Valerie P. Adair

The Honorable Valerie P. Adair, a longtime member of the Nevada legal community and a retired judge of the Eighth Judicial District Court, died on June 1, 2021, at the age of 56. A Las Vegas native, she graduated as valedictorian of Clark High School, earned her bachelor of arts degree from Harvard University, and received her Juris Doctorate, magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, where she served as an editor of the law review.

After beginning her legal career in civil litigation in Los Angeles, she returned to Las Vegas in 1990 and joined the Clark County District Attorney's office, where she prosecuted white-collar crimes, fraud, and the exploitation of elderly victims. She was admitted to the State Bar of Nevada on September 24, 1990. In 2002 she was elected to the Clark County District Court bench, where she served for nearly two decades until choosing not to seek re-election in 2020.

During her time on the bench, Judge Adair presided over some of Nevada's most significant criminal matters, including the trial of Dr. Dipak Desai arising from the 2007 hepatitis C outbreak, which resulted in a 2013 conviction and life sentence. She was called upon by fellow attorneys to help reduce the county's murder case docket and served on task forces addressing legal protections for elderly abuse victims. Colleagues remembered her as a dedicated and meticulous jurist who was widely respected across the legal community.