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As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, Hutchison & Steffen marks its 30th year as a Las Vegas law firm.

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Hutchison & Steffen as a Nevada-built firm is shaped by attorneys who have served the state in elected and appointed roles across three decades.

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One of the largest Nevada-based law firms in the state with 60 attorneys and 110 employees, few firms can point to a roster that has helped govern, regulate and shape the state for 30 years.

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That roster includes founder Mark Hutchison, who served as former lieutenant governor, state senator and chairman of the Nevada Commission on Ethics; Robert List as a former governor; Bill Urga as former chairman of the Gaming Commission; John Moran III as a former university regent and member of the Nevada Commission on Ethics; Joseph Brown, a former member of the Nevada Gaming Commission; Joseph Reynolds, former chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada; and Todd Moody, former member of the Clark County Planning Commission.

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The firm has had other notable attorneys in the past, including Nevada Supreme Court Justice Patricia Lee, and Thomas Steffen, former Chief Justice of the Nevada Supreme Court and father to the firm's co-founder and managing partner, John Steffen.

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Steffen moved to Las Vegas when he was three when his dad finished law school at George Washington University.

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"Growing up I always told my dad I would never go into law because he was far too busy even though he was a tremendous dad in every way," Steffen said. "I always said I was going to be a pharmacist and work 9 to 5 and earn a modest living."

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Steffen attended BYU and was encouraged to pursue a law career by his wife, Stephanie, whose father was also an attorney, like his dad. He worked as an associate attorney for five years when Hutchison called him with an idea to start their own firm in 1996.

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"When you're five years out of law school, you feel a little unprepared," Steffen said. "We had to bring our wives down and get a $50,000 loan and sign personal guarantees. We worked hard in those early years. Our cardiologist had us both wearing heart monitors because we were so stressed. Every day, we would wait for the mail to come to see if there were any checks from clients. We would market all day to get new clients and do the work at night. It was around-the-clock six days a week, and we grew immediately. In the first month, we hired another attorney and a few months later hired more. To this day, we are up to 60 attorneys and continue to grow."

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Hutchison's roots in Las Vegas began when his grandfather — the 12th of 12 children from a farm in Kentucky — was shipped to Southern Utah with the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression building roads and other infrastructure. His grandfather married and moved to Las Vegas. Mark's father, Garry, was the first employee of Ahern Rentals out of high school where he worked his entire life.

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Hutchison attended UNLV and BYU where he obtained a business and law degree, respectively, and then worked for a national firm, Kirkland and Ellis, before returning to Las Vegas and practicing with trial lawyer Steve Morris, who he said trained him to be a practical and effective trial lawyer.

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"I was six years out of law school and decided I knew enough and wanted to go conquer the world and start Hutchison & Steffen," Hutchison said. "I have a deep love for this country and its system of government. America is an exceptional country because of its constitutional form of government. I always knew I wanted to do something within the American system of government."

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The firm is an AV-rated law firm having built its reputation by achieving outstanding results for its clients. The firm handles a broad range of services, including business litigation, health care litigation, real estate law, business transactions, bankruptcy, employment law and trust and probate litigation, among others.

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Steffen said there's been a lot of changes over the last 15 years in the legal profession in Las Vegas with much of it driven by changes in the economy, technical advances and the influx of national and regional firms.

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"You started to see some of these iconic Nevada firms start to disappear as the regional and national firms were coming in and gobbling them up," Steffen said. "Our firm has been approached three or four times with decent opportunities, which we turned down. We never wanted to give up our autonomy, and the ability to remain a Nevada firm."

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In celebration of America's 250th birthday, Hutchison said the firm will emphasize the blessings of freedom, opportunity and rule of law under the American system of government, which allows people to prosper and pursue their dreams.

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Steffen added that it shows how young the country is, that the firm is more than 10 percent older in age compared to the nation and what the founders were able to create.