Nevada Attorney General Laxalt unveils First in the Nation Program

Photo By Capt. Fernando Ochoa | Capt. Nic Danna, 650th Regional Support Group deputy command Judge Advocate and Afghanistan combat veteran, was recently named the director of the Office of Military Legal Assistance for the Nevada Attorney General’s Office in July of this year. Danna has been called to active duty numerous times most, recently with the 419th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion in 2014 for a deployment to Afghanistan.  

CARSON CITY, NV, UNITED STATES

09.11.2015

Story by Capt. Fernando Ochoa 

311th Expeditionary Sustainment Command   

CARSON CITY, Nev. – Capt. Nic Danna, 650th Regional Support Group deputy command Judge Advocate, and Afghanistan Combat Veteran, was recently named the director of the Office of Military Legal Assistance for the Nevada Attorney General’s Office in July of this year.

This new office, initiated by Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt, will offer free legal civil services to active duty, Army Reserve and National Guard service members, as well as veterans in the state of Nevada. The program will be the nation’s first attorney general led public-private partnership to give our military communities better access to pro bono civil legal services.

While serving his nation in the Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, Attorney General Laxalt noticed substantial limitations preventing active duty service members from being able to receive affordable representation. With this lack of affordable legal services in mind, Attorney General Laxalt aimed to bolster military readiness and heighten confidence by providing service members with the knowledge that they could have access to civil legal representation from the beginning of the legal process to the end.

As a result, Attorney General Laxalt formed an advisory committee in February to shape the parameters of the program. The committee, comprised of representatives from the various military communities and partners within Nevada’s statewide legal community, include Nevada Brig. Gen. William Burks, Adjutant General. This program became the Nevada AG Office of Military Legal Assistance.

“This program was created to honor and assist our military heroes who have done so much in the service of our country and this state,” said Danna. “Attorney General Laxalt established this program to address a critical need for civil legal representation amongst service members. We are eager to help as many military families as possible.”

Attorney General Laxalt, a graduate of Georgetown Law School, is a fourth-generation Nevadan who previously served as a Navy and Federal Prosecutor, a Staff Judge Advocate, and a professor at the U.S. Naval Academy. He also served in Iraq, where his unit assisted with the detention and prosecution of thousands of war criminals and terrorists.

After serving in the Navy, Laxalt practiced as a private attorney in Nevada. At age 35, he decided he wanted to serve in a different capacity and ran for his first political office. Laxalt was elected Nevada’s 33rd Attorney General in November 2014, making him the youngest Attorney General in the country. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada and also co-founded the Saint Thomas More Society of Nevada.

Capt. Danna, a graduate of the University of Southern California and Whittier School of Law, has served as a prosecutor and a civil litigator for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office. There his assignments included a prosecutor in both the general crimes unit and the Safe Neighborhoods Gang Unit, a civil litigator in the police litigation unit, where he defended the Los Angeles Police Department and its officers before returning to criminal prosecution.
Capt. Danna has been called to active duty numerous times, and most recently with the 419th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion in 2014 for a deployment to Afghanistan. Upon his return, he was appointed by Nevada Attorney General Laxalt as the Director of Nevada Attorney General Office of Military Legal Assistance.

The Office of Military Legal Assistance was created to provide our military heroes with the support they so deserve. If you are a member of the military community and live in Nevada or you are a Nevada attorney and you wish to volunteer pro-bono hours to the program, please contact the Nevada Attorney General’s Office of Military Legal Assistance at (775. 684.1160).

• Date Taken: 09.11.2015
• Date Posted: 09.11.2015 12:05
• Story ID: 175726
• Location: CARSON CITY, NV, US