The Wheel for September 29, 2016

by Sep 29, 2016Blog, The Wheel0 comments

The Wheel


Jim Kohl-Cristo Rey High School

Jim KohlJim Kohl was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended and received a B.A. from Guilford College in 1988 and a J.D. from the Villanova University School of Law in 1995. Jim moved to Las Vegas in 1995 and has resided there ever since. He has been a member of the Las Vegas Rotary Club since 1996. Jim’s Rotary service includes having been the 25 Club President, the Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) Chairman and a member of the Board of Directors. Jim is married to Judith Simon-Kohl. They have two sons, Jack and Kyle.

Jim sat for and passed the bar in 1995. He has been practicing law in Nevada since that date. Jim’s peers recognized him as one of the outstanding attorneys in Nevada by selecting him as an AV rated lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell®, a Top 100 Lawyer in Nevada in the Nevada Business Magazine and a Super Lawyer in Mountain States Super Lawyers. He has extensive experience in all phases of litigation and his litigation career includes winning a $60,000,000 judgment for a client’s loss of its intellectual property rights. Jim also represents and advises business owners in the creation, acquisition, and disposition of entities and real estate.

Jim is currently a Nevada Supreme Court appointed mediator, a United States District Court appointed mediator, and a Mediator for the Clark County Neighborhood Justice Center. Jim has been an arbitrator and mediator for the State Bar of Nevada Fee Dispute Committee since 2006 and an arbitrator for Nevada’s Court Annexed Arbitration Program since 2008. Jim also acts as a private mediator and arbitrator.

Jim is admitted to practice law in all Nevada state courts, the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Tax Court. Jim has extensive experience in all phases of litigation. He has handled a wide variety of cases including: attorney malpractice, aviation, banking, breach of contract, collections, class action suits, construction, gaming (Indian), employment agreements, escrow duties, franchise agreements, fraud, fraudulent transfers, guaranties, incorporation issues, injunctive relief, leases (commercial and residential), mechanic’s liens, real estate, patent infringement, replevin, restrictive covenants, security agreements, shareholder derivative suits, taxpayer created redevelopment districts, trademark enforcement, unlawful detainer and writs of mandamus and prohibition.

Jim is the head of the Parish Counsel of the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church; he is a member of the board of directors for the Las Vegas Junior Golf Association Inc., and Jim is a member of the exploratory board for the Las Vegas St. Viator Cristo Rey High School.

Message From The President

David ThorsonDear Fellow Rotarians,

One of the true gifts of being a member of Rotary in general, and the Las Vegas Rotary Club in particular, is the character and quality of the people in our group. Member Jim Kohl is our speaker today. You can read his bio on the front cover of today’s Wheel and see the impressive list of accomplishments both in service to our club and professionally. I know we all see and appreciate the very generous financial contributions his firm makes through our club to a wide range of charities throughout the year as well.

However, I would like to touch on a personal experience I had with Jim several years ago that I think highlights the theme of my message today regarding character and our club.

A number of years ago when my daughter was still a young girl, we arranged for her to fly solo to Detroit to visit her grandmother. This was her first flight alone and although I am not one prone to excessive worry, between the state of world affairs and the myriad stories of creepy people, I certainly approached this with some trepidation. By total coincidence, Jim was on that same flight and upon running into each other in the waiting area, he volunteered to keep an eye on my daughter. Not only did he do that, but he stayed with my daughter on the Detroit end until my mother managed to find the correct gate.

This was obviously a great gesture of friendship and was much appreciated. But the really amazing thing to me, in retrospect, was that
although I did not know Jim well at all at the time, I immediately trusted him and knew that if there was a problem, he would be there to help. This is one of the true gifts of being a Rotarian – knowing that you are associating with a group of people who take the Four Way Test to heart and can be relied upon and trusted. This ability to trust is otherwise so difficult to find in today’s world.

So celebrate the gift of being a member of this club! And also keep this story in mind when you are in need of products or services – who better to do business with than other members of our club?

David Thorson
President 2016-2017

Member Highlights

Scribe – September 22, 2016

President David Thorson called the meeting to order.
Sarah Brown gave the invocation. Bill Stieren lip-synced as Jesse The Opera Singer led the club in singing The National Anthem. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited and the Sergeant-at-Arms was Past District Governor Dr. Rampur Viswanath.
• There were no International Rotarians, (4) Visiting Rotarian and (7) Guests of Rotarians were introduced.
• The drawing began at $925.00 plus this week’s donations. The winner gets half the pot and half goes to the Las Vegas Rotary Foundation. Ticket Winner: Greg McGwire who won $10! Lawry Bucks Winner: Nancy Slitz. Kirk Holmes won an additional prize of Nascar Tickets which donated back for an auction.
President David congratulated Kelly Ponstler on her promotion to lead the entire Southwest region for Salvation Army. We will miss her when she moves to Phoenix!
President David thanked all the members who participated in the SOAR Awards and congratulated Jaime Goldsmith on being selected as co-Chair of SOAR for 2017!
President David provided a briefing on the Cigar Fellowship. We raised $988 in this month’s event and have raised $11,391 since inception. 45 people attended the event.
Past President Jim Hunt gave a short presentation on the history of Santa Clothes and showed a video about the event and announced that the event will be held on December 8, 2016.
Francesca Gilbert presented her craft talk discussing on how you can use your own business to give back to the community. She donates $50 to our club for each closing and presented Jim Hunt with a check for $3,000 to launch Santa Clothes!
Arleen Sirois announced that the next Wine to Water event will be on October 7, 2016 at 6pm at the home of Don and Sarah Brown.
Marie Walsh announced that the next Breakfast with Books will be on October 11, 2016.
• Erik Astramecki announced that he still has sponsorship opportunities to advertise on his shorts for the King of the Cage MMA fight at The Cannery on October 15th.
Kirk Alexander announced that they still need volunteers for the Corazon Super Build on October 15, 2016.
Past President Mary Ann Avnet requested additional volunteers for Rotarians at Work day on September 30, 2016 and for Reading Week the week of October 10th.
Past President Mary Ann Avnet requested donation of small toys for her to take on her Rotoplast Mission this fall.
President David reminded us of the Wetzel Award at Nellis AFB on September 29th.
Bill Stieren introduced the speaker, Ernest Williams, a Korean War Veteran who spoke about his work with the Nevada Test Site. Ernest talked about the different types of bombs and the different type of testing. He had a wonderful selection of photos showing the aftermath of the testing.
• President David Thorson presented the speaker with the Sole Power Award and
adjourned the meeting.


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