Through school graduations and judicial elections, Judge Abbi Silver’s career has kept her in Southern Nevada.
That’s about to change. Silver, a lifelong Las Vegan, was appointed by Gov. Brian Sandoval in December to serve as one of three judges on the state’s newly formed appellate court.
Now, the UNLV graduate and former Clark County District judge will preside statewide over Nevada’s 2.8 million residents. And she’ll be traveling a lot to do it.
As she settled into the role, Silver spoke with VEGAS INC about the transition. She and fellow appellate court judges Jerome Tao and Michael Patrick Gibbons have been setting up their new offices at the Supreme Court building in Carson City and the Regional Justice Center in downtown Las Vegas.
How is the transition going so far?
This is a big change in my life, and it’s an exciting change. It has been a whirlwind.
We were called by the governor Dec. 17, and he advised us that we were appointed. Within an hour, we were called by the Supreme Court and given an itinerary.
As soon as we were sworn in, we started doing training and learning how to use the new case-management system. It’s a whole different process from what we have in District Court.
What is the biggest difference you anticipate compared with your old job?
Traveling. I’ll be traveling a lot throughout the state and meeting with attorneys from all over the state versus just Clark County. I’ll be going everywhere from Elko to Esmeralda to Washoe County. Now, I’m a judge for the entire state.
We’re having discussions about how we’ll have to manage our travel. Before, I’d be gone only for judicial education programs one or two times a year, either in Las Vegas or Reno.
I’ve already been to Carson City four times in January alone.
What drew you to the job?
This bench is making history, and that opportunity may come once in a lifetime. Appellate work is something I have always aspired to do, and I’m grateful I was given the opportunity.
The creation of this court is a real victory for the citizens of Nevada. We’ll be able to handle cases more effectively and efficiently.
What is the workload like so far? Are cases different or more complex at the appellate level?
We recently issued 45 decisions — 34 were criminal and 11 were civil. We’re trying to get at least 50 decisions out per month because we have a backlog of 800, so we have a pretty high goal.
We think it will probably take three years or so to get the backlog taken care of.
They’re the same type of cases I was seeing in District Court, because they’re appeals from that court. We get all criminal cases except for those involving the death penalty.
There is one difference: I did not get family law cases before. Now, we have a contested divorce case that we’re reviewing in chambers. That is an area I don’t have a lot of experience in, so I’ve been catching up by reading other cases.
But for the most part, they’re the exact same.
Is your access to legal records different?
We’re getting access to more internal documents and drafts that will be very useful for us.
For example, if we’re deciding on a burglary case, which are very common, we’re able to look at previous cases that are similar to see how the Supreme Court may have ruled.
In addition to opinions, we get access to internal documents, as well as drafts and briefs. This is information that isn’t available to anyone but people within the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals.
I’ve only been working here a little while, but the system so far seems very impressive.