LAS VEGAS — Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak announced Wednesday he has named an assistant U.S. attorney in Nevada to be a judge in the busy state court in Las Vegas.
Elham "Ellie" Roohani's appointment fills the Clark County District Court seat vacated when veteran Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez retired in September after 17 years on the bench, citing family matters.
Sisolak made the move effective immediately. Roohani will have to run for election to retain her seat.
She was among three finalists nominated by the Nevada Commission on Judicial Selection. The others were Las Vegas attorneys Maria Gall and Karl Armstrong, an appeals officer at the Nevada Department of Administration.
Sisolak pointed to Roohani's legal background including trial and appellate experience in the U.S. Attorney's Office; as a law clerk in state and federal courts; and teaching as an adjunct professor at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Roohani received her bachelor's degree in psychology from UNLV in 2004. She graduated from Boyd and passed the state bar in 2010.
