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Attorney for Sisolak demands Laxalt's legal counsel provide proof of ability to work in Nevada

Riley Snyder
Riley Snyder
Election 2018IndyBlog
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A former personal attorney for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Sisolak has written a scathing response to a Virginia-based lawyer for Sisolak’s opponent, Adam Laxalt, requesting that the attorney provide evidence he is able to practice law in Nevada.

The letter, which was dated Aug. 7, comes after Jason Torchinsky, an attorney for Laxalt’s campaign, responded to a cease and desist letter filed by Sisolak’s longtime attorney, Laura FitzSimmons, demanding that it stop airing ads and running an opposition website that portrayed her as engaging in “criminal and egregious unprofessional conduct.” The letter by Torchinsky said the Laxalt campaign “stands by every word” in the advertisements and would welcome litigation to show Nevadans “all the facts and evidence that reinforce the truth of everything that the public has heard.”

In her letter, FitzSimmons called Torchinsky’s letter “snarky” and claimed it “constitutes the unlicensed practice of law” given that Torchinsky and other members of his firm are not licensed to practice law in the state. She pointed out Torchinsky’s past work in the state representing a political nonprofit that ran ads boosting Brian Sandoval in the 2010 governor’s race without disclosing donors and said she wouldn’t discuss supposed errors in his initial letter in her “limited response.”

“Nor will I respond in any detail to the absurdity of your repeated assertions that you know what is best for Nevada voters,” she wrote in a footnote. “You do not live here, do not vote here, and are primarily interested in advancing the agenda of elite out of state business interests as part of their national agenda.”

FitzSimmons requested that Torchinsky respond to the letter with “proper documentation” including any association with a Nevada-based attorney by August 10 before she refers the matter to the proper authorities.

Laura Fitzsimmons letter 080918 by Riley Snyder on Scribd


Disclosure: Steve Sisolak and Laura FitzSimmons have donated to The Nevada Independent. You can see a full list of donors here.

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