Hon. Paul S. Hickman

Paul Stewart Hickman was a longtime Reno Municipal Court judge whose path to the law came later in life. Born in Reno, Nevada, on April 23, 1944, he graduated from Reno High School and the University of Nevada, Reno, served two years in the Army including a tour of duty in Vietnam, and earned a master's degree in music from the University of California at Santa Barbara before turning to a legal career. In 1978 he was left partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair following a single-car accident - a turn he later credited with leading him to the law, remarking that he wished he had discovered it sooner.

He began at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento in 1981 and, upon graduation, clerked for Nevada Supreme Court Justice Charles Springer. He was admitted to the Nevada bar and in 1986 joined the Reno City Attorney's staff as an assistant city attorney. In 1991 he was appointed to the Reno Municipal Court bench, a position he held until his death.

Hickman was remembered by his peers as a compassionate jurist who listened carefully and weighed his words. He received the Distinguished Jurist Award from the Nevada Supreme Court and the National Judicial College for accomplishment in continuing legal education, and shortly before his death was awarded a $1 million grant to lead a specialty court serving defendants facing both mental illness and substance abuse. He also served as a board member of the Northern Nevada Center for Independent Living and gave time to High Sierra Industries, which assists those with physical and mental disabilities. He died on October 21, 2010, at the age of 66.