Clark County Nevada
October 1, 2025
For nearly two decades, Judge Timothy C. Williams has been a fixture of the Eighth Judicial District Court in Las Vegas—best known today for his work on the court’s specialized Business Court calendar and for presiding over some of Southern Nevada’s most watched civil disputes. He was appointed to Department XVI in April 2006 by Governor Kenny Guinn and sworn in on April 24, 2006; voters subsequently retained and re-elected him, with his current term running through January 4, 2027.
Early life, education, and the path to the bench:
Williams was born in 1955 and earned a B.S. in Business from Indiana University (1979) before completing his J.D. at Ohio Northern University, Pettit College of Law (1983). He returned to Las Vegas and built a two-decade civil-litigation practice, serving on the District Court’s arbitration and mediation panels and sitting as a Judge Pro Tem in the one-day jury-trial program—experience that foreshadowed his later business-court assignment.
Before taking the bench, colleagues recognized him with an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, and he held leadership roles in bar groups including the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association and the Las Vegas Chapter of the National Bar Association. He also contributed on State Bar consumer-protection and fee-dispute committees and on the Nevada Supreme Court’s Arbitration/Mediation/Short Trial Committee.
Department XVI and the Business Court:
Department XVI sits on the 16th floor of the Regional Justice Center and today is assigned civil and Business Court matters. On a typical week, Department XVI runs an efficient motion calendar—civil matters on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Business Court matters on Wednesdays—reflecting a preference for clear rules, punctuality, and a full record over off-calendar chambers practice. Those protocols mirror Williams’s long-stated emphasis on professionalism and judicial temperament.
The Business Court itself is a specialty track designed to move complex business disputes with consistency; Williams is one of a small cadre of judges who hear those cases. Practitioners often cite the Business Court for its predictable schedules and written guidelines—traits Department XVI highlights in its public materials (including templates and exhibit protocols) to keep cases on track.
Notable matters and judicial approach:
Williams’s docket has included cases that ripple beyond the litigants:
• Badlands/180 Land Co. inverse-condemnation litigation. In 2021, Williams ruled that actions by the City of Las Vegas effected a regulatory taking of a 35-acre portion of the former Badlands Golf Club, later awarding roughly $34 million in just compensation; the matter went up on appeal, where aspects of valuation and liability continued to evolve in subsequent Nevada Supreme Court decisions. Regardless of where the appellate dust settles, the trial-level rulings underscored the court’s role in refereeing land-use fights that pit private development expectations against public-planning pressures.
• Las Vegas Sun–Review-Journal joint operating agreement disputes. In 2019, Williams stayed portions of a state-court case between the rival newspapers to allow related federal antitrust issues to proceed, and he upheld an arbitration award addressing aspects of the joint operating agreement. The media-law skirmish later drew state-supreme-court attention and, years on, federal appellate developments—illustrating how a trial judge’s early case-management calls can frame complex, multi-forum battles.
Earlier in his tenure, Williams also managed high-exposure tort matters and construction-defect dockets—logistical gauntlets that sometimes required literally reconfiguring courtrooms to accommodate multi-party trials. That nuts-and-bolts management style—equal parts scheduling discipline and flexibility—has been part of his public profile since his early years on the bench.
Judicial philosophy, temperament, and courtroom culture:
Williams has repeatedly emphasized that lawyers value—and should expect—judicial temperament: civility, preparedness, and even-handedness. In return, he expects punctuality, clean motion practice, and adherence to rules like EDCR 2.47 for motions in limine. Department XVI’s publicly posted procedures reflect this reciprocity: the judge favors on-the-record hearings, structured briefing, and courtesy-copy practices intended to focus argument on genuinely disputed issues.
Life off the bench and community service:
Off the bench, Williams’s résumé includes U.S. Congressional recognition for community service and a 1994 Humanitarian-of-the-Year honor for a mentorship program supporting boys in single-parent homes. Over the years he has sponsored youth sports teams and delivered continuing legal education lectures for local bar groups and the UNLV Boyd School of Law. He is married to Angela Rodriguez, a former investigative reporter at KTNV (Channel 13). These activities—mentoring, teaching, and civic sponsorship—round out the portrait of a judge who has framed public service as extending beyond the courtroom.
Where he fits in Southern Nevada’s legal landscape:
As Clark County’s growth continues to push complex questions about land use, corporate governance, hospitality contracts, and media competition into court, Department XVI’s Business Court seat remains a consequential post. Williams’s combination of private-sector trial experience, bar-leadership service, and a procedure-first approach has made him a predictable presence in an ecosystem where predictability itself can be a public good. Whether in a developer-versus-city valuation fight or the staging of a multi-party business dispute, his courtroom tends to reflect the same themes: clear rules, a full record, and an insistence that lawyers meet the moment with professionalism.
For More Information, Watch on YouTube:
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Tim Williams, Clark County District Court Judge Department 16 on the Veterans In Politics Talk Show
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Paul Padda Law and Timothy Williams, Clark County District Court Judge – VIP 06/09/19
