A September 13, 2024 New York Times article reported on “the most powerful person in the room” inside a Reno, Nevada courthouse where media mogul Rupert Murdoch is clashing with some of his children over ownership of his media companies. All eyes were not necessarily on Murdoch, reported the Times, but on an SLS alum: “ a mild-mannered county probate commissioner, Edmund J. Gorman Jr., who does much of his work without fanfare in his high-desert city.”

Gorman, who served as a Reno probate lawyer before being appointed to his current position in 2019, is responsible in the Murdoch case with recommending whether Murdoch’s eldest, Lachlan, will gain full control over the media dynasty after the elder Murdoch’s death. As subsequently reported in the New York Times on Dec. 9, Gorman ultimately “ruled resoundingly against Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to change his family’s trust to consolidate his eldest son Lachlan’s control of his media empire.”

Previously, Gorman served as Chief Judge of the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribal Court as and a member of the Northern Nevada Disciplinary Board for the State Bar of Nevada. He was named a Nevada Legal Services Pro Bono Attorney of the Year in 2015.