This is a list of the first women lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Nevada. It includes the year in which the women were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are women who achieved other distinctions such becoming the first in their state to graduate from law school or become a political figure.
Nevada is a landlocked state in the Western region of the United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, the 32nd-most populous, and the ninth-least densely populated U.S. state. Nearly three-quarters of Nevada's population live in Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area, including three of the state's four largest incorporated cities. Nevada's capital is Carson City. Las Vegas is the largest city in the state.
Nevada is the only U.S. state where prostitution is legally permitted in some form. Prostitution is legal in 10 of Nevada's 17 counties, although only six allow it in every municipality. Six counties have at least one active brothel, which mainly operate in isolated, rural areas. The state's most populated counties, Clark and Washoe, are among those that do not permit prostitution. It is also illegal in Nevada's capital, Carson City, an independent city.
Brian Edward Sandoval is an American politician, academic administrator, and former federal judge who served as the 29th Governor of Nevada from 2011 to 2019.
Darren Roy Mack is the convicted killer of his 39-year-old estranged wife, Charla Mack, and of attempted murder of Family Court Judge Chuck Weller, who was handling the couple’s divorce. Mack pleaded guilty to his wife's murder and took an Alford plea on the attempted murder charges of the judge.
Johnnie Mae Blakeney Rawlinson is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Nevada since October 9, 2014, when a federal district court judge issued an injunction against enforcement of Nevada's same-sex marriage ban, acting on order from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. A unanimous three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit had ruled two days earlier that the state's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Same-sex marriage was previously banned by an amendment to the Constitution of Nevada, which was approved by voters in 2002. The statutory ban on same-sex marriages was repealed by the Nevada Legislature in 2017, and the constitutional ban was repealed by voters in 2020 by 62–38 percent.
Gloria Maria Navarro is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada.
Miranda Mai Du is an American lawyer who has served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. As a district judge, Du has presided over a number of noteworthy cases, including a number regarding voting rights. She served as the chief judge of the court 2019 to 2024.
The State Bar of Nevada is a public corporation operating under the supervision of the Nevada Supreme Court to regulate attorneys in the State of Nevada. It provides education and development programs for its members and to the public. Its departments include admissions, lawyer regulation and client protection divisions, and it provides services such as lawyer referral, law related education and access to justice. It currently has two office locations in Las Vegas and Reno.
Aaron Darnell Ford is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 34th Attorney General of Nevada, since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a Nevada State Senator for the 11th district from 2013 to 2018, which encompasses parts of the Las Vegas Valley including portions of the communities of Spring Valley and Enterprise.
Deborah Ann Agosti is a former justice of the Supreme Court of Nevada from 1999 to 2005. She was one of the first one hundred women attorneys in Nevada.
The 2018 Nevada gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the next governor of Nevada. Incumbent Republican governor Brian Sandoval was ineligible to run for re-election due to the absolute two-term limit established by the Nevada Constitution. Nevada is one of eight U.S. states that prohibits its governors or any other state and territorial executive branch officials from serving more than two terms, even if they are nonconsecutive.
Lidia Shenade Stiglich is an American attorney and jurist serving as a justice of the Supreme Court of Nevada since 2016. She was appointed by Governor Brian Sandoval on November 10, 2016.
Steven James Yeager is an American politician and attorney serving as the speaker of the Nevada Assembly since 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, Yeager has represented the 9th district since 2016. His district covers parts of the southwestern Las Vegas Valley.
Abbi Silver is an American attorney who served as a justice of the Nevada Supreme Court from 2019 to 2022.