District Court Judge, Eighth Judicial District, Department 31

Nonpartisan

The Candidates

Kishner, Joanna S.

Joanna S. Kishner

Incumbent

Kishner was first elected to the seat in 2010. Before joining the bench, she was in private law practice for two decades, including time as senior counsel at Warner Bros.

Campaign Website

Kishner was first elected to the seat in 2010. Before joining the bench, she was in private law practice for two decades, including time as senior counsel at Warner Bros.

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Alexandra Beth McLeod

McLeod has been in private law practice with various firms since 2003, handling civil litigation, criminal defense and personal injury cases.

Campaign Website

McLeod has been in private law practice with various firms since 2003, handling civil litigation, criminal defense and personal injury cases.

Candidate Deep Dive

McLeod, Alexandra Beth

Years Licensed in NV

Nevada: 23 years. Admitted in 2002.

Court Docket

  • More than 15 cases taken to jury verdict or judgment, including three as lead counsel.
  • About 500 arbitrations, settlement conferences and mediations.

Ethics History

No negative ethics history.

Sanctions

None.

Title

  • Of counsel, Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP: November 2022 to present
    • Civil defense litigation through all phases: law and motion, discovery and depositions, mediation, arbitration, settlement and trial preparation.
  • Court-annexed arbitrator, Eighth Judicial District Court
  • Short trial judge, Eighth Judicial District Court
  • Practice areas in current position
    • Automobile and transportation negligence, including commercial vehicle and trucking claims.
    • Premises liability, including casino and resort property claims.
    • Products liability.
    • Catastrophic injury and large-loss exposure: severe spinal injury, brain injury and fatality claims.
    • Insurance defense for insured and self-insured individuals and companies.
    • Alternative dispute resolution, as advocate and as neutral.
    • Practice distribution:
      • 94 percent trial court civil cases
      • 5 percent appellate civil
      • 1 percent domestic and family (cases under the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada's Children's Attorney Project)
  • Prior job titles
    • Of counsel, Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP, Las Vegas: November 2022 to present
    • Trial attorney, Nettles Morris, Henderson: August 2021 to August 2022
      • Plaintiff-side practice in severe spinal injury, brain injury and catastrophic personal injury matters. Supervised one of the firm's two litigation teams.
      • Three jury trials, one before Judge Linda Bell and two before Judge Eric Johnson.
    • Trial attorney, AIG Staff Counsel, formerly Grant & Associates, Las Vegas: September 2017 to August 2021
      • Insurer staff counsel defending AIG-insured companies and their employees.
    • Senior associate attorney, Thorndal Armstrong Delk Balkenbush & Eisinger, Las Vegas: February 2014 to September 2017
      • Civil defense litigation emphasizing premises liability and automobile and transportation negligence, including catastrophic injury and fatality accidents.
    • Supervising attorney, Brady, Vorwerck, Ryder & Caspino, Las Vegas: October 2008 to January 2014
      • Managed the Las Vegas casualty unit of a 35-plus-lawyer, seven-office defense firm; supervised associates and staff; handled and tried cases.
    • Senior associate attorney, Lewis & Associates, Las Vegas: March 2007 to September 2008
      • Full litigated insurance defense caseload.
    • Associate attorney, Seegmiller & Associates, Las Vegas: August 2006 to February 2007
      • Plaintiffs' personal injury claims and trial practice.
    • Associate attorney, Lewis & Shreve LLP, Las Vegas: January 2003 to August 2006
      • Full litigated insurance defense caseload.
    • Adjunct professor, University of Phoenix, Las Vegas campus: 2008 to 2014
      • Taught business law, negotiations and ethics.

Career Highlights

  • Education
    • Law degree, University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law: May 2002
      • Class rank: top 25 percent
    • Bachelor's degree in political science, cum laude, with a minor in Spanish, American University, Washington, D.C.: 1999
    • Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, Connecticut: diploma cum laude, 1996
    • Ras Tanura International School, Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia: 1991 to 1993
  • Law school activities
    • McGeorge Law Review, 2000 to 2001
    • Editor, The Transnational Lawyer, 2001 to 2002
    • Community Legal Services: certified law student 2000 to 2002, governing board member 2001 to 2002.
    • Trial Advocacy and Advanced Trial Advocacy clinics
    • Judicial internship with Judge Roger Hunt, U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada: May to August 2001
    • Research assistant to torts professor Julie Davies, 2000 to 2002
  • Career milestones and recognition
    • AV Preeminent peer-review rating, Martindale-Hubbell: 2015
    • Bar chair, Eighth Judicial District Court Civil Bench-Bar Committee: 2019 to 2023
      • The Bench-Bar Committee is a standing body of judges and practicing lawyers that addresses court rules, procedure and relations between the court and the bar. The bar chair is the practitioner co-chair, serving opposite a judicial co-chair.
    • Southern Nevada Association of Women Attorneys: president and immediate past president, 2023 to 2025
    • Las Vegas Defense Lawyers: former member of the board of directors
    • Nevada Justice Association (plaintiffs' bar association): former member
    • Appointed by the Nevada Supreme Court as a Transition Into Practice mentor.

Significant Cases

  • Van Horn v. USF Fabrication et al.
    • McLeod's first trial resulting in a favorable verdict for her client.
    • Personal injury suit with product defect and negligence claims.
  • Bradley v. Driggs
    • McLeod was defense counsel, first chair at trial, with principal responsibility for voir dire, opening statement and witness examination.
    • Settled at the close of the defense case, before closing argument.
  • Frabotta v. Ramparts Inc.
    • The first trial McLeod took part in that did not end in a favorable verdict for her client.
    • Negligent security case alleging a property owner failed to protect a patron from foreseeable criminal conduct.
  • Yang v. Hammond
    • Solo defense counsel in a personal injury automobile case.
  • Howard v. Caesars Linq LLC
    • Lead counsel for the plaintiff at trial.
    • Personal injury case involving broken glass outside the Off the Strip restaurant at the Linq Promenade.

Judicial Philosophy

  • McLeod says she intends to act as a "referee" who does not pick sides but ensures the rules are followed so the process is fair.
  • McLeod thinks a judge's job is "about listening carefully, applying the law impartially," and treating everyone in the courtroom with dignity.
  • Is committed to fairness, respect and equal justice under law.
  • Wants to promote more efficient operation of the Eighth Judicial District Court and commits to making the system fairer and more efficient.

Endorsements & Contributions

  • Endorsements
    • 2026 endorsements:
      • None
    • 2024 endorsements:
      • Teamsters Locals 631, 14 and 986
    • 2020 endorsements:
      • Nevada First Agenda Association
      • Las Vegas Spectrum
  • Contributions: 2026 cycle
    • Of her contributions, 19.6 percent ($10,250) came from the legal profession.
    • The remaining 80.4 percent came from nonlegal business and investor donors, unclassified donors and her own funding.
    • Of her contributions, 78.2 percent ($41,000) came from nonlegal business and investor donors, meaning individuals and companies with no law practice, here consisting entirely of one family and its affiliated entities: Jay Bloom, Carolyn Farkas, Sean Bloom, One Collect LLC and Rapidly Mobilizing LLC.
    • Of her contributions, 9.5 percent ($5,000) came from McLeod's former firm, Thorndal Armstrong Delk Balkenbush & Eisinger, where she worked from 2014 to 2017.
      • The single contributor is Aileen Cohen, an insurance defense and coverage attorney at that firm who also served on the Las Vegas Defense Lawyers board.
    • Of her contributions, 5.2 percent ($2,750) came from plaintiffs' personal injury firms, which represent injured people suing for money damages and are paid a percentage of the recovery: Panish Shea & Boyle LLP ($1,500), Mitchell Rogers Injury Law ($500), Jonathan Remmel ($500) and Christopher Young PC ($250).
    • Of her contributions, 2.9 percent ($1,500) came from McLeod's current firm, Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP, an insurance and civil defense firm hired by insurance companies and businesses to defend against injury claims: the firm itself ($1,250) and associate Jonathan Pattillo ($250).
    • No contributions appear from probate, trust and estate, family law or employment attorneys, or from former judges and private neutrals.
    • No criminal defense firm contributed other than The Vieira Firm, whose practice includes criminal defense alongside civil rights and immigration.

Community Service

  • Transition Into Practice mentor, appointed by the Nevada Supreme Court.
  • Goldilocks program, Young Lawyers Section of the State Bar of Nevada, teaching elementary school students about the legal system.
  • Mock trial judge for student competitions.
  • Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada Children's Attorney Project pro bono cases.
  • Church service in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.