Incumbent Baucum fending off challenge from public defender

Incumbent Suzan Baucum has been on the bench for a dozen years, and hopes to best challenger Rebecca Saxe for the Department 13 justice of the peace position.

Baucum is a graduate of Western High School in Las vegas and earned her law degree from University of Idaho. She was elected Justice of the Peace in Department 13 in 2010 and served as chief judge of the Las Vegas Justice Court from January 2019 to December 2020.

Baucum says she oversaw the largest caseload of any DUI court in the country.

Prior to election to the bench, Baucum served for nearly 20 years as the executive director of the National Law Foundation, a non-profit organization serving the needs of low income and indigent clients.

Following graduation from law school Baucum worked in a firm in Reno handling criminal, personal injury, real estate and general business cases. She has also served as a staff attorney for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.

For the past 10 years, Rebecca Saxe has served as a deputy public defender in Clark County. She received her bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University in 2006 and graduated from the Boyd Law School in 2009. In 2010, she was selected for a fellowship with the American Civil Liberties Union in Las Vegas.

As a fellow, Saxe analyzed medical and mental health issues in Nevada’s prisons through the lens of international human rights standards.

As a chief deputy public defender, Saxe says she has represented clients charged with crimes ranging from minor misdemeanors to serious felonies that carry life sentences.

In Justice Court, Saxe says she has conducted more than 100 preliminary hearings and misdemeanor trials.

Contact Glen A. Meek at gmeek@reviewjournal.com or 602-380-8951. Follow @GlenMeekLV on Twitter.