Thankfully, I know very little about Family Court, or most of the judges or practicioners over there. Who is giving all of the money to Petsas and why? Based on the article, Caston sounds like the best candidate.
Petsas is endorsed by the Clark County Prosecutors Association, according to his website. He raised just under $123,000 in the first quarter and has roughly $53,000 on hand.
Caston reported raising $11,650 in the first quarter and has about $8,400 remaining.
Henderson reported raising $5,500 in the first quarter and has about $6,900 on hand
He may be a good person, but the stats in the article suggest he’s not a very good judge. Less than half the attorneys think he knows the law, and his appeal rate seems to support that.
Do you not understand how reporting works? Attorneys were given surveys, who then rated judges based on certain criteria. Some ended up with excellent scores, some did not. The RJ didn’t arbitrarily rank judges on their own.
The surveys are titled. It is not a true scientific survey. Friends of Henderson’s opponents could encourage friends and colleagues to complete the surveys and ding him with low or bad scores. That is how it works. Folks who are motivated to complain or asked to complain complete the surveys. It is like a customer survey asking folks about their car. If you have trouble with the car or don’t like, you tend to complain and complete a survey. In judicial surveys a couple of attorneys moves the needle one way or another.
Then judge it by his appeal rate and his rate of being overturned on appeal. That’ll take the much of the self-interested, self-selecting surveying out of it.
“He has a 47% error rate on 98 appeals going back to 2009, according to Our Nevada Judges, a website that tracks the judiciary. His error rate in his current term is consistent with previous years.
“Henderson received a 50.5% retention score from attorneys who responded to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Judging the Judges survey. . . . About 45% said he accurately applied the law.”
Not exactly a big gap between 45 percent of survey respondents saying he accurately applied the law and the appellate courts reversing him 47 percent (affirming him 53 percent) of the time.
It is hard for Family Court Judges to win popularity contests. They are the King or Queen of their domain and must make hard decisions that leave one or more parties unhappy. The other candidates would not do a better job and are less qualified. Better to stick with a known quantity.
He gets it wrong half the time. Half. A coin could replace him and give the same results and save the clients all that time and money. It is pathetic that tax dollars are wasted on judges that are overturned half the time. Think of all the people that got screwed from this ineptitude. How many could not afford the appeal?
He get it “wrong” (According to the Supremes, which is another conversation) on half of the cases that get appealed.
Only a bare fraction of his decisions get appealed at all. So there is that factor. The 47% is misleading AT BEST!.
I have been appearing in form of Henderson for better than 20 years. He is without question one of the better FC Judges. Imperfect to be certain. But way better than many of the others.
I see this all the time with the young folk’s resumes – staying in jobs for a year or less, jumping around all the time. To me, that just marks someone as a flake. I’ve had several jobs too, but doing the math it works out to an average of 7.5 years per, with the shortest being about 2.5 and the longest being in excess of 16.
Okay, Boomer. The legal market ain’t what it used to be.
Also, once you learn everything you can from one job, it may be time to move on. Plain and simple. Provide opportunities for growth or else employees will look elsewhere.
In short, I guess, a resume like those “young folks” can cut both ways. With the right questioning, I might discovery somebody “hungry” for opportunity and will reward my firm with longevity if I meet their long-term needs.
Counterpoint: When you see a resume that includes several three-to-six month stints are various locations, that’s worrisome. Yes, job-hopping is the new normal. But if you can’t make it 90 days at multiple locations, that’s indicate of job performance issues.
If an applicant has less than two years on his/her current job it raises a question. If the applicant has had multiple jobs in the immediate preceding 5 years, a flag is raised. Why would I invest my time and money in someone who probably has baggage and by his/her history won’t be around for very long?
Where did he get his money? I just don’t care enough to look it up. Henderson will always have my vote, along with the 50-60 people that ask me who to vote for every election cycle.
That’s absolutely wild. I would be so indignant if it was put into competency and jail because they thought I was crazy and was the one who stole the other’s identity.
Is it really as easy as it seems to steal someone’s identity and keep it going for so long?
Guest
Anonymous
April 24, 2026 2:27 pm
Shout out to the judge who “thanks counsel for their patience and professionalism” in a minute order. It’s the small touches.
Ok guys, I don’t really care about BOG too much so help me vote. I just want the people who will cut bar dues, stop with the out of town stuff, and get with the program of not being lame. Who do I vote for?
Conferences held out of state tend to have a higher attendance rate than conferences nearby. It’s a fact. Complain all you want but the Bar conference is very well attended.
This is why the Board of Governors election is so important. The State Bar needs to rein in spending. They have a vacant building. The employees including the Director work remotely. Only Terry Coffing and Andrew Craner who need to be retained understand the issues because they have a history of bar service and are currently serving.
The other candidates may not be aware. Maybe Joel Henriod because he was active in the CCBA.
Not so. Arizona has their conference in hot Phoenix and Tucson in June. It is so well attended. It is several days long. They have it a resort hotels. Jam packed with vendors and programs.
Agree 100 per cent. But….Nevada State Bar Family Law Section, Gaming and Public Lawyers put on worthwhile conferences that beat the State Bar Annual Meeting hands down. The State Bar Annual Meeting in my opinion is a waste. I think it is provided for in the by laws or court rules so they have it. Maybe they need to do away with it or reinvent it.
Not sure this is accurate. without digging into each year (would be nice if the Bar made this accessible) 2013 had 271 attendees (Tahoe). 2022 had 200+. 2024 had 300 attendees. 2025 had 300.
Two hundred plus attendees and then maybe 75 others-staff and spouses is not a good percentage out of 12,000 lawyers in a state with mandatory 13 credits CLE annually.
And top of the deficit-in order to boost attendance they offer stipends to Affinity Bars (minority bars essentially) on the tuition. I have been to three State Bar Conferences. One was at Squaw Valley. It was very good. Another was at Monterey it was so so. The main hotel always sells out and I stayed in a satellite hotel which made things difficult and ridiculous. They don’t prepare or plan these very well. Another one was in San Diego–the Hotel Del Coronado. They were all so expensive with airfare, hotel, meals and car rental. Cost me about $3,000 to $4,000.
Huge funding disparity.
https://nevadacurrent.com/2026/04/23/attorneys-attempt-to-unseat-three-term-family-court-judge/
Someone who hates Henderson is funding this race.
Gotta be Pahrump, longstanding beef there.
That made me laugh out loud. Keep it up!
No one should head to Pahrump unless they can keep it up.
Thankfully, I know very little about Family Court, or most of the judges or practicioners over there. Who is giving all of the money to Petsas and why? Based on the article, Caston sounds like the best candidate.
Petsas is endorsed by the Clark County Prosecutors Association, according to his website. He raised just under $123,000 in the first quarter and has roughly $53,000 on hand.
Caston reported raising $11,650 in the first quarter and has about $8,400 remaining.
Henderson reported raising $5,500 in the first quarter and has about $6,900 on hand
Henderson is a good person and a decent judge. He does not deserve to have opponents. It is a shame.
He may be a good person, but the stats in the article suggest he’s not a very good judge. Less than half the attorneys think he knows the law, and his appeal rate seems to support that.
The RJ gets it wrong and hardly anybody pays any attention nowadays.
Do you not understand how reporting works? Attorneys were given surveys, who then rated judges based on certain criteria. Some ended up with excellent scores, some did not. The RJ didn’t arbitrarily rank judges on their own.
The surveys are titled. It is not a true scientific survey. Friends of Henderson’s opponents could encourage friends and colleagues to complete the surveys and ding him with low or bad scores. That is how it works. Folks who are motivated to complain or asked to complain complete the surveys. It is like a customer survey asking folks about their car. If you have trouble with the car or don’t like, you tend to complain and complete a survey. In judicial surveys a couple of attorneys moves the needle one way or another.
Ah yes. Fake news, the polls are rigged, the silent majority, etc. You people are exhausting.
Then judge it by his appeal rate and his rate of being overturned on appeal. That’ll take the much of the self-interested, self-selecting surveying out of it.
“He has a 47% error rate on 98 appeals going back to 2009, according to Our Nevada Judges, a website that tracks the judiciary. His error rate in his current term is consistent with previous years.
“Henderson received a 50.5% retention score from attorneys who responded to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Judging the Judges survey. . . . About 45% said he accurately applied the law.”
Not exactly a big gap between 45 percent of survey respondents saying he accurately applied the law and the appellate courts reversing him 47 percent (affirming him 53 percent) of the time.
It is hard for Family Court Judges to win popularity contests. They are the King or Queen of their domain and must make hard decisions that leave one or more parties unhappy. The other candidates would not do a better job and are less qualified. Better to stick with a known quantity.
He gets it wrong half the time. Half. A coin could replace him and give the same results and save the clients all that time and money. It is pathetic that tax dollars are wasted on judges that are overturned half the time. Think of all the people that got screwed from this ineptitude. How many could not afford the appeal?
NO! That is a super large red herring.
He get it “wrong” (According to the Supremes, which is another conversation) on half of the cases that get appealed.
Only a bare fraction of his decisions get appealed at all. So there is that factor. The 47% is misleading AT BEST!.
I have been appearing in form of Henderson for better than 20 years. He is without question one of the better FC Judges. Imperfect to be certain. But way better than many of the others.
Petsas’ judicial application is interesting. 8 jobs in ten years…
https://nvcourts.gov/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/46181/Petsas_Public_Application.pdf
I see this all the time with the young folk’s resumes – staying in jobs for a year or less, jumping around all the time. To me, that just marks someone as a flake. I’ve had several jobs too, but doing the math it works out to an average of 7.5 years per, with the shortest being about 2.5 and the longest being in excess of 16.
Okay, Boomer. The legal market ain’t what it used to be.
Also, once you learn everything you can from one job, it may be time to move on. Plain and simple. Provide opportunities for growth or else employees will look elsewhere.
In short, I guess, a resume like those “young folks” can cut both ways. With the right questioning, I might discovery somebody “hungry” for opportunity and will reward my firm with longevity if I meet their long-term needs.
Counterpoint: When you see a resume that includes several three-to-six month stints are various locations, that’s worrisome. Yes, job-hopping is the new normal. But if you can’t make it 90 days at multiple locations, that’s indicate of job performance issues.
If an applicant has less than two years on his/her current job it raises a question. If the applicant has had multiple jobs in the immediate preceding 5 years, a flag is raised. Why would I invest my time and money in someone who probably has baggage and by his/her history won’t be around for very long?
Teacher, lawyer, teacher, lawyer, teacher, lawyer.
Vegas, Reno, Vegas.
Seeing big red flags here.
Where did he get his money? I just don’t care enough to look it up. Henderson will always have my vote, along with the 50-60 people that ask me who to vote for every election cycle.
Nick is a nice kid. Appointments for parents in abuse/neglect is a pretty low rung to make one qualified for the bench.
There is no chance Bill Henderson should be re-elected. Vegas is better off without him on the bench.
Not Vegas, but 8th Circuit decision about a man who lived for decades under the name and identity of his former hot dog stand co-worker: https://ecf.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/26/04/251339P.pdf?utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9MNyUJB9ebzY1SEofLCdS9ICwyL2Rgx-JVK-B7cZbmp3Efo6ocgYJwPI4qh6F7N5zI5SccFGoE-fvJhg5rPTXbm4cqcQ&_hsmi=415618734&utm_content=415618734&utm_source=hs_email
That’s absolutely wild. I would be so indignant if it was put into competency and jail because they thought I was crazy and was the one who stole the other’s identity.
Is it really as easy as it seems to steal someone’s identity and keep it going for so long?
Shout out to the judge who “thanks counsel for their patience and professionalism” in a minute order. It’s the small touches.
Talk is cheap.
Ok guys, I don’t really care about BOG too much so help me vote. I just want the people who will cut bar dues, stop with the out of town stuff, and get with the program of not being lame. Who do I vote for?
Then you would vote against all of the incumbents because none of them have done that.
Conferences held out of state tend to have a higher attendance rate than conferences nearby. It’s a fact. Complain all you want but the Bar conference is very well attended.
i’m not being pedantic i just don’t remember. In my time i don’t remember any conference being in state except maybe Tahoe ten years ago?
Last one in state was in 2013.
Not by average folks
They do not want us to participate. The conference should always be in Nevada, rotating between north and south.
I’d concede out-of-state conferences on a 3-year cycle of north, south, and out of state.
This is why the Board of Governors election is so important. The State Bar needs to rein in spending. They have a vacant building. The employees including the Director work remotely. Only Terry Coffing and Andrew Craner who need to be retained understand the issues because they have a history of bar service and are currently serving.
The other candidates may not be aware. Maybe Joel Henriod because he was active in the CCBA.
Clark County has 70-75% of active Nevada lawyers. Washoe has 20% Should it not be proportional?
Not so. Arizona has their conference in hot Phoenix and Tucson in June. It is so well attended. It is several days long. They have it a resort hotels. Jam packed with vendors and programs.
Member of AZ Bar and the AZ Conference is so much better than the Nevada Conference.
Agree 100 per cent. But….Nevada State Bar Family Law Section, Gaming and Public Lawyers put on worthwhile conferences that beat the State Bar Annual Meeting hands down. The State Bar Annual Meeting in my opinion is a waste. I think it is provided for in the by laws or court rules so they have it. Maybe they need to do away with it or reinvent it.
Look at how well attended the U.S. District Court Conference is attended and it rotates north and south.
Not sure this is accurate. without digging into each year (would be nice if the Bar made this accessible) 2013 had 271 attendees (Tahoe). 2022 had 200+. 2024 had 300 attendees. 2025 had 300.
Two hundred plus attendees and then maybe 75 others-staff and spouses is not a good percentage out of 12,000 lawyers in a state with mandatory 13 credits CLE annually.
In 2022 they lost $165,000 on the annual convention. Every attendee cost the bar $500.
And top of the deficit-in order to boost attendance they offer stipends to Affinity Bars (minority bars essentially) on the tuition. I have been to three State Bar Conferences. One was at Squaw Valley. It was very good. Another was at Monterey it was so so. The main hotel always sells out and I stayed in a satellite hotel which made things difficult and ridiculous. They don’t prepare or plan these very well. Another one was in San Diego–the Hotel Del Coronado. They were all so expensive with airfare, hotel, meals and car rental. Cost me about $3,000 to $4,000.
The Tahoe one in 2013 was really nice and accessible. Last SBN Convention that I attended that did not feel like a vanity festival
Wait, why do minority bars get stipends? What is the purported rationale for that?
The rationale was that the SBN Convention was whiter than the Golden Girls year after year. I dont support the rationale but that was the rationale.