Carson City Attorney Caren Jenkins to run for district judge

Carson City Attorney Caren Jenkins has announced her intent to run for the seat of First Judicial District Court, Department 2, now held by Bill Maddox.

Jenkins, a native of York, Penn., with a Master's degree in nonprofit management and arts administration, moved to Nevada in 1984 to take over the Brewery Arts Center as executive director, a post she held until 1989.

In 1993, she took a position with the Legislative Counsel Bureau as a senior research analyst. After the end of the legislative session, Jenkins, 50, left Carson City to attend the Golden Gate University School of Law, receiving her law degree in 1996.

Returning to the capital city, Jenkins became a judicial law clerk with the Nevada Supreme Court until 1997 when she took a job with a Las Vegas law firm.

In 1998, Jenkins joined the San Francisco Law firm of Squire Sanders & Dempsey until 2002.

"But then I realized that I really enjoyed living in a community where I felt a part," she said.

Once back in Carson, Jenkins opened Jenkins Law Office, which today has offices in Carson City, Reno and San Francisco. She also served from 2002-05 as adjunct professor at Golden Gate University School of Law.

In September 2006, Jenkins applied to the Nevada's Commission on Judicial Selection to be appointed to a seat being vacated by Carson City Judge Mike Griffin.

Though she was not selected to the fill the seat, she was among the three out of eight names forwarded for selection to then-Gov. Kenny Guinn.

Jenkins is also a member of the Carson City Board of Library Trustees, and recently resigned her position with the Nevada Ethics Commission to run for office.

In 1988 she was a member of the Carson City Chamber of Commerce, board of directors and was a finalist for the Chamber's "Woman of the Year" in 1984-85.

She and her partner Farrell Caffaretta, who works as controller of Jenkins Law Office, have two children, Dean, 4, and Quinn, 3.

If elected to office, Jenkins will be the first woman to serve as judge in Carson City.

The first woman elected in Nevada as a District Court judge was Miriam Shearing in 1983 in Clark County. The first women elected as District Court judges in Washoe County were Deborah A. Agosti and Robin A. Wright, both elected in 1985.

No women have been elected to judgeships outside of Clark and Washoe Counties.