I am a native of Las Vegas and graduated Valedictorian of Clark High School in 1983. I graduated cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, from The Colorado College in 1987, and I received my Juris Doctor degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1990.
In 1990, I passed the California bar exam and joined the law firm of Hill, Farrer & Burrill in Los Angeles. I specialized in labor and litigation matters and enjoyed extensive courtroom motion practice experience. I decided to return to Las Vegas to spend more time with my family and took and passed the Nevada bar exam in 1992, after being hired as the Assistant General Counsel for The Mirage Casino-Hotel.
I worked for Mirage Resorts, Incorporated for 9 years, serving as the Assistant General Counsel for The Mirage Casino-Hotel for 6 ½ years and as the General Counsel for Treasure Island Corp. for 2 ½ years. During my tenure at Mirage Resorts, I handled numerous complex civil litigation matters and acquired substantial experience in industrial relations and labor law matters, including equal employment opportunity, collective bargaining, and contract administration.
From an early age, however, my father, the late Las Vegas Sun columnist, Joe Delaney, instilled in me the value and importance in public service. I had long served the community in a volunteer capacity, including a five year term on the Executive Committee of Share Our Strength to raise funds for hunger relief in Nevada, graduation from the prestigious Leadership Las Vegas program in 1996, and a two-year term as a Board Member of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Community Council. But I knew after almost ten years in private practice that it was time to put my law degree to work for the public as well.
From February, 2001 until elected to the District Court in November 2008, I represented the citizens of Nevada as a Senior Deputy Attorney General in the Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. My significant case load included civil, criminal and administrative matters, and my prosecution efforts resulted in millions of dollars of restitution being paid to consumers.
I took the bench in Department 25 on January 5, 2009, and, since that time, I have overseen one of the most varied court dockets in the District Court. After my initial assignment to Civil and Business Court matters, I spent more than a year overseeing the Adult Drug Court, Felony DUI Court, Mental Health Court, and Competency Court. When I resumed my general assignments, they included Civil, Criminal, and Business Court matters, as well as all appeals from the State’s Foreclosure Mediation Program.
Finally, you should know my passion, outside of the work I do on behalf of the citizens of Clark County, is running the local non-profit dog rescue organization, Las Vegas Basset Rescue. Las Vegas Basset Rescue has been helping homeless animals in the Southern Nevada area since 1999, and, as its current President, it is my joy and privilege to heal and re-home the numerous basset hounds that are abandoned each year in our community.
