The proposed changes, which mirror recommendations established by the American Bar Association in 1990, have been accepted and implemented in 37 other states. Washoe District Judge Brent Adams, who asked that the changes be considered by the court, has proposed the change a number of times since the early 1990s. He said he was disappointed by the court's decision.

"I couldn't have lost worse," he said.

Adams was not able to attend the hearing because he was presiding over a trial in Reno, where he is a business court judge. Daniel Polsenberg of Beckley Singleton stood in for him on the day of the hearing. He said the Supreme Court rejected the proposal because it might violate judges' First Amendment rights.

That reasoning is based on a U.S. Supreme Court case that threw out a ban on judges talking about their political views on the campaign trail. Two circuit courts have supported the theory that banning judicial candidates from raising funds also violates free speech rights. Polsenberg and Adams disagree, saying that the rules put forth by the ABA do not outright ban fundraising.

"This was designed to get rid of real and perceived bias," Polsenberg said. "And it's not unconstitutional because it doesn't limit their fundraising."

If approved, the new code would have required judicial candidates to take a hands-off approach to fund-raising and put electoral fundraising duties solely in the hands of a campaign committee selected by the candidate. Those committees would be instructed by the candidate to solicit or accept only contributions that are "reasonable and appropriate" in order to guard against possible conflicts of interest for the judges.

"It's still the right thing to do but we have a very politicized judiciary in Nevada," Adams said.

Supreme Court Justice Nancy Becker spoke out against this type of reform during her failed attempt to retain her Supreme Court seat (she lost the race to Nancy Siatta). Justice Becker has said that pushing fundraising control away from judges simply opens the door to abuse by the committee members and pushes any potential corruption or coercion out of the public eye. She said she supports the introduction of a merit-based appointment system in which judges would have to run against their records to keep their seats.

Legislation that would make this change is expected to be introduced in the Legislature in 2007.

Adams said he expects the issue to come up again in the next few years, either in the state legislature or in a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.

"I'm confident the U.S. Supreme Court will visit this issue and find this provision is constitutional," Adams said. "And if that happens, I'll resubmit the provision."

In other news:

The firm, the largest minority-owned labor, employment and immigration firm in Houston, will focus on immigration law at its new office in Henderson. The firm made the decision to open an office here after seeing an increased need for services from Southern Nevada clients, most of whom are in the hospitality industry.

"We're really excited about it," said managing partner Jacob Monty. "We represent a number of companies in Houston that are hospitality-related and construction-related and what we were finding is a number of issues were arising with existing clients that had Vegas operations and new people who were calling us about immigration issues. There is a Latino community in Vegas that has a lot of unanswered immigration issues. I guess because it's a new Latino community that the providers really haven't kept up with the huge influx of the population and consequently that creates some problems for the employers."

One of those problems is the reliance of employees, some of them in key management positions, on notarios , a type of document preparer. Monty said his firm has already seen several instances in which key documents were not done correctly and his firm has been called in to straighten out the mess.

The firm generally focuses on ensuring clients adhere to immigration laws while guaranteeing they have access to the workforce needed to grow. They have performed a number of I-9 immigration form audits for businesses as well as helping companies acquire worker visas for employees outside the country. They also strive to help businesses better understand Hispanic workers.

The firm's office is located at 375 N. Stephanie St., building 8, in Henderson.

Stephanie Tavares covers small business and law for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-4059 or by e-mail at stephanie.tavares@lasvegassun.com.