Phillip Nelson Smith, Jr.

Phillip N. Smith, Jr. is a Partner in Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial’s Las Vegas office. Phillip guides clients through complex civil litigation in both state and federal courts involving insurance defense, catastrophic injuries and wrongful death, property disputes, and premises liability and serves as Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial’s Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer and as Co-Chair of its Diversity & Inclusion Committee.

Before joining the Firm, and spanning almost a decade, Phillip served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada (“USAO”). Phillip also served five years as a Deputy District Attorney at the Clark County District Attorney’s Office in Las Vegas. As both a state and federal prosecutor, he tried almost 60 cases in front of a jury (the majority as lead or sole counsel) and prosecuted various criminal matters, including cases involving violent crimes, firearms, drugs, fraud, sexual assaults, and homicide—winning convictions in numerous state and federal trials. He successfully argued several cases in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, served as lead or sole counsel for major cases investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Internal Revenue Service; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the United States Postal Service; and other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, and lectured on the prosecution of firearms and violent crimes. In addition, Phillip spearheaded community outreach initiatives during his tenure as a federal prosecutor.

Phillip distinguished himself as a federal firearms expert during his tenure as the District of Nevada’s “Project Safe Neighborhoods” Coordinator, as the federal prosecutor tasked with reviewing and facilitating all federal and state firearms- and violent crime-related cases in preparation for federal prosecution. As a result, Phillip gained vast experience in investigating, prosecuting, and trying challenging cases. He served as the Chief of the USAO’s Narcotics and Violent Crime Section, and he was also honored with the United States Department of Justice’s “Director’s Award”—which recognizes the nation’s best federal prosecutors—for “Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney” in 2014.

Consistent with his steadfast commitment to public service and simultaneous with joining the Firm, in September 2019, Phillip commissioned in the United States Navy Reserve as a naval officer in the Judge Advocate General’s (“JAG”) Corps. In that capacity, he provides command advice and support necessary to conduct military operations worldwide, enforces the conduct and accountability of military personnel through the application of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and United States Navy / Department of Defense administrative regulations, prosecutes criminal cases before military courts-martial, and conducts administrative separation hearings and boards of inquiry. He also provides legal assistance services to active duty and reserve military personnel, their families, and military retirees and regularly participates in military honors funeral ceremonies for deceased veterans and active duty servicemembers. Phillip was also honored with the 2023 Rear Admiral Hugh Howell Award for “Junior Officer of the Year.”

Yale Law School, J.D., 2005
Article Editor, Yale Journal on Regulation

Stanford University, B.A., (with Distinction) 2002
Member, Junior Class Council

• Nevada (2006)
• United States District Court for the District of Nevada (2010)
• United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (2012)

Successfully litigated a federal case resulting in a published United States Court of Appeals decision in United States v. Chandler, 743 F.3d 648 (9th Cir. 2014), in which the Court issued a favorable ruling in a matter of first impression which had nationwide implications; 

Successfully litigated and tried before a jury complex and multi-defendant federal criminal cases under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (“RICO”) Act; 

Obtained multiple jury verdicts in felony cases as both a state and federal prosecutor; 

Successfully prosecuted three murder cases in United States District Court; 

Successfully prosecuted four murder cases in state court; 

Successfully prosecuted a violent robbery spree case in United States District Court and obtained 13 consecutive life sentences, a case which was affirmed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. Howard, 650 Fed.Appx. 466 (9th Cir. 2016); 

Successfully prosecuted a local police officer in United States District Court for violation of a citizen’s civil rights by using excessive force, resulting in a sentence of incarceration for the defendant; 

In addition to numerous federal violent crime, firearms, and drug-related cases, successfully prosecuted federal “white collar” crime cases involving mail and insurance fraud, mail theft, and income tax evasion; 

Successfully defended several cases on appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; 

Served as the Chief of the Narcotics and Violent Crime Section at the United States Attorney’s Office; 

Recognized subject matter expert in the area of federal firearms laws; 

Litigated federal misdemeanor bench trials as a federal prosecutor; and

Presently serves as a commissioned naval officer in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, United States Navy Reserve. 

Most notable client successes include:

1. Brown v. Golden Nugget Laughlin, et al. This case involved a plaintiff’s fall at the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino in Laughlin, Nevada (“GNL”). The plaintiff claimed that he suffered a broken neck resulting from a fall while going down an escalator at the casino. The plaintiff and his wife filed suit alleging negligence and loss of consortium claims against GNL and the escalator service company, claiming that the escalator was improperly maintained, too loose, unstable, narrow, shaky, and otherwise defective—and that those conditions were what caused him to fall. The case proceeded to a two-week trial with Phillip serving as co-counsel representing GNL, and the jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendants. The trial court also awarded attorneys’ fees.
2. United States v. Louis Matthews, et al. This case involved prosecuting multiple defendants for a drug-related homicide where the drug dealer (who was selling 20 pounds of marijuana to two of the defendants) was murdered during the course of the drug deal. All six defendants that were charged in connection with this case either pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial. 
3. United States v. Abdul Howard. This case involved the prosecution of a defendant who had been charged with committing a total of 14 violent armed robberies with a firearm in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, including two where he discharged the firearm (striking the clerk in the neck in one of them). The defendant was convicted at trial and ultimately sentenced to multiple life sentences for the robberies.
4. United States v. Tavares Chandler. This case involved an appeal where the two primary issues before the Court—whether the defendant’s prior Nevada felony convictions for Conspiracy to Commit Robbery and Second Degree Kidnapping qualified as “violent felonies” under the federal “Armed Career Criminal Act”—were issues of first impression which had national implications. The Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of the United States and issued a published opinion.
5. United States v. Delvin Ward, et al. This case involved the prosecution of a violent street gang for violating federal RICO law by committing murders, robberies, and selling drugs. The case was brought against a total of 10 defendants. Nine defendants pleaded guilty and one defendant was convicted at trial of committing a previously-unsolved murder.
6. United States v. Nicholas Bickle, et al. This case involved the prosecution of three defendants for conspiring to sell fully-automatic machine guns and other weapons on the black market. One of the defendants (Bickle) was a U.S. Navy SEAL and had been responsible for smuggling machine guns and pistols from Iraq back into the United States. Bickle then conspired with the other two defendants to sell these weapons, which ended up in them unwittingly selling some to an undercover ATF agent. Bickle had also stolen C-4 explosives from his base in San Diego. Bickle took the case to trial and was convicted; the other defendants pleaded guilty. I received a prestigious national award from the United States Department of Justice for the successful prosecution of this case.

2023-2024 United States Navy JAG Corps Rear Admiral Hugh Howell Award for Junior Officer of the Year

2016 and 2017 Nominee for the United States Department of Justice “Director’s Award” for “Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney – Criminal Division”

2014 Recipient of the United States Department of Justice “Director’s Award” for “Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney – Criminal Division”

2013 Nominee for the United States Department of Justice “Director’s Award” for “Superior Performance as Part of a Litigative Team”

Democracy Prep Nevada Charter School - Board Member

American Bar Association - Member

American Bar Association Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession - Commissioner

Howard D. McKibben Chapter of the American Inn of Court - Barrister

United States v. Malik, 963 F.3d 1014 (9th Cir. 2020) (per curiam). This case involved whether or not a Nevada State trooper had probable cause to search a tractor-trailer’s cab and its contents even though state had decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana and where the trooper had smelled marijuana in cab, and the driver admitted he smoked marijuana cigarette earlier that day. The ensuing search of the vehicle yielded 135 pounds of cocaine and 114 pounds of methamphetamine. The district court originally suppressed the drugs based on its conclusion that the search was illegal, and the United States appealed that decision. The Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of the United States and overturned the district court.

United States v. Yang, 958 F.3d 851 (9th Cir. 2020). This case involved whether United States Postal Inspectors violated the defendant's Fourth Amendment rights when they ran a search inquiry of a database of commercially captured license plate numbers and got a "hit" on where the defendant's vehicle had been prior to the investigated crime and then used that information to find the vehicle, which led to additional evidence that the defendant had committed additional crimes. The Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of the United States. 

United States v. Chandler, 743 F.3d 648 (9th Cir. 2014). This case involved an appeal where the two primary issues before the Court—whether the defendant’s prior Nevada felony convictions for Conspiracy to Commit Robbery and Second Degree Kidnapping qualified as “violent felonies” under the federal “Armed Career Criminal Act”—were issues of first impression which had national implications. The Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of the United States.