Family court candidates draw upon legal experience

Kim Smith

Thursday, Oct. 19, 2000 | 10:44 a.m.

The three new openings on the Family Court bench have attracted a wide array of attorneys with varying opinions and backgrounds.

Running for the Department K spot are Beth Wachsman, 30, and perennial candidate Nick Del Vecchio, 43.

Del Vecchio, who has run for five different judgeships over the years, secured his spot in next month's election by tying up 35 percent of the votes in the primary.

The former Nye and Clark county prosecutor has spent the last 10 years practicing family law exclusively.

Del Vecchio has been stressing the importance of coming to court prepared and the need for more consistent decision-making within the Family Court system.

Wachsman walked away with 25 percent of the votes. She has been practicing family law for the past five years and serves as a fee dispute arbitrator for the State Bar.

Wachsman said she believes everyone who walks into a Family Court courtroom needs to be treated equally and with respect.

"We also need someone in the judgeships who will render fair decisions in an efficient manner," Wachsman said.

The Department I candidates are Cheryl Moss, 33, and Phil Beuth, 45.

Moss, a five-year family law practitioner, garnered 44 percent of the votes in the primary while Beuth, a family lawyer for six years, took home 20 percent.

Beuth believes his 20 years in corporate management would be of great help if elected. The court system, he says, needs to become more efficient and one of the things he would do if elected is provide information packets to all litigants.

Moss said she has spent 13 years in the legal profession and is now helping indigent clients at a self-help center at Family Court. She worked as a judicial clerk in Washington, D.C., and has practiced in the areas of personal injury and family law.

If elected, Moss said one of her main goals would be to make sure everyone leaving her courtroom would feel as though they got to be heard.

Judges need to believe in such things as customer service and customer satisfaction, Moss said.

The candidates for Department J are Deputy Attorney General Lisa Brown and family law attorney William Henderson.

Brown, 33, got 35 percent of the votes cast in the primary and Henderson, 41, garnered 20 percent.

Brown has served as legal counsel for Nevada's Division of Child and Family Services and the civil litigation division and focused on family law while she was in private practice. She was a clerk for the late District Judge Thomas Foley prior to that.

She has promised to be fair, courteous and respectful.

Henderson, who sometimes teaches continuing legal education classes, said he would try to get rid of the glut of cases in Family Court by fast-tracking certain cases and cutting back on psychiatric evaluations.