Harry E. Claiborne

Harry Eugene Claiborne was born on July 2, 1917, in McRae, Arkansas. He attended Ouachita Baptist University and earned his Bachelor of Laws degree from the Cumberland School of Law in June 1941. During World War II he served in the United States Army, joining in 1942 and rising to warrant officer before his transfer to Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas and his discharge in 1945. Rather than return to Arkansas, he made Las Vegas his home and was admitted to the Nevada bar, beginning a legal career that would span the better part of the twentieth century in Nevada.

Claiborne became one of the most prominent defense attorneys in the state. He served as chief deputy district attorney for Clark County, as a state assemblyman, and as city attorney for North Las Vegas early in his career before building a celebrated private practice. Over the decades he represented a remarkable range of clients, among them entertainers such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Judy Garland, and Carol Burnett, and became one of the most recognized courtroom figures of his era in southern Nevada.

In 1978 he was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, was confirmed by the Senate on August 11, 1978, and was sworn in on September 1, 1978. He served as chief judge of the district from 1980 to 1986. Harry E. Claiborne died in Las Vegas on January 19, 2004, at the age of 86, after battling cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer's disease.