Leadership

Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt, elected as Nevada’s 33^rd attorney general, took office on January 5, 2015, at that time making him the youngest in the country. A former Lieutenant in the United States Navy, the US Navy trained him as a prosecutor and legal advisor. While serving in Iraq, Laxalt assisted with the detention and prosecution of thousands of war criminals and terrorists. 

 As the chief law enforcement officer for the State, AG Laxalt has worked to keep Nevada’s communities safe, and hosts the State’s first-ever Law Enforcement Summit twice a year bringing officials from Nevada’s 17 counties together to determine how local law enforcement can more effectively address emerging criminal trends. He has worked on behalf of Nevada’s families to protect our most vulnerable communities, and currently chairs the Sexual Assault Kit Backlog Working Group committed to creating policies and procedures associated with the State’s backlog of more than 8,000 untested sexual assault evidence kits. As a former member of the military, his support to Nevada’s service members culminated in the creation of the Office of Military Legal Assistance, a first-of-its-kind program that provides Nevada’s military members with free legal representation.  Through its pro bono legal-aid partnerships, the program is proud to have helped Nevada's Servicemembers and veterans handle more than 3,000 pro bono matters since its launch in late 2015.

AG Laxalt is a fourth generation Nevadan who resides in Reno with his wife Jaime and their three children Sophia, Isabella and Jack.  He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Georgetown University and also from Georgetown Law Center.

Prior to his appointment as First Assistant Attorney General, J. Brin Gibson served as the office’s Bureau Chief of Gaming, Natural Resources & Government Affairs, and Boards and Open Government. He also served as chief counsel to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the Nevada Gaming Commission, the Nevada Gaming Policy Committee, and the Nevada Athletic Commission.

Gibson previously practiced law with what was then Nevada’s largest law firm. He finished his tenure as a partner in the Gaming and Regulatory Practice Division of the firm. Outside of his formal legal practice, Gibson served as Course Coordinator for the Gaming Law Program at the William S. Boyd School of Law under the direction of renowned gaming law expert Robert D. Faiss. He also taught water law at the William S. Boyd School of Law and was appointed twice to the Colorado River Commission.

Gibson earned his Juris Doctorate and Master of Public Policy degrees from Brigham Young University, where he served on the Law Review of the J. Reuben Clark Law School. He resides in Las Vegas with his wife and four children.

Nicholas A. Trutanich is a former federal prosecutor who served as a Supervisor in the Violent and Organized Crime Section and as the Gang Coordinator in the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. During his more than six years with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which included a detail as the Deputy Justice Attaché in Baghdad, Iraq, Trutanich also prosecuted in the office's National Security Section.

Prior to becoming a federal prosecutor, Trutanich practiced law with the national firm Kirkland & Ellis, LLP working on complex commercial matters. He then served as a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real in the Central District of California. Trutanich graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, and resides in Reno with his wife Katherine and three sons Andrew, Joseph and Wyatt.

As Solicitor General, Lawrence VanDyke serves as the chief appellate and legal issues attorney for the State of Nevada, and as a legal advisor to the Attorney General. He is supported in that role by the Office of the Solicitor General, including a Deputy Solicitor General and Assistant Solicitors General. Prior to his appointment as Nevada's Solicitor General, Lawrence VanDyke served in a similar role as the Solicitor General of Montana, and before that as an Assistant Solicitor General in Texas. Before that, he practiced as a constitutional and appellate attorney in the national law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

VanDyke graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Janice Rogers Brown on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He and his wife Cheryl have three children.

Prior to his appointment as General Counsel, Ketan Bhirud served in the Attorney General’s Office as the Head of Complex Litigation and as a partner in the litigation department of Lionel Sawyer & Collins. He has been recognized by Super Lawyer Magazine as a “Rising Star” and by Nevada Business Magazine as both a “Best Up & Coming Attorney” and a “Top Government Lawyer.”

Bhirud earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and his law degree from the University of Minnesota. He enjoys spending his spare time with his wife, Christina Bhirud, and two boys.