J. Brin Gibson
Overview
J. Brin Gibson advises companies, boards of directors, and executive leadership teams navigating complex legal, regulatory, and commercial challenges at the intersection of technology, innovation, and risk management. With extensive experience in artificial intelligence and machine learning governance, data privacy, cybersecurity, anti-money laundering (AML) compliance, financial crimes, and sophisticated corporate transactions, he aligns legal strategy with clients’ business objectives to secure favorable positioning and outcomes in rapidly evolving legal landscapes.
Within a practice marked by innovation, Brin’s focus areas have spanned emerging technologies, cloud and SaaS platforms, FinTech, gaming, AI ventures, and private equity transactions. In his day-to-day work, he develops practical legal frameworks that support his clients’ evolving business models and regulatory and operational risks, while also providing trusted counsel in response to high-stakes crises, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and other markedly complex, multibillion-dollar transactions. He regularly works with business leaders, government officials, and regulatory agencies to navigate public-facing and compliance-related matters.
In addition to his work with established companies, Brin has extensive experience in the startup space – building legal, compliance, and governance programs from the ground up, including AI governance structures, data privacy and cybersecurity programs, intellectual property strategies, AML and financial crimes compliance frameworks, and commercial contracting systems for technology-driven businesses.
Brin is notably the former Chairman and Executive Director of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, where he oversaw a team of more than 400 individuals across six divisions: Investigations, Enforcement, Tax & Licensing, Audit, Administration, and Technology. The Board is one of the world’s most influential gaming regulatory bodies.
Brin’s previous experience also includes his service as General Counsel to the Governor of Nevada, where his management portfolio included several state agencies, such as the Departments of Taxation and Business & Industry, the Nevada Gaming Control and Gaming Commission, Public Safety, the Cannabis Compliance Board, and Nuclear Projects. In 2020, he was appointed to a special assignment for two legislative sessions during the COVID-19 crisis, where, with colleagues and under the leadership of Governor Steve Sisolak, he joined in leading Nevada’s statewide legal and policy response.
Earlier in his career, Brin worked in private practice before taking a position in the Office of the Nevada Attorney General as the Bureau Chief of Gaming, Environmental, and Public Integrity and ultimately as both Bureau Chief and First Assistant Attorney General, a formative experience in both the public and private sectors which has come to define his position as one of his industry’s most agile and comprehensive advisors.
Credentials
Education
- Brigham Young University – J. Reuben Clark School of Law (J.D.)
- Brigham Young University (M.P.P.)
- Brigham Young University (B.A.), with highest honors
- Counseled clients in a high-stakes sports betting investigation, avoiding fines of up to $10.5 million imposed on similar operators.
- Directed Nevada’s COVID-19 reopening strategy, developing protocols with scientists, securing buy-in from resort operators, and supporting gaming revenue recovery from $3.7 billion (2020) to $8.1 billion (FY21-22).
- Modernized Nevada’s regulatory framework by updating the Gaming Control Act and regulations to streamline registration, enable cloud computing use in the gaming space, and support digital operations for licensed operators.
- Established Nevada’s first gaming-specific cybersecurity regulations, featuring mandatory breach reporting and incident response standards, which ensures reporting of ransomware attacks by several of the largest American multinational entertainment companies.
- Drafted essential Declaration of Emergency documents to establish the legal basis for the Nevada governor’s emergency powers in issuing civil orders to control the spread of COVID-19.
- Secured legislative approval of Nevada state liability protection by negotiating with influential Nevada stakeholders amid COVID-19.
- Drafted and secured passage of a bill creating a centralized agency for medical and recreational cannabis regulation in Nevada.
- Coral Academy of Math & Science, Board Member
- Colorado River Commission of Nevada, Former Two-Term Commissioner
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Boyd School of Law, Former Adjunct Faculty
- Boy Scouts of America, Eagle Scout
- “AI, Emerging Tech, and Sports Betting,” International Association of Gaming Attorneys, Annual Meeting, 2023
- “Gaming Issues Affecting Hospitality Transactions,” American Bar Association, Trusts & Estate Law and Hospitality Group, 2023
- “Key Anti-Money Laundering Provisions,” Association of AML Professionals, 2022
- “Regulation and Operation of Sports Wagering,” Conference of Western Attorneys General, 2018