33rd Nevada Attorney General
Term: January 5, 2015 - Present
Biography
Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt, elected as Nevada's 33rd Attorney General, took office on January 5, 2015, at the time making him the youngest Attorney General in the country. A former Lieutenant in the United States Navy, the US Navy trained him as a prosecutor and legal advisor. While serving in Iraq, Laxalt assisted with the detention and prosecution of thousands of war criminals and terrorists.
As the chief law enforcement officer for the State, AG Laxalt has worked to keep Nevada’s communities safe, and hosts the State’s first-ever Law Enforcement Summit twice a year, bringing officials from Nevada’s 17 counties together to determine how local law enforcement can more effectively address emerging criminal trends. He has worked on behalf of Nevada’s families to protect our most vulnerable communities, and currently chairs the Sexual Assault Kit Backlog Working Group committed to creating policies and procedures associated with the State’s backlog of nearly 8,000 untested sexual assault evidence kits.
As a former member of the military, AG Laxalt’s support of service members culminated in the creation of the Office of Military Legal Assistance, a first-of-its-kind program that provides Nevada’s military members with free legal representation. The program was recently named a “Best Practice Program” by the Department of Defense with a recommendation for duplication in states throughout the country. The Office of Military Legal Assistance program, through its pro bono legal-aid partnerships, is proud to have helped Nevada’s Service members and veterans handle nearly 1,000 pro bono matters since its launch in late 2015.
Consistent with his commitment to defending our nation’s constitutional principles and protecting the important role of the States in our federalist system of government, AG Laxalt created Nevada’s first ever Federalism Unit within the Attorney General’s Office. To protect the interests of Nevadans, the Federalism Unit has challenged multiple occasions of unlawful federal overreach, including actions taken by the Environmental Protection Agency, orders that interfere with Nevada’s public roads and criminal justice system, and restrictions that infringe upon Second Amendment rights. Some of the Unit’s largest federal challenges include the Environmental Protection Agency’s Waters of the United States Rule, the Department of Labor’s Overtime Rule and the Bureau of Land Management’s Sage Grouse Plan.
AG Laxalt is a fourth generation Nevadan who resides in Reno with his wife Jaime, their daughters Sophia and Isabella, as well as their dogs Hoya and Buckley. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Georgetown University and also graduated from Georgetown University Law Center.