Summerlin resident Jackie Glass takes over for Nancy Grace on “Swift Justice” TV show

Las Vegas' newest celebrity can't be seen on the Strip. She appears on TV.

Judge Jackie Glass, formerly of the Eighth Judicial District Court, can now be seen on her own television show, "Swift Justice with Jackie Glass."

On Sept. 12, the Summerlin resident invited a few friends and colleagues to the airing of her first show. They gathered in the private office of Glass' husband, Ward 2 Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Wolfson.

At times, Glass sat on the edge of her seat. Other times, she sat back, more relaxed.

"I'm my own worst critic," Glass said.

Glass replaced Nancy Grace, who left the show after one year when producers relocated it to Los Angeles.

The TV studio where shows are taped has a small audience sitting in a semicircle behind a railing. Glass works from center stage, where a huge, white desk is on a step-up platform. She walks around the set, including up to the litigants, who stand at lecterns. At one point, she made a remark to those there to watch.

"I like having an audience there," Glass said. "I feed off them, off their energy."

The litigants are real people with real cases. They come from all over the country. Glass' decisions are legally binding.

"Preparation is the key," she said. "I go into it and take it as seriously as any case I've seen."

The tone Glass said she wanted to set was firm but fair with a touch of compassion.

She also brings a touch of humor to the show, cracking a joke about bad "car-ma" for a case about a borrowed vehicle that broke down.

If the camera adds 10 pounds, Glass, who spends six days a week at the gym, can well afford it. She looked slim in dark jeans, a silky top and a jacket. In her hands was an iPad, on which she checked incoming tweets reacting to the show.

Taping the show meant jetting off to Los Angeles every other week this summer, staying a couple of days at a time. She brought changes of wardrobe and presided over as many as 11 cases in one day. The producers later edit and piece together shows. Taping sometimes hit snags.

"One man left the set; he just walked off," Glass said. "Nobody knew where he went."

It turns out, he needed to use the bathroom.

Some of Glass' friends expressed concern over the way the show breaks urged viewers not to miss the next segment.

"The teasers makes you look much more aggressive than you actually are on the show," said Audrie Dodge, Wolfson's liaison at City Hall.

Glass waved it off as the theatrics of the business. She brought up how the show paces each case so not all the facts are revealed in a single segment.

"The producer called it 'pingponging,' " Glass said. " 'Pingponging' is when you think a case is going to go one way, then you (learn new information) after you come back from the break."

Another tactic of the show is to bring in a witness who the litigants didn't anticipate or who has new information to add.

The advertising slots were taken up by injury and foreclosure attorneys.

Colleague Pete Bellon, an attorney, said the producers picked the right person to star on the show.

"Would I love this show without Jackie? I'd say, 'No,' " he said. "She can be amazing and entertaining ... I can't imagine anyone better."

Wolfson hugged his wife and told her she'd done a great job.

"Swift Justice" airs at 3 p.m. Monday through Friday on KVMY Channel 21. For more information, visit swiftjustice.com.

Contact Summerlin/Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.