Judge Valorie J. Vega has over twenty years of experience as a jurist prior to which time she practiced in both the criminal and civil law arenas.

Judge Vega was appointed to District Court's Department 2 on February 21, 1999 by Governor Kenny Guinn and has since then been retained and re-elected by the voters. She was appointed to Municipal Court in 1989 and was retained and re-elected by the voters until her resignation in 1999 to accept the District Court appointment. She is a former Clark County Deputy District Attorney from 1984 through 1989, prosecuting felony cases, and was instrumental in implementing the office’s first Sexual Assault and Child Abuse team. She was an associate attorney with the law firm of Sully and Lenhard from 1983 to 1984 and clerked for District Court Judge Carl Christensen from 1982 to 1983 and also clerked for the law firm of Brandenberg, Torribio and Brazelton in Los Angeles in 1982. Before attending law school, Judge Vega, fluent in Spanish, supervised interpreters for the Eighth Judicial District Court in Las Vegas from 1978 to 1979, where she set up testing and certification for court interpreters and did Spanish-English interpretation and translation.

Judge Vega is involved in her profession and community. She is Vice Chair of the Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Southern Nevada and is a Board Member of the Latin Chamber of Commerce and the Latino Bar Association. She is also a volunteer speaker for D.A.R.E. and the Clark County School District=s PAYBACK Program. Judge Vega is a member of the Nevada District Court Judges Association, the Southern Nevada Association of Women Attorneys, the Clark County Bar Association, the Latino Bar Association, Hispanics in Politics, and the National Association of Latino Elected Officials. Judge Vega is a member of the Nevada Supreme Court=s Committees on Public Trust and Confidence, Certification of Court Interpreters, and Judicial Ethics. She chairs the Rules Committee of the Eighth Judicial District Court. She was honored with the 1992 AWomen of Achievement Award@ from the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, recognized by the Latin Chamber of Commerce as the AHispanic of the Year@ in 1995 and received the 2001 Community Pride Portraits of Success Award from KLAS-TV and its Community Partners. In 2005, ACTION (Associated Court Translators & Interpreters of Nevada) presented Judge Vega with the Mignon Cardenas Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2006, the USC La Raza Law Student Association presented Judge Vega with the Judge Armendariz Community Service Award. On March 4, 2008 the Clark County Commission presented an award to Judge Vega for Women’s History Month in recognition of her “hard work and commitment to our community.” On May 1, 2010, Judge Vega was the recipient of the Señora of Excellence Award for community service. Judge Vega is married, has one child and has been a resident of Southern Nevada since 1978.

Judge Vega has a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Northridge; a graduate studies certificate in Interpretation/Translation from the University of California, Santa Barbara; and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Southern California’s Law Center.