Hon. James A. Brennan

James A. "Jim" Brennan was a near-lifetime Nevada resident who built a long career in the law and on the bench in Las Vegas. He graduated from Las Vegas High School and earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Nevada in 1955 before receiving his law degree from Hastings College of Law. He was admitted to the Nevada Bar in 1958.

Brennan began his legal career as a deputy district attorney for Clark County in 1959. He was elected a Las Vegas justice of the peace in 1964 and was named legal counsel to the Clark County Board of Health in 1967. In 1968 he was elected to the Clark County Commission. He was elected to the Eighth Judicial District Court in 1974 and re-elected in 1978 and 1984, and he later returned to service as a senior judge for the Eighth Judicial District Court.

During his years on the bench, Judge Brennan presided over thousands of marriages in Las Vegas, including the weddings of Gregg Allman and Cher, Cary Grant and Dyan Cannon, Jane Fonda and Roger Vadim, and Xavier Cugat and Charo. On a single day in August 1965 he is remembered for marrying more than 100 couples.