Samuel S. Lionel

Samuel S. Lionel, widely regarded as the "Dean of the Nevada Bar," was born on April 7, 1919, in the Bronx, New York, and graduated from St. John's University law school in 1940. He joined the U.S. Army several months before Pearl Harbor and earned multiple battle commendations while serving in North Africa and Italy during World War II, later serving in the Judge Advocate General's office and teaching at West Point. After practicing law in New York City following the war, he was admitted to the Nevada Bar in 1954 and built his practice in Las Vegas.

In 1967, Lionel co-founded the law firm of Lionel, Sawyer & Collins with former Nevada Governor Grant Sawyer and former Chief Justice Jon Collins. Over more than five decades, the firm earned a reputation as the premier law firm in the State of Nevada, representing many of the major Las Vegas hotel owners and other notable figures, including Del Webb, Howard Hughes, Kirk Kerkorian, and Moe Dalitz's Paradise Development. Lionel argued three significant cases before the Supreme Court of the United States and was recognized as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Lionel served on the Nevada Board of Bar Examiners for some three decades, including as chairman, and on the Ninth Circuit Senior Advisory Board. His honors included the Clark County Law Foundation's Liberty Bell Award and recognition from the National Judicial College, as well as honorary doctorates from St. John's University, UNLV, and California Western School of Law. A dedicated philanthropist, he supported the UNLV Foundation and the Samuel S. Lionel Externship program at the UNLV law school, and he died on December 23, 2022, at the age of 103.