By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
A candidate for a Clark County District Court judgeship will be coming to Mesquite for a Meet and Greet event on Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 5:30 pm at the Falcon Ridge Golf Course clubhouse. Jennifer Schwartz, who is running for District Court Department 17 is looking forward to meeting and getting to know the people of northeast Clark County at the event. All of the area public is invited.
“I really do want to meet as many people as I possibly can,” Schwartz said in an interview with The Progress last week. “Because I feel like that is really the fun part of the campaigning.”
Schwartz grew up in Las Vegas and is a Valley High School graduate. She has worked as an attorney in Las Vegas for 20 years now, working as a public defender for 18 of those years.
Schwartz said that she has never run for public office before. “It is a lot of work, but I’ve never been one to shy away from a lot of work,” she said. “But I have enjoyed the part of meeting new people and finding out about new community organizations that I never would have known about otherwise.”
The Department 17 seat holds a special significance for Schwartz. That is because when she first graduated from UNLV Law School she went to work for District Court Judge Michael Cherry who presided over Department 17 at that time. Earlier this year when Judge Michael Villani announced he would retire from the Dept. 17 judgeship, she decided this was her chance.
“I figured that this is where I started my legal career in Department 17,” Schwartz said. “So if I was going to run for judge, I want to go back home there again.”
Schwartz said that she decided to run because she is tired of judges who rule without integrity and compassion.
“I’m constantly in court where my clients – who are individuals and actually human beings – are not being treated like they are human beings,” Schwartz said. “That is frustrating to me.”
In addition, Schwartz said she sees too many judges who are not willing to actually do the work. She said that a lot of judges are interested in the power, but don’t want to actually fill the role of a judgeship.
“We have judges on the bench who, when you file a motion, they actually complain that they have to entertain and rule on the motion,” Schwartz said. “It is one of those things of: ‘Well, that is your job! Are you really that averse to reading a motion and ruling on it? That is what you were elected to do!’”
Schwartz is in a tight race against two other opponents. There are three on the general ballot because Judge Villani announced his retirement after the primary election was complete. So the election department did an open filing for the seat and three people filed.
But Schwartz said that she has some advantages over the other candidates. Those advantages are in her extensive and varied experience.
She claims that she has had more district court appearances than any of the other opponents. “I have represented over 3,000 clients in my career, done well over 300 evidentiary hearings and done over 50 trials,” she said. “So I think I have the most amount of courtroom experience of any candidate.”
In addition, Schwartz claims she is the only candidate who has worked for a district court judge. “I’m the only one that has been behind the bench and know what happens there,” she said. “I have been on both sides being a law clerk and then being a practicing attorney.”
Finally, Schwartz says that she is the only candidate in the race who has actually practiced in both civil and criminal law firms.
Schwartz said that she hopes that the voters in northeastern Clark County will come out and attend this Meet and Greet. “I’m eager to meet the people of that area,” she said.
