Judge Margaret E. Pickard

District Judge - Eighth Judicial District Court - Family Division - Department V

Judge Margaret Pickard currently presides over dependency and domestic cases in Department V, Eighth Judicial District Court.  Prior to taking the bench as a District Court Judge, Judge Pickard served as a Hearing Master for five years for the Family Division, hearing cases in child abuse and neglect and juvenile delinquency. Judge Pickard has extensive experience working in family law.  Prior to her appointment to the court, she worked as a Family Law Mediator and Parenting Coordinator, assisting parents involved in high conflict custody cases to work cooperatively to resolve timeshare disputes.  In addition, Judge Pickard brought the Cooperative Parenting program to UNLV, teaching separating and divorcing parents involved in Family Court cases how to remove their children from parental conflict.  In 2011, she was awarded the Peacemaker of the Year by the Mediators of Southern Nevada, for her work in this program. From 2014-2018, Judge Pickard served on the Executive Council of the Nevada State Bar’s Family Law Section.  During this time, she was the Co-Editor of the  Nevada Family Law Report  and Co-chair of the Child Witness Committee, developing standardized protocols for conducting child interviews in the Family Court system.  Judge Pickard has authored several articles for the  Nevada Family Law Report  and regularly trained Family Court judges and attorneys throughout Nevada to develop best practices in creating parenting plans and holiday schedules for separating and divorcing families. Judge Pickard is the author of several books, including  The Parenting Guidebook.   In 2012, Margaret and her colleague, Judge Stacy Rocheleau, were the hosts of the popular radio show,  Divorce War Radio. Judge Pickard graduated from the University of California, Davis,  magna cum laude , with a B.A. in Sociology.  She later received her Juris Doctorate from the King Hall School of Law, at UC Davis, where she served as the Managing Editor of the  UC Davis Law Review . Since 2012, Judge Pickard and her husband, Senator Keith Pickard, have actively worked in the Las Vegas recovery community, helping youth who are struggling with addiction.  The Pickards have provided over 200 community presentations on facing and overcoming addiction.

Source: official court website - retrieved Aug 22, 2026