Collage of NJC people
Judicial Edge
For (almost) 60 years we’ve called Reno home

Join us in Reno on October 18, 2023, for the fifth of our six planned celebrations of the College’s 60th anniversary.

Clark Craven

The event will include a CLE with chief justices from three states and one U.S. territory, dinner, and an after-dinner conversation with Nevada Supreme Court Chief Justice Lidia Stiglich and former U.S. District Court Judge, Nevada Governor and current University of Nevada, Reno President Brian Sandoval.

The NJC was founded in 1963 and offered its first courses – as the National College of State Trial Judges – in Boulder, Colorado, in 1964 and 1965. More than 360 judges applied for the 85 seats in the first class. The organizers aimed for a national impact, and the 83 judges who attended represented 47 states.

One of the judges in that inaugural class who came away especially impressed and inspired was District Court Judge Thomas O. Craven of Reno. Judge Craven (above, to the left of NJC founder Justice Tom C. Clark) returned home and helped convince the trustees of the Max C. Fleischmann Foundation of Nevada to provide funds to continue the fledgling school beyond its initial trial year and relocate it to Reno.

Dean Larry Hyde

In 1965 the College’s second full-time dean, Judge Laurance M. “Larry” Hyde (left), established the College’s permanent headquarters on the University of Nevada, Reno campus. And in 1971, Fleischmann Foundation funds enabled the College to construct the 32,000-square-foot Judicial College Building.

Over the years, the Nevada legislature, executive branch and judiciary, and many individual Nevadans, have all helped the College flourish. Every Nevada judge takes at least one course from the NJC.

NJC Building drone shot

This event is a chance for us to not just celebrate the College’s success but thank our hometown and home state friends who helped give life to the NJC and continue to sustain it.

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