Deputy city attorney, law firm owner to vie for North Las Vegas judgeship

Either Marsha Kimble-Simms or Catherine Ramsey soon will be the first female judge in North Las Vegas Municipal Court.

The two took home the most votes in Tuesday's primary and will advance to the June 7 general election.

Four women had been competing for the Department 1 seat, from which Judge Warren VanLandschoot is retiring.

Ramsey got 37 percent of the vote, and Kimble-Simms got 35 percent. The two were separated by 131 votes.

Donishia Campbell and Laurie Diefenbach, both Clark County public defenders, each took home 14 percent of the vote.

Kimble-Simms, 50, is an attorney with her own law firm. She has said her long record of community service, including serving as president of the Foster Care and Adoption Association of Nevada, set her apart.

Kimble-Simms, a University of Detroit School of Law graduate, was licensed to practice law in Nevada in 2003. She ran unsuccessfully for Municipal Court in 2009 and for justice of the peace in 2008.

Ramsey, 46, is a North Las Vegas deputy city attorney in the criminal division. She has worked for the city since 2007. Previously, she worked in private practice and as a deputy district attorney for Clark County.

Ramsey is a graduate of Boyd Law School at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and was licensed to practice law in Nevada in 2002.

The city's municipal judges serve six-year terms and earn $148,438 a year.

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.