The ABA Journal recently published an article about the fascinating feud taking place in the courts of my former home: Las Vegas, Nevada...

In this particular showdown, taking place in the Eighth Judicial District Court—the state’s newest and biggest courthouse—newly elected Judge Elizabeth Halverson is cast as a mean, morbidly obese incompetent abusing her power to settle scores accumulated there in her nine years as a law clerk.

Court documents—including the sworn affidavits of county administrators, judges and courthouse staff—contain the following claims:

• Insulting lawyers with sarcasm and taunts about not having contributed to her campaign.

• Applying her own brand of justice, such as talking to criminal juries during deliberations and outside the presence of the lawyers.

• Treating staffers as though they were her servants.

Within months of Halverson taking the bench in January, her former assistant sued her; a former bailiff filed a discrimination claim; her law clerk quit; and the courtroom clerk and court recorder were removed, by their request, from her staff.

Chief Judge Kathy Hardcastle is, in turn, cast by Halverson as an imperious, overreaching and abusive person, who over several years has leveled a series of personal and professional attacks.

The feud between them culminated May 15, when Chief Judge Hardcastle banned Halverson from the courthouse—a power grab beyond the chief’s legal authority, Halverson says.

This story is all over the airwaves in Vegas, a city whose legal system seems to be encountering serious growing pains of late. Last summer the Los Angeles Times published an investigation into the questionable practices of the city's judiciary. While some reforms were implemented following the Times articles, this latest kerfuffle suggests there's more work to be done.

[ABA Journal] You're NOT the Boss of Me (via Out of the Jungle)