Thomas L. Steffen

Thomas L. Steffen was a distinguished Nevada attorney and jurist who rose to serve as Chief Justice of the Nevada Supreme Court. Born July 9, 1930, in Tremonton, Utah, he graduated with honors from George Washington University Law School in 1964 and was admitted to the Nevada bar in 1965. Early in his career he served as a contract negotiator for the Bureau of Naval Weapons before building a law practice in Nevada, where he became widely regarded as one of the state's most effective and admired lawyers.

In 1982, Governor Robert List appointed Steffen to the Nevada Supreme Court, where he sat in Seat B and served for nearly fifteen years until his retirement in 1997. He was elevated to Chief Justice in 1995, presiding over the Court until the end of his tenure. Committed to continued study of the law even while on the bench, he earned a Master of Laws degree in the judicial process from the University of Virginia in 1988.

Following his retirement from the Court, Steffen returned to the practice of law with the firm of Hutchison & Steffen, which bore his name. His decades of service to the bench and bar left a lasting mark on Nevada's legal community. He died September 1, 2020, in Hendersonville, Tennessee, at the age of 90.