Judge Bita Yeager

District Judge - Eighth Judicial District Court - Civil/Criminal Division - Department I

Bita Yeager Department I Eighth Judicial District Court Term of Office 2021 – Present Bita Yeager was born and raised in New York, but she has made Las Vegas her home since 1994.  She attended Brigham Young University on a full-tuition academic scholarship, and was active in student government, the Honors Program, and the Golden Key National Honors Society. She remained at BYU for law school, where she earned her J.D. in 1994. While in law school, she served as the legal director of the Ombudsman’s Office, was a member of the traveling Moot Court Team, and volunteered on the rape crisis team at the Center for Women and Children in Crisis. Following graduation, she worked as a law clerk for three judges in the Eighth Judicial District Court: the Honorable Lee Gates, the Honorable Addeliar D. Guy, and the Honorable Stephen Huffaker.  Judge Yeager has dedicated herself to public service throughout her career, with an eye towards access to justice and improving court systems through problem-solving.  After passing the Nevada bar in 1995, Judge Yeager specialized in indigent criminal defense for almost 19 years at the Clark County Public Defender’s office.  During her service as a public defender, she tried over fifty jury trials, including the most serious of cases, such as homicide and sexual assault cases, and argued multiple appeals before the Nevada Supreme Court. Judge Yeager served as a Team Chief over a felony trial team, and she also took on an additional caseload representing all of the office’s clients with mental illness, in both Competency Court and Mental Health Court.  She spearheaded the creation of the North Las Vegas Community Court and started a record sealing clinic by establishing a partnership with Legal Aid of Southern Nevada and Boyd School of Law.  In 2014, she received the “Award of Excellence” by Legal Aid of Southern Nevada, and also received the “President’s Award” by the Nevada Attorneys for Criminal Justice. Judge Yeager was appointed to the Las Vegas Justice Court bench in 2015, where she was assigned a civil caseload, hearing civil and eviction matters. She helped write and successfully obtain a Bureau of Justice Assistance Community Court grant and led the creation of the Las Vegas Community Court. Judge Yeager served on the statewide Committee to Study Evidence-Based Pretrial Release and the Las Vegas Justice Court Civil Rules committee.  In 2017, she was selected as the first specialty court hearing master for the Eighth Judicial District Court.  As a hearing master, she created the Co-Occurring Disorders Treatment Court, and presided over 200 hearings every week in Mental Health Court, Co-Occurring Disorders Court, Assisted Outpatient Treatment Court, and Civil Commitment Court. Judge Yeager is currently a member of the Statewide Mental Health Workgroup, the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council’s Subcommittee on Homelessness and Mental Health, and the Howard D. McKibben Chapter of the American Inn of Court. She serves as a board member of the FBI Las Vegas Citizen’s Academy Alumni Association, and is also actively involved in the Leadership Las Vegas program. She continues to teach at Metro’s Crisis Intervention Training program and has taught justice partners on many subjects, including Mental Health and the Courts, Civil Commitments, and Community Engagement and Community Courts. She has served as an adjunct professor at Boyd Law School. Judge Yeager is also licensed to practice in California and Utah. Judge Yeager was elected to Department I in 2020 and currently handles a civil docket and Mental Health Court, and oversees Civil Commitment Court and Assisted Outpatient Treatment Court.

Source: official court website - retrieved Aug 22, 2026