The Record.
An uncurated index of the published record. Tier 1 matters open into full dossiers. Tier 2 and Tier 3 are indexed below for completeness. Sorted by year, descending.
First Amendment prior-restraint victory on behalf of three Nevada Highway Patrol K9 troopers. The Ninth Circuit affirmed denial of qualified immunity; the decision now appears in the circuit’s model jury instructions.
First Amendment prior-restraint victory on behalf of three Nevada Highway Patrol K9 troopers. The Ninth Circuit affirmed denial of qualified immunity; the decision now appears in the circuit’s model jury instructions.
Oral argument (respondent)
Title VII sex-discrimination appeal argued before the full eleven-judge en banc Ninth Circuit. The four-judge dissent adopted the sex-stereotyping argument Mr. McKenna advanced at every stage.
Title VII sex-discrimination appeal argued before the full eleven-judge en banc Ninth Circuit. The four-judge dissent adopted the sex-stereotyping argument Mr. McKenna advanced at every stage.
ADA / sovereign immunity
Title VII appeal in which the Ninth Circuit reversed summary judgment on hostile work environment and failure-to-promote claims against the Nevada Transportation Department.
Title VII appeal in which the Ninth Circuit reversed summary judgment on hostile work environment and failure-to-promote claims against the Nevada Transportation Department.
Administrative-law writ proceeding on judicial review of civil-service determinations before the Nevada Supreme Court.
Administrative-law writ proceeding on judicial review of civil-service determinations before the Nevada Supreme Court.
Nevada Supreme Court precedent establishing that a tortious-discharge claim is available where an employee is terminated for refusing to engage in conduct he in good faith reasonably believes to be illegal. Still cited in Nevada wrongful-discharge doctrine.
Nevada Supreme Court precedent establishing that a tortious-discharge claim is available where an employee is terminated for refusing to engage in conduct he in good faith reasonably believes to be illegal. Still cited in Nevada wrongful-discharge doctrine.
Commercial products and economic-loss doctrine before the Nevada Supreme Court. Cited in Nevada commercial-litigation opinions.
Commercial products and economic-loss doctrine before the Nevada Supreme Court. Cited in Nevada commercial-litigation opinions.
Capital retrial habeas
Dram shop / wrongful death
Civil rights (prisoner)
Environmental nuisance
Lead counsel in the nationally covered subliminal messages trial against Judas Priest and CBS Records. Secured a landmark pre-trial ruling that subliminal content is not protected by the First Amendment.
Lead counsel in the nationally covered subliminal messages trial against Judas Priest and CBS Records. Secured a landmark pre-trial ruling that subliminal content is not protected by the First Amendment.
Jurisdictional writ proceeding tied to the subliminal-messages litigation that proceeded to bench trial in Vance v. Judas Priest.
Jurisdictional writ proceeding tied to the subliminal-messages litigation that proceeded to bench trial in Vance v. Judas Priest.
Capital murder appeal before the Nevada Supreme Court. Death penalty. Full Eighth Amendment constitutional framework, including Witherspoon, Wainwright v. Witt, mitigation standards, and proportionality review under NRS 177.055(2)(d).
Capital murder appeal before the Nevada Supreme Court. Death penalty. Full Eighth Amendment constitutional framework, including Witherspoon, Wainwright v. Witt, mitigation standards, and proportionality review under NRS 177.055(2)(d).
Federal commercial litigation involving gaming-industry trade secrets and unfair competition in Nevada’s federal courts.
Federal commercial litigation involving gaming-industry trade secrets and unfair competition in Nevada’s federal courts.
The Tier I dossiers below are organized by chronology, not magnitude. They span forty-five years of Nevada and federal practice and four kinds of court: the Nevada Supreme Court (Allum v. Valley Bank, McKenna v. State), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Jespersen v. Harrah’s en banc, Moonin v. Tice), the United States District Court for the District of Nevada (Moonin at the trial-court phase, the McKenna v. McDaniel habeas proceedings), and the Washoe County District Court (Vance v. Judas Priest).
Several of the published opinions remain cited in subsequent litigation. The Vance pre-trial First Amendment ruling continues to appear in media-law and product-liability scholarship as the principal judicial examination of subliminal content and constitutional protection. Allum v. Valley Bank supplies the good-faith-reasonable-belief standard cited in Nevada wrongful-discharge cases. Jespersen sits in Title VII casebooks; its four-judge dissent — adopted from Mr. McKenna’s en banc theory — continues to inform appearance-standards arguments in subsequent appellate work.
Below the Tier I dossiers, the Tier II and Tier III rows index further matters of record by year and court. The published record reflects only the matters that produced an opinion, writ, or on-the-record ruling. It omits the ordinary volume of a forty-five-year practice — dismissals earned in chambers, pre-indictment negotiations, settlements sealed by agreement, grand-jury appearances, and matters where the client’s best outcome was to avoid appearing on any record at all.
The published record reflects only the matters that produced an opinion, writ, or on-the-record ruling. It omits the ordinary volume of a forty-five-year Nevada practice — dismissals earned in chambers, pre-indictment negotiations, settlements sealed by agreement, grand-jury appearances, and matters where the client's best outcome was to avoid appearing on any record at all. For those, the measure is the client's account, not the citation index.