Appointed judge challenged by longtime civil attorney in District Court Department 14

A longtime civil attorney is challenging a recently appointed judge and former prosecutor for the District Court Department 14 bench.

District Judge Tina Talim, 46, is a former chief deputy district attorney who was appointed to the bench by Gov. Joe Lombardo in June. She is the first Indian-American judge in Nevada. Her opponent, civil attorney Alan Lefebvre, 71, questioned her qualifications to oversee civil cases and said in a recent interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal that “identity politics” should stay out of judicial elections.

Talim was the only applicant for the vacant department seat, according to the Nevada Commission on Judicial Selection website.

Although the Nevada Constitution calls for judicial candidates to be selected from among three nominees, a judicial selection commission rule allows for the group to forward all applicants to the governor if there are three or fewer qualified people who apply.

Lefebvre, a longtime civil attorney who served as president of the Nevada Bar Association from 2013 to 2014, said he is concerned that “civil law expertise” among judges is dropping, as positions are being filled with former prosecutors and public defenders.

“People should not have judges learning on the job, and that is what I believe Judge Talim is doing,” he said.

Lefebvre also said that “identity politics” should not be a part of a judicial election.

“I don’t have those DEI credentials,” Lefebvre said. “I notice those are touted a great deal. I’m a person who seeks judgeship on the basis of merit.”

He went on to add that Talim “touts her credentials within the DA’s office, supporting their (Diversity, Equality and Inclusion) endeavors.”

Talim took issue with the allegation.

“Those comments are deeply troubling and raise serious questions about his fitness to serve on the bench as a fair and impartial jurist to everyone who comes in front of him, including underrepresented minority populations,” Talim said.

She also said that Lefebvre’s statements are “consistent” with columns he wrote in 2014 for the state bar’s magazine, when he was president of the organization, that drew criticism from the legal community.

In one column, he criticized the legalization of medical marijuana, and in another column, he criticized then-Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto for not defending Nevada’s prior law against same-sex marriage.

In an interview this month, Lefebvre told the Review-Journal that he did not believe the medical marijuana column was controversial, and that he was advocating for Cortez Masto to defend the state’s laws. He said the column on the same-sex marriage controversy “stands on its own, and it should be read and re-read.”

He said the columns should not affect how voters see him, because he was “upholding the rule of law.”

“I reject the charge of homophobia or bigotry in that column and anybody who says that has not read the column without hysteria,” he said.

Lefebvre graduated from the University of San Francisco’s law school in 1978 and moved to Las Vegas shortly after for job opportunities. He handled corporate disputes, business litigation and commercial litigation, which frequently involved construction clients.

He has previously served on the state bar’s board of governors and the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline. He ran for a seat on the Nevada Supreme Court in 2018 and lost in the primary election.

Lefebvre said he ceased actively practicing law in 2023 due to family reasons. He said that with his extensive history practicing civil law, he would be prepared to handle criminal matters if elected to the bench.

As a judge, Lefebvre said he would “apply the law as it is written,” and that he would not “apply social justice norms to decide criminal cases.”

Talim graduated from Pepperdine University’s law school in 2004 and moved to Las Vegas afterward. She worked in civil law for a year before she was hired at the Clark County district attorney’s office, where she spent about 19 years as a prosecutor. Toward the end of her time as a prosecutor, she oversaw drug-trafficking cases and was in charge of the team that began charging people with murder in connection with fentanyl overdoses.

Talim said that since she was appointed to the bench, she has handled hundreds of civil cases. She said there are similarities between civil and criminal law, in that both require carefully weighing the facts and evidence.

“There was a learning curve, but I think over the last several months I have proved to this community, and to the bars, and the people who appear in front of me, that no one’s going to work harder than I will,” she said.

Talim’s endorsements include multiple law enforcement organizations, the Latin Chamber of Commerce and Hispanics in Politics. Lefebvre is endorsed by the Armed Forces Chamber, Veterans in Politics International and the Nevada Veterans Association.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.