Assistant solicitor general named to UNLV legal post

Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2004 | 9:39 a.m.

Assistant Solicitor General Richard Linstrom is going from suing the university system to defending it.

UNLV President Carol Harter announced the appointment of Linstrom as the new general counsel for the university on Monday, less than six months after Linstrom won a decisive court victory for the Nevada attorney general's office against the University and Community College System of Nevada.

Linstrom sued the university Board of Regents for allegedly violating the open-meeting law during two closed sessions in November 2003 that led to the demotions of Community College of Southern Nevada President Ron Remington and lobbyist John Cummings.

In a June summary judgment, District Judge Jackie Glass ruled that the regents had violated the open-meeting law by deliberating in closed session. She voided the demotions. The case was later settled out of court.

But despite the past litigation, neither Linstrom nor his new boss, university system Chief Counsel Daniel Klaich, saw any potential conflict or even awkwardness in Linstrom's appointment to UNLV.

"Richard was doing his job as a lawyer and representing his client, the attorney general," Klaich said of the open-meeting law case. "If anything, given the high regard Mr. Linstrom holds with the attorney general, I would suspect the appointment (to UNLV) could strengthen the relationship between the system and the attorney general's office."

Tense relations between the two offices, including repeated allegations of open-meeting law violations, led Interim Chancellor Jim Rogers to reorganize the system's legal department in August.

Rogers demoted Tom Ray, the system's lead lawyer on the open-meeting law case, and in October hired Klaich as the system's new chief counsel. Klaich serves as the point person between the university system and the attorney general's office and oversees all of the attorneys appointed to the various institutions.

Although he sees strength in Linstrom's connections with the attorney general's office, Klaich said that was not a factor in Linstron's hiring. Instead, it was Linstrom's "track record" and his knowledge of state and federal laws.

Linstrom has worked in the attorney general's office since 1995, where he is currently chief deputy attorney general for the Las Vegas branch. He'll start his position at UNLV Dec. 9 and will report both to Klaich and Harter.

"This was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up," Linstrom said. "A lot of exciting things are going on at UNLV."