'Unprecedented:' 2 Las Vegas attorneys will become judges after no one filed against them

On the last day of January's two-week filing period for judicial candidates, Colleen Brown was glued to her screen.

Brown, a chief deputy district attorney who oversees the major fraud and elder abuse unit, filed to run for Clark County District Court Department 24 on the first day of filing two weeks prior. The seat is held by Judge Erika Ballou, who was suspended without pay for six months last September by the state's Judicial Discipline Commission. It was unclear if Ballou would file for re-election.

Brown spent much of that Friday refreshing and refreshing and refreshing the Clark County Election Department's website to see if Ballou or any other candidate had jumped into the race. 

"My husband was like, 'Can you just stop?' You have to do parental things. You can't just focus on this the whole time, right?" Brown, 40, recalled. Haircuts had been scheduled for their sons, Derek, 8, and Wyatt, 6, and she needed to go along. "My husband is a very smart man. He said, 'You're coming too. You just don't have to be on your phone the whole time.'"

5 p.m. rolled around, and Ballou didn't file. Neither did anyone else. 

It means Brown is all but automatically elected — she needs just a single vote in the November election to make it official. 

There are 70 judicial races on the ballot in Clark County this cycle. Though more than two-thirds of the state's incumbent district court civil/criminal and family judges saw their victories sealed when filing closed without drawing any challengers, longtime legal observers say it's highly unusual for a non-incumbent to clear the field and automatically win election, especially in open seats.

What's even more unusual is that it happened twice this cycle. 

Family law attorney Emily McFarling also filed to run on the first possible day for the Clark County Department H Family Court seat, which retiring Judge Art Ritchie held for 27 years.

McFarling, 50, decided to spend the final hour before the 5 p.m. close of filing in person at the election department to see if she would draw an opponent. 

"It was a bit nerve-racking, but I needed to be there for myself to see who was coming and going," she said.

Political consultant Tom Letizia has handled judicial campaigns in several election cycles and is involved in 23 judicial races this year, including running the Brown and McFarling campaigns. He said winning without drawing an opponent keeps judges from having to seek campaign donations, primarily from the legal community.

The drawback for Brown and McFarling is that they can't recoup any money they put up themselves to jump-start their campaigns. However, it was a small price to pay given that they can now focus on their current jobs while preparing to join the state's judiciary next year.

"My husband was driving home, and I looked at the website and didn't see an opponent," Brown recalled. "My sons asked, 'Did you win?' I said, 'I think so.' It was probably the most wholesome thing ever, finding out you're going to be a judge while also doing mom things."

A first for Nevada

A spokesperson for the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), which provides programs and services that support the state's appellate and trial courts, said they couldn't recall two non-incumbent judicial candidates winning in the same cycle without facing a challenger.

Retired journalist Bill Gang, who spent 18 years covering the courts for the Las Vegas Sun and 14 years as the spokesman for the AOC, said when Clark County's population was smaller, a group of influential leaders in the legal community would often coalesce around a chosen candidate for an open judicial post. But even then, that person almost always drew one or two opponents.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, who started his legal career in Las Vegas in 1980 and considers local political history and especially the judiciary as one of his hobbies, also couldn't recall a similar occurrence.

Despite being de facto elected, Brown and McFarling have not stopped campaigning. They still attend community and political events and meet with voters, which can be an all-consuming process for judicial candidates.

"I'm still going to events and meeting people because the public at large didn't choose me," Brown said. "Just because [attorneys] didn't put up a candidate, that doesn't mean the public doesn't have questions."

As to why they didn't draw opponents? McFarling has an idea.

"We are both women who are champions of the people around us, supportive, caring and respectful of the other people we come across in the legal community," she said. "When people are deciding which judicial race to run in, they are a lot less likely to run against someone who has been there for them in some way in the past or, at the very least, someone who they have no animosity or bad feelings toward, even after having cases against us."

'It's not personal'

Brown met with Ballou, the incumbent, before filing for Department 24. Ballou had been suspended after she was accused of defying the Nevada Supreme Court by releasing a prisoner and not ordering the prisoner to be taken back into custody after the high court reversed her decision on appeal.

Ballou did not give Brown any hint about whether or not she would run again. 

"I wanted to let her know I was thinking about putting in for her department, and to let her know it's not personal," Brown said. "I wasn't planning to attack her at all during the process. She was likely going to draw an opponent. I think everyone knew that was going to happen."

In March, the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline ruled that Ballou's suspension will remain in place until the end of her term, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The AOC has staffed the courtroom with senior (retired) judges on a rotating basis until January.

Brown made it known she was running toward the end of 2025, but kept her costs to a minimum ahead of January's filing period. She did not invest in roadside campaign signs, because she "wanted to see who my opponent would be. You can then target your signs appropriately."

A member of the district attorney's office for 17 years, Brown considered running for judge in a previous election cycle, but backed away because of family obligations. Her husband is a commercial airline pilot, and at the time they were planning for their second child. 

She applied for an appointment to an open Henderson Justice Court seat in 2023, but the position went to Barbara Schifalacqua, another deputy district attorney. 

"I did not ask [Ballou] if she was intending to run. Ultimately, I felt like that was a personal decision," Brown said. "I did let her know if she did choose to run, it was probably going to be the friendliest campaign ever."

Wolfson backed Brown's decision despite facing the loss of "one of my top-tier chief deputies." He said the fraud unit "is not one of the divisions that a lot of DAs want to work in," adding that Brown volunteered for the role when the position opened. 

"She's hard working, she's smart and I fully supported her running," Wolfson said.

Brown earned her law degree from the University of Wisconsin and moved to Las Vegas in July 2009 to join the district attorney's office. Heading the fraud unit from a criminal prosecution perspective gave her some background on civil court cases. She expects to hear both criminal and civil matters as a judge.

"A lot of the stuff that we deal with is white-collar crime. So plenty of the matters include a civil lawsuit component," Brown said. "We are familiar with the documents. We review the documents. We understand the standards of proof are obviously very different."

Finding an open seat

McFarling, who has been practicing family law for 23 years in Las Vegas, laid the groundwork for her race nearly a year ago when she approached Ritchie, who confirmed courthouse rumors that he was retiring. She did not want to oppose a sitting judge.

She quickly worked to put a campaign together for Department H, including signage that began popping up around Las Vegas in the late fall.

"Judge Ritchie is an organized person with a good staff and he's conscientious," she said. "I knew he would leave the courtroom with a pretty good setup for the next judge."

McFarling applied several times in the judicial selection process for vacant family court seats. The closest she came to an appointment was last year, when she was one of three attorneys selected by the Commission on Judicial Selection to fill an opening in Department Y. Gov. Joe Lombardo ultimately chose attorney Adriana Rincon White for the seat.

McFarling, who has teenage daughters, earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri and her law degree from Northeastern University. A desire to get away from the East Coast winters brought her to Las Vegas, where she opened her family law practice, specializing in divorce and child custody matters.

Oftentimes, family court matters don't involve attorneys.

"As a judge, you have to be very tuned in, intuitive and compassionate, because you're dealing with real people, day in and day out, not just attorneys," McFarling said. 

She also plans to spend time with Ritchie and his staff, training for the role. She plans to meet with other family court judges to understand the caseload and what is expected of her. 

"One of the goals is to get people to the end point as quickly as possible and as efficiently as possible, but getting a resolution so they don't have to come back to court over and over again," McFarling said.

McFarling was glad she made the early investment in her race, even though it is nearly impossible to recoup the losses. She was also glad the process introduced her to Brown, who for her part, said she didn't know McFarling before they met on the campaign trail.

They quickly became friends.

"I went to her celebration party," Brown said. "I felt real joy for Emily. I was glad we were on the same journey. It's helpful to have another person on this road."