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Nicholas Del Vecchio, who will take the bench in January as a Family Court judge, laughs during a recent interview in his law office. He said he has a public perception of being "fair, deferent and sensitive." Photo by Ralph Fountain. Nicholas Del Vecchio shows off a recycled campaign sign he used this year in his race for a newly created judgeship in Clark County Family Court. Del Vecchio used the same sign last year in his unsuccessful bid for a seat in Las Vegas Municipal Court, then cut off the bottom half so he could reuse it for this year's campaign. After losing seven previous elections, Del Vecchio defeated Beth Wachsman, whose sign is in the background. Photo by Ralph Fountain. ELECTION RECORD Attorney Nicholas Del Vecchio ran for office seven times without success before persuading voters to elect him this year. Below are the eight races he has entered: 1989 -- Esmeralda County district attorney 1992 -- Clark County Family Court judge 1994 -- Las Vegas Municipal Court judge 1996 -- Clark County Family Court judge 1997 -- Las Vegas Municipal Court judge 1998 -- Clark County Family Court judge 1999 -- Las Vegas Municipal Court judge 2000 -- Clark County Family Court judge

Sunday, November 19, 2000
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Del Vecchio finds perseverance pays

New Clark County Family Court judge held head high, despite losing previous elections

Nicholas Del Vecchio has lived his life according to the adage, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

Call him the poster boy for perseverance.

Del Vecchio, a Las Vegas lawyer, lost seven previous elections before winning a race this month for a new judgeship in Clark County Family Court.

He also sought appointments to four other judicial positions without success. And on yet another occasion, he filed as a candidate for a nonexistent judgeship, later losing a court battle over the issue.

Oh yeah, and it took him five tries to get into law school.

"I was the last of six boys to go to law school," Del Vecchio said during a recent interview in his office. "I did not have the most stellar academic record. I always believed that C stood for commencement, that D stood for diploma, and I graduated 'magna thank godem.' "

Del Vecchio, who often uses that kind of self-deprecating humor, said he graduated from the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in sociology. He had a grade point average of 2.71.

"Being a student was always hard for me," he said.

That year Del Vecchio applied for the first time to the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul. He continued to apply every year thereafter, until he was finally accepted in 1983.

As each of his brothers, including two who are younger, went through law school ahead of him, Del Vecchio began to fear he would be stigmatized if he failed to follow in their footsteps.

"I just didn't want to be branded as the only one out of six who didn't go to law school," he said.

Four of the brothers attended William Mitchell, and Del Vecchio believes their reputations made the difference the year the school admitted him.

He said professor Paul Marino, who sat on the admissions committee that year, knew the family and went to bat for him.

Marino, who still teaches at the law school, said Del Vecchio deserves the credit for all his achievements.

"I think Nick's successes all come from hard work," he said during a telephone interview.

Marino described Del Vecchio as a compassionate man with a strong sense of ethics.

"I think he'll be a great judge," the professor said. "He's got courage, and he stays the course, and I'm really very glad to see that he won."

Del Vecchio, 43, said he had no academic trouble after he began law school in the fall of 1984. He finished the four-year program in 3 1/2 years, graduating in January 1988.

"I was truly motivated at that point and ready to do something with my life other than be a pizza salesman," he said.

Del Vecchio had, in fact, sold pizzas during the years he waited for acceptance into law school. He also did graduate work in theater arts and, in 1982 and 1983, worked as a teacher in Rome, where he taught English.

The same month he graduated, Del Vecchio took the Minnesota bar exam. He said he failed because he had not had enough time to prepare.

After visiting his parents, who were vacationing in Las Vegas, he began studying for the Nevada bar exam, which he took and passed on the first try. He moved to Las Vegas to start his career.

"I was hired by the first law firm I applied for, because the market was so good," he said.

At that firm, Del Vecchio met fellow associate Fran Fine, whom he considers a mentor.

"She's meant a lot to me, her help, her assistance, her friendship, just teaching me about law," he said.

Del Vecchio and Fine were both candidates in 1992 for a seat in the newly created Family Court. Del Vecchio said he didn't expect to win the race.

"I wanted to begin to get my name out there politically," he said.

Fine ended up winning the race, but she lost her bid for re-election in 1998 after the Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission removed her from office for committing ethics violations.

The former judge, whose appeal of the commission's decision is pending, has returned to private practice. She recalls helping Del Vecchio during his early years as a lawyer.

"When I first met him, he didn't know anything about Nevada law," she said.

Fine said she believes Del Vecchio entered so many elections because they served as a good advertising tool.

"I don't think until recently he even ran with the intent of winning," she said.

She said Del Vecchio has the right temperament for his new position.

"I have no idea what kind of a judge he's going to be," she said. "He's going to be very kind and very patient. And if he doesn't know the answer, he's going to go find out what it is."

Del Vecchio said he disliked working for a law firm and spent much of 1989 prosecuting child support cases for the Nye County district attorney's office.

That fall, he sought his first elective office: Esmeralda County district attorney.

He returned to Las Vegas in March 1990 and opened his own practice, where he has spent the past decade focusing on family law.

Fine described Del Vecchio's law practice as an "affordable divorce clinic."

"He helped people who couldn't afford to hire the big guns," she said.

Del Vecchio admits he charges less for his services than other attorneys.

His office, tucked behind other buildings on East Sahara Avenue, reflects as much. The furniture is old and the shag carpet worn. The only decor on the walls are framed mementos, mostly newspaper articles highlighting his unsuccessful campaigns. They sit above wood paneling that a client installed in lieu of a fee.

Del Vecchio has no secretary. Tom, an older brother, assists behind the scenes but prefers to leave the litigating to his younger sibling. Their two desks sit side by side.

As a Family Court judge, Del Vecchio will receive a base salary of $100,000 a year and $6,000 for new furniture. He also will have a staff that includes a secretary, law clerk and bailiff.

Del Vecchio said he has run for office so many times because he knew he "did not want to practice law for, you know, 25 or 30 years."

In 1994, he tried unsuccessfully to file as a candidate for a nonexistent position in Justice Court. He sued county officials over the matter.

A District Court judge agreed with Del Vecchio's argument that state law required the addition of a seventh justice of the peace in Las Vegas, but the judge denied Del Vecchio's request to have his name added to the 1994 ballot.

"It became readily apparent to me that since I could not create my own courtroom, I had to go back to running again," Del Vecchio said with a chuckle.

He said he drew encouragement with each election as he watched his percentage of votes increase, despite the fact his opponents usually outspent him.

Del Vecchio said the turning point came after his narrow loss in the 1999 Las Vegas Municipal Court race.

"I was very distraught, very upset, went home, cried and went to sleep," he recalled.

That night, Del Vecchio said, his late father came to him in a dream and told him in Italian to try again. He said his father used the phrase "mai dire mai," meaning "never say never."

Del Vecchio took those words to heart and entered the race this year for a newly created seat in Family Court. He had three opponents.

In September, for the first time, Del Vecchio emerged from a primary with more votes than any of his opponents.

"After the primary election, I believed destiny was finally on my side," he said.

In the general election, Del Vecchio defeated attorney Beth Wachsman. He will take the bench in January.

"The reason he got elected is because people kept seeing his name," Fine said.

Because Del Vecchio was elected to a newly created seat, he will initially serve a two-year term. After that, he may run for re-election to a six-year term. Del Vecchio said he and Cheryl Moss, who was elected to another new Family Court seat, plan to host a radio show next year called "Ask the Judges."

He also wants to teach in an adjunct capacity at UNLV's Boyd Law School.

"Judge Del Vecchio will never stop campaigning," he vowed.