CARSON CITY, Nev. –
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).