Messner Reeves Welcomes Six New Attorneys to Las Vegas & Greenwood Village Offices

Spring has sprung along with a sharp, resilient and intelligent lineup of new Messner Reeves attorneys. We are happy to welcome the following attorneys to our firm:

 

Courtney Christopher – Partner, Las Vegas Office

Courtney joins Messner Reeves as a partner with a focus on medical malpractice and personal injury defense. Christopher has vast experience representing hospitals, nurses and physicians in medical malpractice matters throughout the span of her career. Along with this, Christopher has concentrated her legal efforts in all types of civil litigation defense.

Before joining the Messner Reeves team, Christopher served as a partner at a civil defense firm. In law school, she gained invaluable experience as a Law Clerk for the Clark County District Attorney’s Office and as a Judicial Clerk for Honorable Judge Nancy Oesterle, Las Vegas Justice Court.

 

Faraz Kahn – Associate, Las Vegas Office 

Faraz rejoins Messner Reeves as an associate in the firm’s Litigation Practice Group. During and after graduating from law school, Kahn worked in the United States Senate, where he assisted constituencies in Las Vegas with matters related to immigration, business development and transportation.

Prior to joining the firm, Khan served as an associate representing clients in insurance defense, transportation defense and premises liability.

 

Jason Martinez – Associate, Las Vegas Office

Jason joins the Messner Reeves team as an associate. Martinez brings layered litigation experience and trial experience while having significant court-time attributed to arguing complex and novel issues in both State and Federal court, and even extending to issues of first impression in the State of Nevada.

Martinez has represented clients in a variety of cases such as real estate, lien disputes, business litigation, insurance defense and wrongful death. He has also been involved in an appellate briefing and argument before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on three occasions, once case resulting in a published decision in his client’s favor.

 

Mary Pucelik – Associate, Greenwood Village Office 

Mary joins the firm as an associate and hails from California where she started her career as a deputy public defender. Pucelik eventually transitioned her career path to civil litigation where she practiced in both state and federal courts.

Before joining Messner Reeves, Pucelik served as in-house counsel for an insurance company. Throughout her career, she has tried over 30 jury trials to verdict and hundreds of bench trials. Her recent career milestones include a motion for summary judgment win in a premises liability case a favorable Court of Appeals published decision upholding the trial court’s order granting a Motion to Dismiss.

 

Derek Linford – Associate, Las Vegas Office

Derek joins Messner Reeves as an associate with a focus in civil litigation and a concentration in medical malpractice defense. Linford has represented clients through litigation and pre-litigation negotiations through trial preparation.

Prior to joining Messner Reeves, Linford was an associate with a local firm practicing in healthcare and medical malpractice defense. Throughout his law school career, Linford worked as a law clerk with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and the Civil Division of the Pima County Attorney’s Office.

 

Karen Hanks – Partner,  Las Vegas Office

Karen joins the Messner Reeves Las Vegas office as a partner with a focus on general liability. As an experienced trial and appellate attorney, Hanks has argued at both the Ninth Circuit and Nevada Supreme Court several times. Her most notable trial resulted in a $4.2 million jury verdict in favor of her client in a wrongful death/negligence case.

Hanks attended law school at Syracuse University where she graduated magna cum laude. Hanks has practiced in areas of business litigation, wills and trusts, probate, guardianship, immigration, real estate, civil appeals and personal injury on both the plaintiff and defense side.