Judge finalists women

On Tuesday, Nevada Chief Justice William Maupin announced that the state Commission on Judicial Selection picked three women as the nominees to replace District Judge Joseph Bonaventure, who announced his retirement in March.

The nine-member commission, including Maupin, interviewed 14 applicants this week and narrowed the list of finalists to: Nancy Allf, 50; Elissa Cadish, 42; and Kathleen Paustian, 57. Gov. Jim Gibbons will make the final choice.

Paustian and Allf are with the Parsons, Behle & Latimer firm and were top finalists earlier this year to temporarily replace judges Michael Cherry and Nancy Saitta when they were elected as justices to the Supreme Court in November.

Cadish works for the firm of Hale, Lane, Peek, Dennison & Howard and also applied for appointments when Saitta and Cherry left.

The governor’s appointee will serve out Bonaventure’s term, which expires January 2009.

The appointments are important in Clark County particularly, where the vast majority of appointed judges successfully win future elections and remain on the bench.

“That has not been as much the case in rural Nevada or in Reno,” Maupin said in an interview last week.

The commission interviews each applicant, all of whom undergo background checks.

“To me, my first criteria is the individual’s experience as a trial lawyer actually representing human beings,” Maupin said.

The three finalists for Bonaventure’s seat all have civil law backgrounds. Bonaventure, who handles civil and criminal law, is known for his unique personality and his work in high-profile criminal cases such as the Binion trial.

“We’re not looking to replicate Judge Bonaventure, although that wouldn’t be a bad thing,” Maupin said.