AN INTERVIEW WITH JUDGE ABBI SILVER An Oral History Conducted by Barbara Tabach Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project Oral History Research Center at UNLV University Libraries University of Nevada Las Vegas ©Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project University of Nevada Las Vegas, 2014 Produced by: The Oral History Research Center at UNLV – University Libraries Director: Claytee D. White Project Manager: Barbara Tabach Transcriber: Kristin Hicks Interviewers: Barbara Tabach, Claytee D. White Editors and Project Assistants: Maggie Lopes, Amanda Hammar ii The recorded interview and transcript have been made possible through the generosity of a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Grant. The Oral History Research Center enables students and staff to work together with community members to generate this selection of first- person narratives. The participants in this project thank University of Nevada Las Vegas for the support given that allowed an idea the opportunity to flourish. The transcript received minimal editing that includes the elimination of fragments, false starts, and repetitions in order to enhance the reader’s understanding of the material. All measures have been taken to preserve the style and language of the narrator. In several cases photographic sources accompany the individual interviews with permission of the narrator. The following interview is part of a series of interviews conducted under the auspices of the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Claytee D. White Director, Oral History Research Center University Libraries University of Nevada Las Vegas iii PREFACE It is evident that a keen wit and persistent tenaciousness to protect victims of crime have earned Judge Abbi Silver the reputation that elevated her to her current position as Chief Judge of the Nevada Court of Appeals. She is the first female to hold this position. Judge Silver is a lifelong resident of southern Nevada. She was raised in Boulder City, where her family was the only Jewish family at the time. Her father was a doctor and eventually the family moved into Las Vegas, where she graduated from Clark High School and then University of Nevada, Las Vegas (1986). Always an overachiever, she worked multiple jobs—waitress, Utah Jazz cheerleader, dancer—while earning her undergraduate degree and then her law degree from Southwestern University of Law, in Los Angles (1989). In this oral history, Judge Silver recalls being a law clerk for Honorable Earle White, Jr., joining the Clark County District Attorney’s Office and being assigned as the Chief Deputy DA for the Special Victims Unit where she tried more than one hundred jury trials. She mentions other illustrious attorneys who she encountered, from Stewart Bell to Oscar Goodman to her mentor Judge Nancy Oesterle. Judge Silver came to understand the harsh realities of victims of domestic violence and stalking. Her cases included that of the stalking of comedian Jerry Lewis, Senator Harry Reid and many others. Then in 2003, she was elected to the Las Vegas Municipal Court and in 2006, she served the Las Vegas Justice Court. Then in 2009 and 2014, she was elected to the Eighth Judicial District Court and in 2014 she was appointed by Gov. Brian Sandoval to the Court of Appeals, Department 3. In 2017, she was appointed to the Nevada Supreme Court. For part of this oral history, Judge Silver is joined by Judge Joanna Kishner. Together they recall growing up together, being Jewish, and graduating from high school together with other notable Nevadans, and their individual successes as attorneys. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Interview with Judge Abbi Silver January 10 & February 7, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada Conducted by Barbara Tabach Preface…………………………………………………………………………………………..iv Ancestral roots are described……………………………………………………………………1 SESSION 1 Joanna Kishner and Abbi Silver talk about their friendship, attending Clark High School; mentions Catherine Cortez Masto and other successful women who also attended Clark High School and how the community is tied together. Mentions attending UNLV, friends from other high schools such as Bishop Gorman, Valley and Bonanza; success of local graduates such as Trevor Scherrer (Mirage Hotel/Casino), Scott Sibella (MGM) and Bill McBeath (Cosmopolitan). The talk about their parents as pioneers of the local Jewish community; activism and participation within the general community; Harmony Letizia’s election as justice of peace, the Mack family, Steinberg family.………………………………………………………………………………………….2 – 5 Abbi and Joanna discuss BBYO, present and past generations of membership in BBYO, Girls State. Naomi, Michael and David Cherry; Alyssa Bergman. Abbi mentions how her father Dr. Frank Silver has touched so many families over the decades. Share stories of Joan Rivers attending Temple Beth Sholom services as well as while shopping at I. Magnins. [Note: Joanna leaves interview for an appointment.]……………………………………………….…………….…..5 – 7 Abbi’s story of Jerry Lewis and representing him in his case against a stalker. Mentions other stalker cases she became involved with, such as John Ensign, Harry Reid, Steve Wynn; expert witness Reid Meloy. Stew Bell. Prosecution team for high profile cases of John Bobbitt and Floyd Mayweather; enjoyment of her work being in the media, on TV shows, experience of working with high profile cases. Bite mark specialist Ray Rawson; challenges of balancing seriousness of her career with humor; mentions Cary Sayegh 1978 kidnapping; Oscar Goodman……………..8 – 15 Talks about her early career work that included: John Momot; Oscar Goodman; David Chesnoff; Steve Stein. Mentions prosecution of Fat Herbie Blitzstein; protective nature of Momot; meeting Michael Cherry. Worked at Caesars Palace as a lifeguard and dancer while in college in 1980s; dream to be a professional dancer; worked in Suzanne Sommers’ show at Hilton; father’s role in guiding her career. Talks about being a Utah Jazz cheerleader; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; Michael Jordan; other part-time jobs……………………………………………………...…………16 – 20 v Mentions her siblings; being an overachiever; maintaining friendships, such as Joanna Kishner. Her admiration of comedian Jerry Lewis; her children’s art and other items that she surrounds herself with. Talks about how she would have pursued dancing career or comedy; thoughts about keeping her sense of humor in check as a trial judge; varied personalities of judges and importance of the judge’s oath taken. Discusses Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; she and Joanna Kishner being role models; gender bias………………………………………………….....21 – 28 SESSION 2 Speaks of family roots; her father’s Jewish background and matriarchal relationship in Judaism. Talks about being only Jewish family in Boulder City in her youth; her mother’s experiences in Boulder City and traveling to Las Vegas for Jewish education. Move to Las Vegas; attended Clark High School; active in BBYO and BBG; Faye Steinberg and Steinberg family; lived near Our Lady of Las Vegas Catholic Church; David Straus, Heidi Sarno Straus……………………….…29 – 31 Talks about what it meant to be Jewish when growing up. Shares about clerking for and mentorship of Judge Earle White Jr., an early African American judge and Eighth Judicial District Court judge. Describes what she calls the “Freak Team” she was on for the District Attorney’s office (a female Jew, a female African American, an Asian male and a Hispanic male) and goal to prove her capabilities as a lawyer, proving herself to be a hardcore prosecutor in a male dominated career path…………………………………………………………………………………...……..32 – 35 Her thoughts about whether females have it any easier in today’s legal world; toughness women like herself have to have to be respected; story about her female mentor Judge Nancy Oesterle who she met at UNLV. Tells impact of an early jury trial for a rape case; finding her calling; deputy on Special Victims Unit………………………………………….…………………………36 – 38 How she spends her days now on Nevada Court of Appeals, Department 3; differences for her between being a trial judge and reading “cold records.” Gossip that can occur in the legal world; being appointed versus election of judges; application process……………………………39 – 42 Thoughts about raising her children in Las Vegas and changes she has observed over her years here; father getting comps; sharing Jewish traditions. Mentions Rabbi Mel Hecht, rites of passage, and Rabbi Malcolm Cohen. Important role played by Justice Michael Cherry in her career……………………………………………………………………………….……….42 – 45 vi vii viii NOTE: On January 10, 2017, interviewer Barbara Tabach sat with Judge Abbi Silver in her temporary Nevada Supreme Court office at 200 Lewis Avenue. Also present was Judge Joanna Kishner, longtime friend of Judge Silver’s. Judge Kishner’s oral history, also recorded on the same date of January 10, 2017, is included in the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project and is separately bound. Ancestral notes from Abbi Silver: My mother Elaine’s maiden name was Jacobs. She is an Ashkenazi Jew; her father came from Russia, from a city called Vinnystia. My zaide (grandfather) would have said he came from Russia, but now it is known as Ukraine. His name was David Jacooobsky—or something that sounded like that. The Ellis Island people laughed and said, “You can’t have a name like that in the US, so now your name is “Jacobs.” That’s how we became Jacobs. Same thing for my dad’s dad. It was Silver-something and it was chopped to Silver.” SESSION 1 – January 10, 2017 Your grandparents were from Russia? Abbi: Yes. My two grandfathers are both from Russia and then my grandmother, my mother's mother, is from Russia. Then my dad's mother was an orphan from Ireland. So if you ever saw the movie "Philomena," it kind of freaked me out. Anyway, talk about an interesting marriage. I won't go into the whole thing, but my grandfather was Ben Silver, a Russian Jew with no education, and was a butcher and married Susan O’Connolly, an Irish red-haired blue-eyed lady, and she was Catholic, very Catholic.