Nevada Judiciary

Reno Judge died December 20 after lengthy illness

The Nevada Commission on Judicial Selection will accept applications from qualified Nevada attorneys until February 24, 2012, to fill the vacancy at the Second Judicial District Court that resulted from the death of District Judge Robert H. Perry, Nevada Supreme Court Chief Justice Nancy M. Saitta announced.

Judge Perry, 68, died December 20, 2011, in Reno. He had served on the Washoe County bench since being appointed in 2005 to succeed Judge James W. Hardesty, who had been elected to the Nevada Supreme Court.

The appointment process to fill the vacancy in Washoe County is open to all Nevada attorneys with 10 years of legal experience, two of those in Nevada.

Applications for the vacancy must be submitted to the Commission by 5 p.m. on February 24, 2012. Applications must be submitted in hard copy to the Administrative Office of the Courts in Las Vegas. The application for this vacancy is available on the Supreme Court website at http://www.nevadajudiciary.us/index.php/viewdocumentsandforms/func-startdown/7973/.

The public will be able to view the applications, with the exceptions of medical records and personal identification information, on the Supreme Court website. Also remaining confidential will be the letters of comment solicited about the candidates along with letters of reference to ensure the authors can be candid.

After all applications are submitted, the Commission will conduct background investigations and interview each of the candidates. The Commission will then deliberate and nominate three finalists, whose names will be submitted to Governor Brian Sandoval for the appointment.

Interviews are tentatively scheduled for April 9-10, 2012, at the State Bar of Nevada offices in Reno.

The appointed judge must run in the 2012 election and win to retain the seat.

As has been the rule since 2007, the Commission’s interviews will be open to the public.

After receiving the names of the three finalists, no time limit exists for the Governor to make his appointment. However, if an appointment is not made within 30 days following submission of names by the Commission, the Governor may make no other appointments to public office.

The Commission on Judicial Selection is composed of seven permanent members – the Supreme Court Chief Justice, three non-attorneys appointed by the Governor and three attorneys appointed by the State Bar of Nevada. Neither the Governor nor the Bar may appoint more than two permanent members from the same political party, and cannot appoint two members from the same county.

Reno attorney Scott Freeman had been a permanent member, but resigned as a State Bar of Nevada representative because he was planning to apply for appointment to Judge Perry’s seat. The Board of Governors of the State Bar of Nevada has appointed Deputy Nevada Attorney General Jasmine Mehta to replace Mr. Freeman on the Commission. Ms. Mehta, who resides in Reno, previously worked as law clerk for Nevada Supreme Court Justice Deborah Agosti.

For District Court vacancies, two temporary members are appointed from the judicial district where the vacancy occurs – a non-attorney by the Governor and an attorney by the State Bar – bringing the Commission membership to nine.

For the current vacancy, Governor Sandoval appointed Norman Dianda. Mr. Dianda is president of Q&D Construction in Washoe County. He has served on a variety of charitable and civic boards and committees.

The State Bar of Nevada appointed Reno attorney Julien Sourwine as its temporary member. Mr. Sourwine has practiced law in Nevada since 1966 and served as president of the State Bar of Nevada in 1989-90. He also has served on numerous state and federal law-related committees.