Q&A: Chris Kaempfer

By Buck Wargo

Friday, June 18, 2010 | 3 a.m.

Chris Kaempfer is a familiar face in the Clark County Commission and valley’s city council chambers.

Kaempfer, 61, is one of the preeminent administrative law attorneys in Nevada and a partner at Kaempfer Crowell, Renshaw, Gronauer & Fiorentino. He argues on behalf of clients on land use and other requests before government bodies.

The easygoing Kaempfer said he has a motto in how he treats people and how he operates as a lawyer.

“Lawyers sometimes they think they don’t have to operate by the same set of rules or that they are somehow elevated,” Kaempfer said. “If you have an ego, you better not work in my firm because I don’t want to hear about it.”

IBLV: What prompted you to become a lawyer?

Kaempfer: My grandfather was a lawyer and my father was a court reporter, which actually got me more interested than even my grandfather. It was the fact that my dad was always talking about court cases and things like that. I wanted to go to law school with the idea of being an FBI agent, but back then you had to have 20-20 vision, and I didn’t have 20-20 vision, so I couldn’t be a field agent. I guess if I couldn’t shoot a gun and run after people, I didn’t want to be an FBI agent.

What kind of law did you envision yourself practicing?

I wanted to be a criminal lawyer, but the very first case I had dissuaded me from that idea because I knew the guy was completely lying to me the whole time he was talking to me. I said, “I don’t want to be in a field where I have to discern if someone is telling me the truth or not.”

What was the case?

A guy had robbed a 7-Eleven, and he was telling me how he was innocent despite the fact they found a gun and money on him. He had a story that he picked the money up because he was chasing the guy who really did rob the store. Then the guy threw a gun away and he picked the gun up because he didn’t want someone to use it and get hurt. Criminal law is an incredibly important field, but it was not something for me.

How did you get in your current field?

I went to work for Vargas & Bartlett and I ended up doing general construction. I did a lot of construction law and contract law. The most interesting case I had in the late 1970s dealt with convenience markets that had gas pumps. Clark County at that time did not allow gas pumps in conjunction with convenience markets because they thought it would encourage drunken driving. Atlantic Richfield came to me and said it didn’t think that makes a lot of sense. We applied and it was denied by Clark County and we went to court, argued the case and we won. The judge said it was arbitrary and capricious not to allow gas pumps because there was no relationship between gas pumps and drunken driving. As a consequence, my wife would tell me every time after that case that when a new convenience store with gas pumps would pop up, “you did that, you did that and you did that.” Since that time — I believe it was 1978 or 1979 — I have been specializing in land use as well as construction.

What are you most known for?

Land use and administrative law (handling cases before local governments).

Your firm was well known for years as Kummer Kaempfer. Walk us through the basic history of how Kummer Kaempfer came to be, how long it operated that way and why you transitioned to become Kaempfer Crowell?

I was in Vargas & Bartlett right out of clerking for Judge Roger Foley in 1977 and stayed with it until 1994. Vargas & Bartlett made the determination not to have a Southern Nevada office. Since we were in the south, we had to have our own firm. That was Kummer Kaempfer, Bonner and Renshaw and later Kummer Kaempfer Bonner, Renshaw and Ferrario. We stayed in place until the (proposed merger with) Greenberg Traurig toward the end of last year.

The firm is Kaempfer Crowell, Renshaw, Gronauer & Fiorentino. What happened?

We had the option of going over to Greenberg Traurig, but the government-affairs department felt at the time that we would be better served in keeping our Nevada base. We have a very strong Nevada base. Bob Crowell, who joined our firm at that point and is now the mayor of Carson City, has strong Nevada ties. Everyone in our firm has strong Nevada ties.

What transpired?

The merger didn’t happen, but most of our litigators and virtually all of our transactional people went over to Greenburg Traurig. The only people who stayed here were government affairs and Jim Smyth in our litigation department. Interestingly enough, because our gaming work left, we were able to ask Pete Bernhard to join us. And Pete, the chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, is now with our firm and does litigation. I think we are stronger than we ever were.

What side were you on?

It was hard for me to leave people I practiced law with for 30 years. It was tough, but I had worked very hard from 1979 on creating a government-affairs team that I think, and most people would agree, is the best team assembled. The feeling was that for a Nevada-based firm that specialized in Nevada issues, we would be better served keeping that Nevada feel to our firm and Nevada base to our firm as oppose to joining an international firm like Greenberg. It is a very good firm with very good people, but at that point, it just wasn’t what we wanted to do.

Did it create any hard feelings?

We respect that decision. It was a painful decision for them and us. You have do what you feel is in your best interest. Litigation and transactional work through a national firm was better for them.

Do you think national law firms moving here is over?

You will see probably some national firms trying to merge still. There was a period they would come here and set up offices. I don’t think you will see that much anymore. We have had two other firms ask us since Greenberg Traurig. We respectively declined for the same reasons.

Recently it was reported three well-known legislative lobbyists are leaving to start their own government-affairs business. They are John Pappageorge, Russell Rowe and John Griffin. Do you expect to replace them and maintain a strong legislative business?

We have a strong legislative practice. Bob Crowell who brought in a significant number of the clients on the northern end is still with our firm. Mark Fiorentino, who started this whole legislative practice, is not just a name partner but actively involved in legislative practice. Jennifer Lazovich, who is a partner shareholder at our firm, will be full time at the Legislature. We have Erin Russell Hayes, whose grandfather was governor of the state, she is still working with us. We have a strong legislative team.

Will you replace them?

No. It is very difficult to replace a John Pappageorge. We are hoping to work with him in the future. John was not a member of our firm. He was an independent party who worked with our firm, and we hope to have John working with us on some things in the future.

What other changes have taken place since the split in the firm?

When Kummer Kaempfer disbanded, we were pleased to ask Bob Crowell to have his name become a prominent part of our firm name, which we knew would send the message we want sent. That is, that Kaempfer Crowell is a statewide firm with the finest administrative/legislative law practice Nevada has to offer. Bob ran for and was elected mayor of Carson City, a position he has held since January 2009. We look forward to many more years together.

So quite frankly, with Bob Crowell at the helm at our northern office and with partners Jason Woodbury, our chief Northern Nevada litigator, and Steve Tackes, the head of our Northern Nevada transactional department, we have the state covered north and south.

What’s the state of the legal industry in Nevada in terms of the quality of the attorneys here and the quality of services received by residents and companies? Clearly we have some of the nation’s top gaming attorneys. But other than that, is Nevada considered a prestigious and attractive place to practice?

I think it is very good, but again it is like anything, you can have the wrong guy working on your kitchen or fixing your car or you can have the wrong guy or right guy doing your legal work. I am very proud of the people we have at our firm. There is not one person at this firm who I would not have handle a case for me personally. It has always been good, but you just have to be careful because there are some people out there who are not as good as they should be.

What about UNLV’s Boyd Law School? Has that improved professionalism in the industry?

Absolutely. We are very proud of the fact that we have two or three of our attorneys are graduates from Boyd. Boyd is one of the top 100 law schools in the country. It is an incredible school with incredible programs, and it really does produce incredibly good lawyers.

With the emphasis on renewable energy growing, how is that going to affect you?

I think it is going to be an incredibly important field. We recognize that. We have people in our firm who are involved in working with clients who want to emphasize renewable energy. If you are not part of that, you are missing the train. It will zip by without you.

Why did you recently move from the Hughes Center to the Pulte Homes building in the southwest valley?

Two things, downsizing and in this market, there are some very good deals out here. Pulte, who is an existing client of ours, leases the floors we are in. We have a sublease with them.

How many people do you have in the firm?

Between here and up north, probably about 20 attorneys and probably that same amount or more in support staff.

What was it before when you were at the Hughes Center?

We had more than 100 attorneys and support staff. We lost probably 25 attorneys who went over to Greenberg.

With the intense budget problems facing the state, does that make the job of lobbyist easier or harder? It seems some legislators want to increase certain taxes on all businesses or on certain industries, and probably those industry lobbyists are opposing that.

I think we are going to have to be creative in creating some additional revenue and our clients realize that. What they don’t want to have is that it unfairly hits one industry as opposed to another.

Who are some of the clients you represent in Carson City?

We have some energy clients and couple of gaming interests, but most of them are general business.

Who are the gaming interests?

M Resort is one of our clients. We do work for the Silverton. We have done work for the Golden Nugget. All the clients we work for down here on a local basis, we also work for up there.

Wynn and Boyd’s work are being done by the two who departed our firm. That relates to their work up north and not down here.

How has the recession affected your business when it comes to land development and planning? Clearly there’s not as much development happening now.

It affects us substantially in terms of what we do. Where we used to do a lot of land-use zoning and development, we don’t see much of those anymore. Where we probably had 50 applications all of us together in a quarter, you now see four or five. People are holding on to their land if they can. They are not developing it because there is no market for residential, and commercial is stretched. There are years and years of office space available.

How is it affecting your bottom line?

We just have to adjust. We have some of our attorneys who did exclusively land use are now doing some transactional and litigation because they had some experience in litigation matters. I am doing a lot of contracts with the airport and others. We are still doing a lot of administrative work, but it is not land-use work.

What type of work makes up the bulk of the firm’s work?

Administrative law, although litigation is a pretty close second. That would cover city councils and County Commission. We have one attorney who does a lot of work before the Board of Equalization.

What is the biggest case you are handling right now?

Probably the arena site. I represent the Las Vegas Arena Foundation. It is affiliated with Harrah’s. Interestingly enough, Bob Gronauer, my partner, is representing the Olympia Group (the developer of Southern Highlands, which also wants to build an arena) who are good clients and friends of my firm.

Do you think Harrah’s site behind the Strip is the best location?

Our feeling is that you want it in a place where it has access to the monorail and all of the hotel rooms. Arguments can be made other locations might be appropriate.

What is going to happen?

I think and hope some kind of initiative will come out of this. Let the people decide if they want an arena. If the answer is “no,” we all go away and if the answer is “yes,” we now know what the people want.

Is your group asking for public financing?

Yes. Sales tax through some bonds issued and secured by a small increase in the sales tax only in a certain designated area. It is not a general sales tax where everybody pays. Those who essentially are in the gaming enterprise district.

How much would be the tax be?

What is proposed on our project is less than a 1 percent increase. That would not provide all of the funding. The land (behind the Strip) is being donated to the foundation free of charge.

What is the effect on Las Vegas residents?

The effect on the general population we calculated is $1.07 per person per year because we sometimes go down into that corridor and buy a meal or whatever. Not a lot of people do.

The recession may have slowed development, but it’s inevitable there will be more controversies as developers try to develop in sensitive areas such as Red Rock and as they try to build projects with higher densities that may not have a great quality of life. Are both developers and conservationists being given a fair shake in Nevada when these issues come up, or is the field tilted toward one side or another?

The County Commission and city councils really do weigh the interest of business versus the interest of homeowners and other groups, the Red Rock example being one of them. That was a very tough decision by the Clark County Commission to support a lawsuit settlement that would allow a major project development on the site of a gypsum mine. The majority of them were convinced as I was that the settlement was clearly in the best interests of Clark County. It will operate in the conservation area and allow building in an area that is not going to affect lines of sight and access points to any significant degree.

You’ve represented Marnell Corrao, which is a respected builder that seems to stay out of court and avoid lawsuits. How does Marnell Corrao avoid the construction lien debacles we’ve seen at the Venetian and CityCenter?

There is not a better contractor, not just in the West, but the United States. These guys are quality guys. Tony Marnell is absolutely the finest hotel contractor I have had the pleasure to work with. He is first rate. He has project managers up and down the line who know what they are doing. I have never seen a case where Tony Marnell hasn’t delivered.

What is your take on what’s going on between Perini and CityCenter?

I don’t know much about that. Obviously, if these subcontractors are owed money, they ought to be paid. These guys are suffering out there horribly. If they are owed money so they can pay their subcontractors so they can pay their employees, that money needs to be paid right away. Obviously there are always disputes that can arise and MGM should not and will not pay money it doesn’t feel it is obligated to pay. That being said, you still feel for the construction workers. You went from a time when workers were flooding here from other states because of all of the construction to unemployment rates anywhere between 60 and 75 percent in the construction trades.

What are your plans?

I just had my oldest daughter, Diana, get accepted to law school at Santa Clara, and that is going to keep me practicing for probably another three years. I see myself practicing law for another three to five years and then after that probably working half time and devoting a good deal of my time to nonprofit groups and to giving a little more back to the community and representing entities free of charge. We do some of that now. I would like that to be the bulk of what I do eventually. I don’t want to get out of the practice of law, but I do want to change the nature of what I do.

What advice do you give young attorneys?

Realize the hours are long. The most important thing about being a lawyer is realizing you are not better than anybody else in the world. My father taught me that, and I have lived that my whole life. Not one person, regardless of their wealth and position, is better than any other. Every single person has value. Remember that and believe in that, and you will be a good lawyer. People will respond to you with respect and affection.