Del Papa questions Scherer's claim of being youngest Nevada lawyer

Scherer got his license in 1984 when he was 22. He says he was told by State Bar members that he had taken the "youngest" title away from Will Kemp of Las Vegas by just a few months.

But Del Papa says records in the state archives show that Felice Cohn of Carson City was only 18 when she passed her law exam in 1902, after graduating from Stanford and Washington Law School.

"Experience has taught me the importance of good research," she added.

Scherer said he wasn't trying to mislead anyone, and meant "the modern era" dating from creation of the State Bar in the 1920s.

"We used the word 'licensed' to not be misleading," he added. "This is a little bit ridiculous. It's apples and oranges."

Scherer said a lot has changed since the turn of the century, including the formation of the State Bar and the imposition of requirements such as attendance at an ABA-accredited law school and passage of a multistate exam.

"I figured there might have been younger people practicing law, but not anyone who had gone through the modern procedure," he said.

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