Bruce Hahn, a candidate for Reno Justice Court, Justice of the Peace Department 2, is currently Assistant Bar Counsel for the State Bar of Nevada, with over twenty five years of legal experience, including a decade with the Washoe County District Attorney’s Office.
Now responsible for cases across the Silver State, Hahn spends a lot of time on cases originating from Las Vegas over platforms like Zoom. He says part of the reason he’s running to fill the empty seat in the Reno Justice Court is to find some cases closer to home.
“I really know the courts,” Hahn told us during a recent interview in our podcast studios. “I served in our justice courts, Sparks Justice Court, Reno Justice Court, Incline Justice Court, for 26 and a half years, as a plaintiff’s lawyer, so to speak. I worked for the District Attorney’s office, and I have litigated about every kind of criminal matter you can imagine through those courts. Whether that’s filing motions, bringing arguments, whether it’s escorting witnesses, working with opposing counsel, I did that as an active trial lawyer for fourteen years.”
Hahn moved to Reno in 1996, at the same time as he left insurance law. A father of four grown children, he has sent his children to Truckee Meadows Community College and other local schools, and spent five years as the head coach for the University of Nevada, Reno Mock Trial Competition Team. He says experiences like these help ground him as a person.
“To connect with people, whether they’re adolescents, whether they’re in their early adulthood, as you get through mock trial experiences, I think that’s not only grounding as a person, but you’re investing,” Hahn said. “You have more invested in the people that you’re ultimately going to be serving as the role of a judge as a neutral, independent, finder of fact.”
Hahn in our podcast studios. You can listen to his full interview with Jesse Stone below.
The primary for the election pits him against Cotter C. Conway and Kendra Bertschy. For the past two years, after Justice Pete Sferrazza retired in October 2021, the Reno Justice Court has operated with five seats, rather than its typical six.
“I believe that the court is under an enormous strain because they are operating under a population that would support seven Justices of the Peace…” Hahn said. “They only have currently the seats for six, and they have been operating on five. There’s a tremendous amount of work, and, frankly, I’m interested if I were elected in collaborating with the people who have been there the longest. The people who know what needs to be done, and are wiser with regards to their environment.”
Hahn said he focuses on building a connection on a personal level when campaigning, and that he and his wife have spent hours in the middle of the night putting up signs. Hahn says he likes starting conversations and receiving constructive feedback from the people he hopes to serve.
His website lists his supporters as coming from law enforcement, the establishment and the DA’s office: including according to his website “Darin Balaam, Washoe County Sheriff, Chuck Allen, Former Washoe County Sheriff, Michael Haley, Former Washoe County Sheriff, Christopher Hicks, Washoe County District Attorney, Richard Gammick, Former Washoe County District Attorney, Marc Picker, Washoe County Alternate Public Defender and Karl Hall, Reno City Attorney.”
“I’m interested in sharing with people who I am as a human being,” Hahn said. “Who I am as a professional, as a husband, as a father. I simply offer that people take a careful look at what the candidates propose, make an informed judgment and reach out to them.”