Bio
Rick Trachok is Senior Counsel with McDonald Carano, focusing his practice on international regulatory and gaming law. Mr. Trachok has an extensive background in gaming law, particularly from the international perspective. He has been involved in many acquisitions and joint ventures of European, Russian, and Latin American companies on behalf of European clients.
Mr. Trachok has served as Chairman of Compliance for the German gaming Group, Merkur AG, formerly Gauselmann AG, from 1997 through present. He also served as Chairman of the Global Compliance and Governance Committee for the world’s largest gaming manufacturer and lottery company, International Game Technology (IGT), a UK PLC traded on the NYSE, from 2004 - 2025.
Mr. Trachok has been recognized by his peers and consistently is included in the annual Best Lawyers rankings for Gaming Law, Energy Law and was designated lawyer of the year for Administrative and Legislative Law in 2021 and for Gaming Law in 2022.
Mr. Trachok was an adjunct professor at the Nevada School of Law (1981-1987). He served 15 years as an adjunct professor at UNR, teaching construction law in the graduate construction management program (1988-2003). and the University of San Francisco School of Law from 2006 to 2013, teaching the Laws of International Trade. Mr. Trachok is currently a Lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, 2018 - present, teaching the Law of International Trade, 1L Contracts, Contracts for LLMs, Secured Transactions and Gaming Law. Mr. Trachok is the founding Executive Director of the University of Nevada, Reno, Center for Constitutional Law.
Mr. Trachok is a member of the advisory boards for the Berkeley Center for Law and Business and the Civil Justice Research Initiative. He is a governor’s appointee for the Davidson Academy, and a member of the Guinn Center for Public Policy Board of Directors, The Nature Conservancy Advisory Board, and the KUNR Public Radio Advisory Board.
Mr. Trachok has served as the Chair of the Nevada Board of Bar Examiners since 2000 and has been a member of the board since 1991. He also was a member of the University of Nevada System Board of Regents, serving as its Vice-chair from 2013-2015 and its Chair from 2015-2017. Mr. Trachok served as a First Lieutenant in the USMC from 1974-1977.
Education
B.Sc., University of Nevada (1974)
J.D., California Western School of Law (1980)
LL.M., Cambridge University, Sidney Sussex College (1984)
Academic Appointments
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Lecturer, Stanford Law School