Hon. Norman Patrick Flanagan III

Norman Patrick Flanagan III, known professionally as N. Patrick Flanagan III, earned his law degree from California Western School of Law in 1978 and was admitted to the State Bar of Nevada in 1979. He began his legal career in Reno, serving as a public defender and later as a federal public defender, where he devoted himself to the pursuit of justice and quality legal services for all people regardless of money, citizenship, race, age, or religion.

Over the course of his career he built a distinguished record as a trial and appellate advocate. He argued before the United States Supreme Court in the landmark death penalty case Sumner v. Shuman (1987), made numerous appearances before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and served as lead counsel in U.S. v. Baker (1991), described as the nation's second-longest criminal trial. He was a leader within the profession as well, serving as Chair of the American Bar Association's Section of Litigation, President of the Washoe County Bar Association, and President of the State Bar of Nevada.

He later joined the bench of the Second Judicial District Court of Washoe County, Nevada, where he served for ten years and was named Chief Judge in 2016. He was also a faculty member of the National Judicial College, teaching courses in General Jurisdiction and Conducting the Trial. After a paralyzing bicycle accident in 2001, he continued his work from a wheelchair and earned a third-degree Tae Kwon Do black belt, a testament to his resilience. He passed away on October 6, 2017.