Clark County district judge to retire next month

Nancy Allf announced Monday that she will retire in January after serving nearly 13 years on the bench in Clark County District Court.

“It was just time,” Allf told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in a phone interview on Monday. “I feel like I have had the honor of a lifetime to serve this community, and I’m ready to see what’s next.”

Allf said her last day as a judge will be Jan. 11.

She took the bench in 2011 after she was elected to the Department 27 seat. She has served as the presiding judge over District Court’s civil division since 2021.

Allf is one of five business court judges in District Court and is a member of the American College of Business Court Judges, according to the District Court website.

She has been involved in the business court since before its inception. The Nevada Supreme Court appointed her in 2000 to the Business Court Task Force, which proposed creating the program. She said she’s been a business court judge for the majority of her time on the bench.

“I have so much respect for our business community …” Allf said. “To get asked to do business law has just been the greatest honor of being a judge.”

Allf graduated from Transylvania University in 1979 and received her law degree from Northern Kentucky University in 1982. She moved to Las Vegas after graduation, following her father’s appointment to the FBI’s organized crime squad in the 1970s, during the heyday of the federal government’s fight against the mob.

She started in private practice in Las Vegas, focusing primarily on commercial litigation and bankruptcy law, according to the District Court website.

Allf also served as a settlement judge appointed by the Nevada Supreme Court from 1998 to 2007. The high court also appointed her to the Pro Bono Compliance Committee in 2002, and she was appointed as a judge in District Court’s short trial program in 2005.

She said she does not know what lies ahead, but she hopes she’s made a difference during her time as a judge.

“I’ve never been afraid of hard work,” Allf said. “Learning how to be a judge was really hard work, even after many years of practicing law. I’ve tried to bring intelligence, and I’ve tried to bring demeanor, and I’ve tried to bring honor to the courtroom so that people are treated with dignity and respect.”

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.