Ritchie will step down as chief district judge; Togliatti hopes to fill void

Chief District Judge T. Arthur Ritchie, Jr. informed his colleagues in an e-mail this week that he won't run for a second term at the helm of Clark County's court system.

Ritchie will finish out his two-year term, which runs until the end of December, and then return to his regular duties on the bench in Family Court. Ritchie oversaw many changes to the county's judiciary and played a role in ushering in new case management systems, mandatory electronic filing and the establishment of self-help centers for pro se litigants in the civil, criminal and family divisions.

District Judge Jennifer Togliatti wasted little time putting the word out at the Regional Justice Center Thursday that she intends to run for the chief's job.

Togliatti, a former chief justice of the peace, is in her ninth year as a district judge. She is on the judges’ executive committee, overseeing all criminal matters, and as chief of the Criminal Division, Togliatti hosts the well-attended monthly bench-bar meetings where judges, public and private attorneys and court staffers discuss myriad judicial issues.

The judges plan to elect Ritchie’s successor at a Sept. 8 meeting.