LOVELOCK - On Jan. 1, 2015, Jack T. Bullock II takes over as Pershing County Deputy District Attorney. Last week, Pershing County Commissioners approved a contract for the 61-year-old private attorney, part-time burner prosecutor for Pershing County and former Humboldt County District Attorney.
Bullock replaces current Deputy District Attorney Bryce Shields who is running unopposed in his first election to his second job since graduating from law school. The 38-year-old Shields will replace Jim Shirley who's campaigning to replace retiring Sixth Judicial District Court Judge Richard Wagner.
Bullock held one elected office previously as Humboldt County District Attorney from 1987 through 1990. Prior to that, he served as Assistant District Attorney for Humboldt County and Deputy City Attorney for Las Vegas. In between his public sector stints, Bullock has operated a private law practice for a total of 26 years in Winnemucca. He'll be required to close down that law office and said last week he will move to Lovelock before starting his new county appointment in January.
In 2012, Bullock was contracted as a part-time prosecutor to assist the district attorney's office with felony cases originating at Burning Man that have increased over the years according to county officials. Burning Man organizers funded Bullock's part-time prosecutor position.
Next year, Bullock will take on other criminal cases while Shields tackles the civil side as district attorney. In his second job since graduating from law school, Shields will be advising county commissioners on legal issues ranging from Burning Man, county land and resource management to government contracts, county code enforcement, state legislation and county personnel disputes.
Born in Las Vegas in 1952, Bullock graduated from the University of Puget Sound School of Law in 1978. For 25 years, the father of three has served as a criminal justice and history instructor for the Great Basin Community College.
Bullock's resume states that he has "prosecuted and defended criminal cases ranging from speeding tickets to death penalty murder (cases)" and that he has served as a legal counsel on numerous jury trials at the district court level and on appeals cases at the Nevada Supreme Court.
Nicknamed "the Bulldog" in Winnemucca, Bullock said he's looking forward to living and working in Pershing County. He doesn't know at this time if he'll continue working the Burning Man cases next year or if another part-timer will be hired for that duty. Shields said an independent council will likely be hired to handle Burning Man cases but he hasn't decided how the civil and criminal work load will be distributed between himself and his staff. For six years, Shields has handled criminal cases and provided legal council for several advisory boards but admits he has plenty to learn about civil law.
"Jack has had a successful private law practice since 1991 in which he's covered all kinds of different criminal cases as well as civil cases," Shields said. "I'll advise the commissioners and handle most of the civil side but I'd like to continue to prosecute because that's part of what makes the job interesting."[[In-content Ad]]
