Department X

In 1979, Judge Heidi Almase moved to Las Vegas with her family. In 1992, Heidi graduated summa cum laude from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with a degree in psychology having worked her way through school as a custodian for the Clark County School District. In 1996, Heidi earned her Master of Arts degree in Clinical Psychology. During her graduate studies, Heidi was nominated nationally and selected as an Honors Intern for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Behavioral Science Services Unit, Quantico, Virginia.

Prior to attending law school Heidi served as a state of Nevada Category I Peace Officer with the Nevada Division of Parole and Probation, later also working as an investigator with the Nevada Office of the Attorney General. In 2001, Heidi graduated from the William S. Boyd School of Law, a member of the charter class where she had been managing editor of the Nevada Law Journal and received the Dean’s Service Award. After a clerkship with the Nevada Supreme Court, Heidi worked as a prosecutor for the City of Las Vegas and the Nevada Office of the Attorney General, later returning to the City of Las Vegas City Attorney’s Office as part of the civil litigation team. Heidi has practiced before the Nevada Supreme Court, the Federal District Court, District of Nevada, and argued before the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

With her former law partner, Caesar Almase, Heidi worked as a criminal defense attorney and handled domestic relations cases. Heidi took the opportunity, while in private practice, to volunteer her legal services to the Legal Aid of Southern Nevada’s Childrens’ Attorney Project and the Women in Need Diversion Program, a program focused on assisting women suffering from addiction who were also victims of sexual trafficking. For her service, Heidi received recognition for her pro bono service to the community.

In 2011, Heidi was elected to the Las Vegas Municipal Court. In that capacity, Heidi presided over a regular criminal docket as well as HOPE Court, an adult drug court focusing on defendants who had consistent interaction with the criminal justice system as a result of an addiction and were homeless or at-risk for homelessness. In 2009, Heidi created the Serious Traffic Offender Program (STOP Court), which sought to address chronic traffic offenders within the City of Las Vegas by focusing on safe and legal driving but dealing compassionately with the financial burdens associated with significant monetary penalties. In 2015, Heidi, with generous financial assistance from the Las Vegas City Council, created the City’s first mental health diversion program. This program, the first of its kind, focused on defendants suffering from a mental illness who come in contact with the criminal justice system. The program sought to provide stabilization, medication and oversight for some of the City’s most vulnerable citizens in concert with various community stakeholders. Following its first year of operation, Heidi and her team won a national award for creative care from the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

In her capacity as a Municipal Court Judge, Heidi was the recipient of the for 2016 Community Partner Award, Las Vegas Foundation for Recovery, for her work in the addiction recovery field while overseeing HOPE Court and received the 2016 Continuity of Care, Connect 4 Mental Health, for her work presiding over the Las Vegas Mental Health Court.

Heidi is a former member of the Judicial Council of the State of Nevada, an alternate member to the Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission, a former member of the Nevada Pre-Trial Risk Assessment Committee, a former member of the Southern Nevada Traffic Safety Committee and a former member of the Clark County, Nevada Judges of Limited Jurisdiction and American Judges Associations as well as a member in good standing with the State Bar of Nevada.

In 2020, Heidi was elected to serve as an Eighth Judicial District Court, Family Division judicial officer for the newly created Department X. Judge Almase presides over a civil/domestic calendar.