Youth Forum experience was a help to LV attorney

Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2005 | 8:20 a.m.

"Unions have become powerful in politics, but they are part of the democratic way. They affect local and national economies. Strikes are no longer a last resort, but a first...It was concluded that unions are good as protection, but their political influence and power is something to be noted."

-- Jim Crockett, Dec. 26, 1965

Jim Crockett

School: Las Vegas High

Sun Youth Forum year: 1965

Graduation: 1966 from Valley High School

College: Loyola University, California, (1971); McGeorge School of Law (1974)

Occupation: Founding partner of Crockett & Myers law firm (1979)

Accomplishments: Admitted to the Nevada Bar (1974); his company is the founding agency of the "Home for the Holidays" free ride home program from bars and parties; board-certified as a trial lawyer for 22 years.

Editors note: This is the third in a series about local students who participated in past Las Vegas Sun Youth Forums. The 50th anniversary of the forum will be Tuesday at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Jim Crockett says his experiences at the Las Vegas Sun Youth Forum and writing a column for the Sun on the group's discussions helped him achieve his dream of becoming a lawyer.

That is because, on at least one of the points of contention -- labor unions -- Crockett obtained experience in his column 40 years ago in presenting a viewpoint with which he did not totally agree.

Crockett said he did not share the group's opinion that unions are too strong or that they used strikes as a first salvo, noting he felt then and now that without unions the working man is unprotected.

"I think one of the best talents for a lawyer is to objectively see both sides of a situation and not be blind to just his client's perspective," he said. "It was a good exercise for me to report on what the group felt and get outside myself."

Stricter gun laws was something that Crockett also had to wrestle with, as he wrote: "It was concluded that a 72-hour cooling off period before purchasing (a) gun would be beneficial to Nevada if one death could be prevented."

"At the time, I owned a pistol that my friends and I used for shooting at targets in the desert," Crockett said. "I went into a local retail store when I was 17 and bought it. The clerk didn't even ask for my ID.

"As I got to thinking about it, if a teenager could get a gun that easily, maybe it was a good idea to have a waiting period."

Today, there is no Nevada law requiring a waiting period to purchase a handgun.

Crockett said at the forum he was impressed both with the interest of the adults who ran the event and with his peers' intellect.

"I was very impressed that Mr. Greenspun (late Sun Publisher Hank Greenspun) took the time to sponsor something like this," he said. "There was a seriousness to the people participating. They shared some worthwhile thoughts. There was a level of maturity -- no goofing around at all."

On the Sun Youth Forum reaching its 50th birthday, Crockett said: "It's fantastic. Every time I read columns in the Sun from young people who attended the forum, I comment on how wise they are."

Ed Koch can be reached at 259-4090 or at koch@lasvegassun.com.