Robert Dean Faiss

Robert Dean Faiss was one of the world's foremost authorities on gaming law and among the most influential lawyers of his generation in Nevada. Born in Centralia, Illinois, in 1934, he moved to Nevada in his youth and graduated from Las Vegas High School in the class of 1954. He studied journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, and began his career in the newsroom, serving as city editor of the Las Vegas Sun before entering the law.

Before his legal career, Faiss was deeply engaged in public service. He served as a confidant and chief executive assistant to Nevada Governor Grant Sawyer in the 1960s, and in 1968 he served as a White House staff assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson. He then embarked on a legal career spanning four decades, spending it entirely at Lionel Sawyer & Collins, where he became a partner and chairman of the firm's gaming and regulatory law department.

Recognized by the National Law Journal as the premier gaming attorney in the United States and one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America, Faiss represented major clients including Del Webb Corp., Hilton Hotels Corp., Summa Corp., and MGM Resorts International. He helped Hilton earn an Australian gaming license in 1985, making it the first Nevada licensee to operate internationally, and represented the gaming industry before the Nevada State Legislature for more than 30 years. A dedicated teacher, he was instrumental in creating gaming law courses at the William S. Boyd School of Law at UNLV, where he served as an adjunct professor, taught for the National Judicial College, and authored 'Gaming Regulation and Gaming Law in Nevada' in 2009. He died on June 4, 2014, at the age of 79.