Hearing master, personal injury attorney seek open Justice Court seat

By Dana Gentry

Nevada Current

The campaign to fill the seat being vacated by Clark County Justice of the Peace Ann Zimmerman, who is retiring, pits former prosecutor Amy Ferreira against attorney Nancy Bernstein.

Bernstein is a native Las Vegan with 15 years of experience as a criminal defense attorney and civil litigator, according to her website. She earned her law degree from UNLV’s Boyd Law School, served as a clerk for former District Judge Lee Gates, and interned at the District Attorney’s Office. She currently works as a personal injury lawyer at the Richard Harris law firm.

Ferreira moved to Las Vegas following her graduation from Syracuse University College of Law in 2006 to work for the Clark County District Attorney’s Office. She served as a prosecutor for 13 years and completed 35 felony jury trials — some for the Special Victims Unit, where she prosecuted cases involving sexually abused children. Ferreira founded the first Animal Cruelty Unit in the DA’s office, and has a small farm where she houses rescued animals.

In 2020, Clark County Justices of the Peace appointed Ferreira to serve as a hearing master, where she has presided the past four years over a variety of calendars, including small claims, evictions, traffic, and initial appearances for criminal defendants.

“Justice Court is a person’s first interaction with the criminal justice system in a lot of cases,” she says, noting the experience can affect perceptions. “If people have a good, positive experience in Justice Court, it makes them want to participate in the process — whether they’re a victim, a witness, a first responder, or a defendant. It sets the tone moving forward.”

Ferreira says during her four years as a hearing master, she’s managed to avoid perceptions of prosecutorial bias, noting in 2022 she was named the Las Vegas Justice Court employee of the year.

“I think that speaks to the kind of job I’m doing,” she says. “If you were to survey defense attorneys, they would tell you that at the District Attorney’s office, I was always fair, reasonable, tough, and a fighter, but never uncooperative or unprofessional in any sense. I think I’ve proven that I’m a good judicial officer who takes their oath very seriously and would never be biased towards or against either party.”

Bernstein, who is raising a young son, says she initially planned to pass on the opportunity to run for an open seat, but decided at the last minute to enter the race.

She says she has “way more experience in the court” than Ferreira. “I have worked as a lawyer for many years and now as managing partner at Richard Harris’s office. I’ve represented over 100,000 cases in Justice Court. I know the system, I know the judges, and I’m ready.”

Bernstein admits her experience in criminal cases is limited. She represented clients in traffic cases before they were decriminalized in 2023.

She declined to discuss the Valdez Jimenez ruling from the Nevada Supreme Court, which is designed to level the disparities that arise among defendants during bail hearings. The ruling requires judges to impose the least restrictive conditions on pre-trial defendants, while ensuring the public’s safety and the defendant’s return to court.

Bernstein says she has no experience representing a defendant at a bail hearing. “I have practiced primarily in civil law.”

She notes her opponent has never practiced civil law.

Ferreira agrees, noting that upon her appointment as hearing master, she “very quickly learned I needed to do a whole lot of work and learned a whole lot of things. When it comes to being a judge, experience and qualifications really matter. We’re dealing with people’s lives.”

Ferreira says the Valdez Jimenez ruling “very much affected how I do the initial appearance calendar every Sunday and every holiday. I’m very comfortable with the ruling in terms of understanding what it means, what it says, and how to apply the facts of the case to that particular ruling.”

Bernstein takes exception with the Clark County jail’s role as the largest mental health facility in Southern Nevada and holding facility for the unhoused.

“Sufferers should not be there. The staff are not equipped to help the mentally ill,” she says. “If we’re spending a certain amount of money for someone to be incarcerated, is that less or more than if we were to help the problem?”

As a hearing master, Ferreira does not sentence defendants.

She says specialty courts are addressing homelessness and mental health issues, “but they are only as good as the services that we have available in our community. While we have many community partners doing incredible work in these areas, the fact remains that our community is sorely lacking in resources related to substance abuse, mental health and homelessness. Judges can only order people to participate in the programs that exist.”

Bernstein says she is concerned about the court’s recent decision to eliminate the Resort Corridor Courts. Cases involving individuals ordered out of the resort corridor on the Strip and in downtown Las Vegas are currently held in two designated departments but will be shared among eight courts, beginning in November.

“I was quite surprised,” she said of the ruling. “It would be a shame for Las Vegas to be so dangerous that we lose tourism. Maybe this will work. Maybe it won’t.”

Bernstein recently found herself on the other side of a civil suit when she was named in a federal case filed by her ex-husband Ed Bernstein, a high-profile personal injury attorney. In 2022, Ed Bernstein, accused his ex-wife and the Heidari Law Group, where she worked at the time, of violating trademark law by launching a website under the name of Bernstein and Associates.

“Sam Heidari, for a short time and unbeknownst to me, took out a bunch of corporate names with the Secretary of State and he made up a website. I don’t even know how to do this,” she said.

The suit alleged that Nancy Bernstein, who has been married and divorced twice since her divorce from Bernstein more than two decades ago, and practiced law under her new married names, was using the Bernstein name for marketing purposes.

“He included all my seven last names in the lawsuit, just for funsies,” she said of her ex-husband, with whom she has two adult daughters. “I had no idea what was going on. I called him and said, ‘Eddie. Like, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’”

Nancy Bernstein quit her job with the Heidari Law Group and her ex-husband dropped the case.

“I stayed out of it,” she said.

Bernstein has raised about $62,500 as of July, and had $2,200 on hand. Ferreira raised roughly $59,000 and had $29,000 on hand.

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Dana Gentry is a native Las Vegan and award-winning investigative journalist. She is a graduate of Bishop Gorman High School and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.