John Katsilometes has lunch with a few lawyers - 500 or so - honored by their peers for their commitment to pro bono work

Sunday, Dec. 10, 2006 | 7:45 a.m.

Five-hundred legal professionals were never so appealing.

The Clark County Bar Association and Clark County Pro Bono Project (a division of Clark County Legal Services) held their sixth annual Pro Bono Awards at the Rio on Friday afternoon. The awards recognized the volunteer work of individual attorneys, along with contributions from small, medium and large law firms during the past year. There was no shortage of deserving candidates: Listed in the event program were attorneys who took on at least one pro bono case in 2006; about 300 lawyers were named.

Those singled out for individual awards during Friday's luncheon were Thomas H. Fell, Philip Goldstein, Raymond E. McKay, Kathryn MacKessey, Jennifer DeMarzio, District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez, Jason Stoffel, Randal Shimon, Paul Prior and North Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Stephen Dahl. Law firms honored were Lionel Sawyer & Collins, whose 817 pro bono hours were the most of any Southern Nevada firm; Gordon & Silver Ltd., for taking on the most pro bono cases in the Las Vegas area, 13; Goldsmith & Guyman, the small law firm of the year; Schreck Brignone, medium law firm of the year; and Jones Vargas, large law firm of the year.

While the event was to recognize and reward good works, Fell, of Gordon & Silver who was honored as Pro Bono Attorney of the Year, challenged those in attendance by saying, "We need to do better next year."

NoteMart

The Fremont Street Experience is planning its largest New Year's Eve celebration. The party under the lighted canopy will be broadcast on DIRECTV's new live music performance show, "CD USA," and Las Vegas will be one of four cities counting down to midnight on the show's nationwide broadcast. (New York; Austin, Texas; and Denver are the other hot spots.) Featured on two stages will be the bands Five For Fighting, All-American Rejects, Rockstar: SuperNova and Smash Mouth. Gates open at 5:30, but the days of spending New Year's Eve on the cheap in downtown Las Vegas are gone - tickets are $80 (go to www.vegasexperience.com)

We can confidently snuff out one wildly off-target rumor we heard a few weeks ago, that Prince was required to play just a single song per night during his extended engagement at the Rio. On Saturday his show started at about 12:30 (a.m.) and ended just short of 3. Then he was off for more music at the 3121 Jazz Cuisine restaurant, but many show-goers were too gassed to keep pace with the tireless and talented eccentricity

Royal announcement? CBS' "NFL Today" today will have the NFL's exclusive live announcement of the halftime performer for Super Bowl XLI. Internet reports over the past weeks indicate Prince is the choice for CBS' first Super Bowl telecast since Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake tarnished our nation's psyche

During an appearance Thursday night at the Stirling Club, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took a chain saw to what he described as the Bush administration's fraudulent environmental record. But the hoarse-voiced environmental activist also chided the media for "caring more about celebrity gossip than covering the important issues facing this country." Kennedy was a speaker at the gala for Nova Town and Sage Era Resort, described as a "futuristic model town" that will sit on 24 acres near Jean. The project is fronted by artist, singer, writer and philosopher Melissa Henry (aka Vera Nova)

From today through Christmas we will provide a Vegas-centric holiday gift guide. Today's installment: a sleeve of Celine Dion Nike brand golf balls (three balls, total) for $18 at the Celine Dion gift shop at Caesars

A colleague passes along the vanity plate KISSMGR on a Land Rover LR3. It's not for the rock band; the plate frame says Kiss Cabinets & Design Inc.