Elmer Millard "Al" Gunderson (August 9, 1929 – May 13, 2010) was a justice of the

Supreme Court of Nevada The Supreme Court of Nevada is the highest state court of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the head of the Nevada Judiciary. The main constitutional function of the Supreme Court is to review appeals made directly from the decisions of the district ...

from 1971 to 1989. Born in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, Gunderson served in the

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during the

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, and received his law degree from

Creighton University Creighton University is a private Jesuit research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2015 the university enrolled 8,393 graduate and undergra ...

. He was a

blackjack Blackjack (formerly Black Jack and Vingt-Un) is a casino banking game. The most widely played casino banking game in the world, it uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as Twenty-One. This fami ...

dealer in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

in his twenties."Former Nevada chief justice dies", Reno Gazette-Journal (May 15, 2010), p. 3. In 1970, Gunderson ran for a seat on the Nevada Supreme Court. A 1970 editorial recommended his opponent, Harold O. Taber, noting that Gunderson had only been in practice for 12 years at that point, compared to Taber's 34 years, and that Gunderson was only ranked "fair" by fellow lawyers in the

Martindale-Hubbell Martindale-Hubbell is an information services company to the legal profession that was founded in 1868. The company publishes the ''Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory'', which provides background information on lawyers and law firms in the United S ...

directory. However, Taber ran a poor campaign, while Gunderson "campaigned for months statewide and used the media heavily", resulting in Gunderson's victory. He was elected to three terms on the Nevada Supreme Court, after which he taught law for two years at

Southwestern Law School Southwestern Law School is a private law school in Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and enrolls nearly 1,000 students. Its campus includes the Bullocks Wilshire building, an art deco National Register ...

, from 1989 to 1991. After his retirement from the court, Gunderson was accused of running up state-paid phone bills with calls to casinos, construction companies, and state officials, but defended the charge with the claim that he was continuing to carry out state business from home following a heart attack."Ex-justice accused of running up state phone bill after leaving Supreme Court", ''The Desert Sun'' (March 14, 1992), p. 13. Gunderson died in his home in 2010.

References

Justices of the Nevada Supreme Court 1929 births 2010 deaths Lawyers from Minneapolis Military personnel from Minnesota Creighton University School of Law alumni 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers Chief Justices of the Nevada Supreme Court {{Nevada-stub