James Lawrence Buchanan II

James "Bucky" Buchanan was one of the most recognized criminal defense attorneys in Las Vegas across four decades of practice. A Pennsylvania native and graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, he worked for the military before coming to Las Vegas in the late 1960s, where he was admitted to the Nevada bar in 1965 and spent five years as a prosecutor before turning to defense work.

Known for a quick wit and a long list of high-profile clients, Buchanan figured in some of the city's most publicized cases, including the Ted Binion matter, in which his client David Mattsen was acquitted at trial - "I believe in God and Buchanan," Mattsen said afterward. He also defended Steven Gazlay in the 311 Boyz case, and for a time starred in the Court TV series "Las Vegas Law."

Colleagues regarded him as one of the city's best trial lawyers. "People underestimate him," then-Nevada Supreme Court Justice Michael Cherry said of him in 2005. "They think, oh, it's Bucky - and then he comes into court and he is very, very good." Buchanan died on November 7, 2009, at age 74, after suffering a medical episode while driving near his Las Vegas home.