webb, who built the Flamingo, and Paradise Development. Moe Dalitz was a senior founding member of that real estate business.\u00a0Other clients were Howard Hughes and Kirk Kerkorian, who was a principal of the MGM hotels.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>In a tribute presented on the floor of the US Senate in 2019, Sen. Jacky Rosen said Lionel \u201cplayed a key role in the conception and development of many of the hotels and casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, setting the stage for Nevada\u2019s unprecedented growth and its booming entertainment scene.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Lionel also started the Lionel, Sawyer and Collins law firm in 1967. Other partners were former Gov. Grant Sawyer and former Nevada Supreme Court Chief Justice Jon Collins.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf there was one person responsible for elevating the practice of law in Nevada after World War II it was Samuel Lionel,\u201d John Mowbray, managing partner of Spencer Fane\u2019s Las Vegas office and past president of the Nevada Bar Association, recalled to <em>Casino.org<\/em>. \u201cNevada has just lost one of its legends to the ages, the dean of our Nevada bar.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Prominence in Gaming Law<\/h2>\n<p>Lionel, Sawyer and Collins gained prominence in gaming law and regulation in Nevada and elsewhere, Richard Morgan, founding dean of UNLV\u2019s William S. Boyd School of Law, told <em>Casino.org<\/em>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\"><p>While Sam concentrated his practice on litigation and appellate matters, including those involving his casino and hotel clients, his partner and dear friend, Bob Faiss, led the regulatory department that represented major gaming clients in their regulatory affairs,\u201d Morgan added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>When Morgan arrived in Las Vegas in 1997 to found the Boyd School of Law, \u201cI quickly learned that Sam was regarded as the dean of the Nevada legal profession.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlmost every Las Vegas <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/us\/real-money\/\">major casino company<\/a> listed Sam as their attorney on any major piece of legislation and Grant Sawyer as their attorney on any major gaming application,\u201d Anthony Cabot, who started his own legal career at Lionel\u2019s firm, recalled.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\"><p>On a 50-year-old map, you could point out almost any Strip casino, and chances are, they were Lionel Sawyer&#8217;s clients,\u201d Cabot, now a distinguished fellow in gaming law at UNLV\u2019s law school, told <em>Casino.org<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He remembers Lionel as \u201cthe consummate lawyer and an eminent scholar. Sam&#8217;s breadth of legal knowledge intimidated us as young attorneys.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He would regularly visit the offices of the younger lawyers. He was interested in what they were working on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone became better lawyers because of his expertise and interest,\u201d Cabot said.<\/p>\n<p>Las Vegas&#8217;s business community also recognized his expertise.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\"><p>In Las Vegas, Sam was the attorney clients turned to when they had serious problems. These are what some call \u2018bet the company\u2019 issues,\u201d Cabot added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He also was one of the philanthropists behind the creation of the UNLV law school. He supported Nevada\u2019s Jewish community, too.<\/p>\n<h2>Military Service<\/h2>\n<p>Born on April 7, 1919, in the Bronx, N.Y., Lionel graduated from St. John\u2019s University School of Law.<\/p>\n<p>He served in the US Army during World War II. After practicing law in New York City, he joined the Army Judge Advocate General\u2019s office. He also taught at the United States Military Academy at West Point.<\/p>\n<p>He then decided to relocate to Nevada in 1953. Soon, he started his legendary legal career.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to his wife, Lexy, Lionel is survived by his daughter, Dana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Preeminent Nevada attorney Samuel \u201cSam\u201d Lionel passed away on Friday at the age of 103. He was remembered this week as the dean of the Nevada bar. Lionel practiced law until he retired at the age of about 100. For decades, he and law firm colleagues represented many of Las Vegas\u2019s casinos and hotels. Among [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":250232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81886,60],"tags":[23,81928,84306],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Nevada Attorney Sam Lionel Remembered for Service to Casino Clients<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Preeminent Nevada attorney Samuel \u201cSam\u201d Lionel passed away on Friday at the age of 103. He was remembered as the dean of the Nevada bar.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nevada Attorney Sam Lionel Remembered for Service to Casino Clients\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Preeminent Nevada attorney Samuel \u201cSam\u201d Lionel passed away on Friday at the age of 103. He was remembered as the dean of the Nevada bar.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nevada-attorney-sam-lionel-remembered-for-legendary-commitment-to-casino-clients\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-29T02:36:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-03T11:45:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/lionel1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1140\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ed Silverstein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgedsilv\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ed Silverstein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nevada-attorney-sam-lionel-remembered-for-legendary-commitment-to-casino-clients\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nevada-attorney-sam-lionel-remembered-for-legendary-commitment-to-casino-clients\/\",\"name\":\"Nevada Attorney Sam Lionel Remembered for Service to Casino Clients\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nevada-attorney-sam-lionel-remembered-for-legendary-commitment-to-casino-clients\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nevada-attorney-sam-lionel-remembered-for-legendary-commitment-to-casino-clients\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/lionel1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-29T02:36:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-03T11:45:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b3771b02527bcbda9af984b9b1ff098e\"},\"description\":\"Preeminent Nevada attorney Samuel \u201cSam\u201d Lionel passed away on Friday at the age of 103. 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