Prosecutor seeks to oust judge from Clark County District Court 

Judge Jennifer Schwartz, who is wrapping up her first term on the bench, faces a reelection challenge from prosecutor Jacob Villani in Clark County District Court Department 17. 

Schwartz is a lifelong Las Vegan and graduate of UNLV’s Boyd School of Law. She began her career as a law clerk for Judge Michael Cherry, who presided over civil and criminal cases at the time. Schwartz also served as a public defender before her election to the bench. 

Schwartz presides over a split docket. She says she gained experience in civil practice while working for a law firm before joining the public defender. 

Still, she says, it took some studying to get up to speed. “Civil law is complicated, and I hadn’t done it in so long.”

Schwartz says she was briefly challenged to discard her defense bias upon taking the bench. 

“I view it as I am the neutral arbitrator, and instead of advocating for a particular side, I get to truly appreciate the entire case from all perspectives,” she says, adding that listening to the experiences of victims “has been really impactful to me, and has helped me break the habit of being an advocate for one side.”  

Hearing cases involving litigants who represent themselves is challenging, Schwartz says. 

“I don’t attempt to give them advice on how to proceed or how to act, but I try to explain in layman’s terms, versus legal speak, what’s going on,” she says. 

If a pro se litigant fails to file a timely response to a motion, Schwartz says she’ll leave it on calendar in the event they appear and wish to orally state their case. 

Of the 177 attorneys responding to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Judging the Judges 2025 evaluation, 75.5% said Schwartz should be retained. 

Her criminal case rulings were found to be in error in seven of 36 appeals, according to Our Nevada Judges. She has been appealed in three civil cases and was upheld in all. 

“I receive notices of appeal, but I don’t really pay attention,” says Schwartz. “My understanding is that my civil appeal rate is incredibly low. In criminal cases, anytime there’s a guilty verdict, there is automatically going to be an appeal.”

Schwartz is endorsed by Veterans in Politics. Her campaign expense report says she paid Veterans in Politics International $600 for consulting expenses.

Steve Sanson of VIPI says his company is not a consultant to Schwartz. He says the judge purchased advertising from VIP and recorded it incorrectly on her expense report. He says buying advertising does not guarantee an endorsement from the group.

Schwartz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other endorsements include more than a dozen law enforcement associations, the Nevada Veterans Association, Asian American Group, Professional Firefighters of Nevada, Southern Nevada Building Trades Union, SEIU Nevada, Culinary Local 226, and Teamsters Nevada, Independent Black Voters, and the National Organization for Women (NOW).

Schwartz had raised $274,000 and had about $210,000 in the bank as of July. 

Villani is also a graduate of Boyd School of Law. He is no relation to former Judge Michael Villani.

He did not respond to requests for an interview and has no current campaign website.

This is his second bid for the bench. In 2020 he lost the race for Dept. 1 by double digits to Bita Yeager.  

As of July he had received no campaign contributions. It’s unknown if he has any endorsements. 

Early voting begins Saturday, October 17.