Federal magistrate Leavitt to retire

Longtime U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence Leavitt has announced his intention to retire from the position in October.

Leavitt, a native of Chicago, is a 1959 graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana. After receiving a master's degree in philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley, he received his law degree in 1969 from the University of California Boalt Hall School of Law.

Leavitt was admitted to the Nevada Bar in 1970. After a year in private practice, he spent six years in the Clark County district attorney's office, first as a deputy district attorney and then as a chief deputy district attorney.

In 1978, he was appointed chief assistant U.S. attorney for the district of Nevada. During his more than three years in that position, he prosecuted several public corruption and other white-collar crime cases.

He then spent six years in the Justice Department's Organized Crime and Racketeering Strike force in Las Vegas. He worked as a trial attorney and later as the attorney in charge of that office.

Leavitt was appointed to the bench in 1987. His retirement will take effect Oct. 7.

An application for the position, which is based in Las Vegas, is available at www.nvd.uscourts.gov. Applications are due by Feb. 22.