Mark Gibbons to serve as Nevada’s chief justice

CARSON CITY -- Justice Mark Gibbons, a member of the Supreme Court since January 2003, will assume the duties of chief justice of the seven-member court starting Monday.

It is Gibbons' first time serving as chief justice. He is in the last year of his first six-year term on the court and is seeking re-election to another term in the November general election.

Gibbons, 57, takes over the chief justice duties from Bill Maupin, who served in the position last year.

Gibbons said one of his first tasks as chief justice will be to craft rules implementing a decision to open up the process for interviewing and nominating attorneys to fill judicial vacancies.

The term of chief justice is for two years. Because both Maupin and Gibbons are on the same election cycle and were both eligible to serve in the position, they agreed to share the duties by splitting the term in two.

The alternative was to flip a coin to see who would serve as chief justice for two years.

Before winning the Supreme Court seat unopposed in 2002, Gibbons served as a judge in Clark County District Court. He won election to the District Court bench in 1996.

Gibbons attended the University of California at Irvine where he obtained his bachelor's degree. He continued his education at Loyola University School of Law in Los Angeles, California where he received his law degree.

Gibbons was in private practice in Las Vegas, specializing in real estate related litigation, before being elected to the district court bench.