Herbert M. Jones

Herbert Monroe Jones was born July 22, 1914, in Phillipsburg, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Missouri in 1940 and, after serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, earned his law degree from the University of Arizona in 1947. He was admitted to the Nevada bar that same year and began his legal career as a Clark County deputy district attorney.

After leaving the district attorney's office, Jones entered private practice, working as an associate in the firm of Jones, Wiener & Jones before joining with his brother, Clifford, to form Jones, Jones, Close, Bilbray and Kaufman in the late 1960s. In 1973 the firm merged with the practice of Joe Brown to create Jones Vargas, one of Nevada's prominent law firms. During the 1960s Jones represented most of the casinos then operating in Las Vegas, and he was instrumental in founding the Bank of Las Vegas, which later became Valley Bank of Nevada and was eventually acquired by Bank of America.

Active in Nevada civic and political life, Jones was appointed to the Nevada State Legislature in 1987 to fill a vacant Senate seat and served as a member of the Democratic national committee. In 2006 the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association honored him with its lifetime achievement award. He retired in August 2007 after some 60 years in the practice of law, and died March 19, 2008, at the age of 93.