Five Questions for Carson City Judge James T. Russell, Nevada Day’s Grand Marshall

Judge James T. Russell is a fourth generation Nevadan, and has been serving as a Carson City district court judge for over twelve years. This year, following in the footsteps of his relatives, Judge Russell has accepted the position of Grand Marshall for the Nevada Day Parade.

Judge Russell’s grandfather was the honorable Judge Clark J. Guild, who is one of the founders of Nevada Day. Judge Guild, who was born in 1887 and grew up in Dayton, was Grand Marshall in 1959 and 1971.

Judge Russell’s father, ex-Nevada Governor Charles Russell, also held the role of Grand Marshall for the parade in 1952 and 1976.

1) How were you selected to be this Nevada Day Parade’s Grand Marshall?

This year, the theme for Nevada Day is “Celebrating Nevada Counties - 100 years” and Ken Hamilton from the Nevada Day Committee reached out to me because they thought it would be really nice to have someone from the Russell-Guild family. The reason for that is my grandfather was the founder of the parade, and my father was the former governor. I was more than happy to accept, I’ve always thought it was interesting.

2) How did your grandfather become a judge?

It’s a very interesting story how he became a judge. Basically, he was a young man, one of 11 kids in his family, working for the Union Pacific Railroad in Lyon County. One day, he was working on a train, swung underneath and had his leg damaged. He was sent to Salt Lake City where they amputated his leg.

When he came home, he couldn’t work on the trains anymore, so instead he began working in the clerks office. He began working with a lawyer and back then, you could become a lawyer by essentially knowing how to read and write.

Soon after, he took his oral bar exam with two other individuals and he passed and he became DA of Lyon County, and later became a District Court Judge. He served as a judge between Lyon County and Carson City for almost 30 years.

3) Has everyone in your family been involved in either law or politics?

My father was born in Lovelock, ended up in Deeth, Nevada where his dad ran a cattle ranch for the Moffett company. He went to Elko High School, and his father, who was essentially uneducated, wanted his three kids to go to college. My father graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno and ended up going back to the Rubies to teach in a one-room school for a while. His uncle ran the Ely Courier and so he became a newspaperman. He was in Ely when he ran for the Assembly, then the State Senate, and later was elected to Congress. Senator Pat McCarran called him up one day and said “You’re gonna run for governor” because he didn’t like who he was running against. So that’s how he became Governor of Nevada.

4) When did your family come to Nevada?

My great-great-grandfather came to the United States as a cabin boy and went around Cape Horn and came into California with his brother, George Russell. They did some mining before ending up in Elko County.

5) What do you think of as “Nevada Culture?”

I’d say its very specific. Something I’ve noticed is that throughout my life, people in Nevada have voted for the person, not the party. For a long time I think the culture was strictly a “Nevada way,” which is a culture of getting things done the right way. I think it’s changing, and that the nature of crimes has been changing, because there are people from so many different places moving in, but that’s the old Nevada way.

I had a trial in Reno years ago, and I was representing local council for a group of lawyers out of New York. There was another local attorney who was representing another group of attorneys out of New York as well. It was a case between two huge stock broker firms. We started it out and we were just supposed to be local council. The Judge calls us back and told us, “You two are going to run this case. The guys from New York can sit there. They’re getting paid thousands of dollars but you two are going to run this case because you know the Nevada way, the cowboy way. You know what the cowboy way is? Cowboys tell the truth.” That’s old Nevada culture.

The Nevada Day Parade this year will be held October 26.