Nevada’s first Indian-American judge hopes to inspire next generation

District Judge Tina Talim said that being the first Indian-American judge in the state of Nevada is both a great honor and a lot of pressure.

While the historic nature of her potential appointment didn’t drive Talim to apply to be a District Court judge, she said that she was aware of what it might symbolize.

“I get to be a role model for the next generation of attorneys and the next generation of judges,” she said.

Talim, who worked for 20 years in the Clark County district attorney’s office, has prosecuted more drug trafficking organizations than any other prosecutor in the state of Nevada, she wrote in her application for the role.

Her caseload included more than 100 felony cases a year. “I have appeared in every Justice Court and District Court which hears criminal matters,” Talim wrote on her application.

This experience meant that the transition from being a prosecutor one day in June and a judge the next wasn’t too drastic, Talim explained. “I had been a public servant for almost 20 years,” she said.

“You have to be intentional,” Talim said. “But I was ready for the change.”

Talim’s docket

Despite having handled criminal cases throughout her career, Talim’s current court calendar only includes civil cases, a spokesperson for district court confirmed. But she said that she expects to split her time between civil and criminal cases come January.

Once this split happens, Talim will share a courtroom with prosecutors that she knows from her time at the district attorney’s office.

“Previous relationships are not going to impact my work,” Talim said. “I also have a lot of friends from the criminal defense bar, from the public defender’s office.”

“What I can tell you is none of that comes into play for me,” she added.

Talim defined her judicial philosophy as applying the law, being fair and impartial and making sure that everyone appearing in front of her knows she has reviewed all the information in a case.

On the ballot

Having been appointed by Gov. Joe Lombardo to an elected role, Talim is a candidate in November’s race for her current position, which is Department 12 judge in Clark County District Court.

She will be on the ballot as well as candidate Alan Lefebvre, who served as the 89th president of the State Bar of Nevada from 2013 to 2014.

Looking toward the election, Talim said her priority is that the District Court continue to move cases along without delays. It’s an issue she said she saw when, like others across the country, the court slowed down during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Talim has spent time both as a prosecutor and judge meeting community members, as she said the onus is on her to make sure voters know her background and values.

At the district attorney’s office, Talim advocated for and assumed the role of director of diversity and community outreach. She wanted the office to both change its makeup and increase community outreach to Clark County’s diverse populations.

“When you have an office that looks like the community it serves, that builds trust with the community,” she said.

While Talim hopes to continue meeting community members, since assuming her role as judge she has unfortunately put a pause on her part-time job as a Pilates instructor.

Moved to U.S. as a child

Since taking the bench on June 20, Talim said that being the first Indian-American judge in Nevada has been “humbling.”

Support from the community has been critical in her transition, she explained. “Many of us, like myself, are immigrants,” she said. “I hope it inspires every person who feels that they’ve been marginalized.”

Talim moved to the U.S. from India when she was 8.

“When you’re a young child in India in the ‘80s, America was everything,” she said.

“Although at my age I know the streets in America aren’t paved with gold, my goodness, the opportunities that I’ve been given in this country have been unfathomable,” Talim said.

She said she feels this sense of opportunity particularly in Clark County, which she chose to make home after leaving Southern California, where her parents opened the first Indian restaurant in West Los Angeles.

Talim hopes to be a role model for her two daughters, who are 17-year-old twins. While she said her daughters hope to go into medicine rather than law, Talim hopes “they too will break barriers.”

Contact Estelle Atkinson at eatkinson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @estellelilym on X and @estelleatkinsonreports on Instagram.