Steve L. Morris

Stephen Larimer Morris - known throughout the Nevada legal community as Steve L. Morris - was born July 8, 1937, in Sacramento, California, and graduated from Sparks High School in 1955. He attended the University of Nevada, Reno, where he joined the speech and debate team, and earned his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1968, competing on its moot court team and studying under the noted legal scholar Charles Alan Wright. Admitted to the State Bar of Nevada in 1969, he went on to practice law in Nevada for 55 years, taking special pride in being the first of three generations of Morrises to practice in the state.

Morris built a distinguished career as one of Nevada's foremost trial attorneys. He began at the Las Vegas firm Lionel Sawyer & Collins, where he was mentored by Sam Lionel, and in 1993 he co-founded his own firm before later establishing an independent practice under his own name. He handled trials and appeals in both state and federal court but thrived in the state court jury trial arena. Among his most prominent engagements were serving as lead counsel for the MGM Grand in the litigation following the 1980 hotel fire, representing CityCenter's Harmon Hotel in the late 2000s, and handling arbitration in the Las Vegas Review-Journal's joint operating agreement dispute with the Las Vegas Sun.

Morris was recognized among the highest ranks of his profession, inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and as a member of the American Law Institute. Former U.S. District Judge Philip Pro remembered him as 'a magnificent lawyer and a magnificent man.' He was married to Nevada Supreme Court Justice Kristina Pickering and was survived by his two sons, Steve and Greg, both of whom followed him into the practice of law. He died on March 16, 2026, at the age of 88.