Incline Village justice ranked high among Washoe County Bar Association

Incline Village Justice of the Peace, Jim Mancuso, rated number one in the Washoe County Bar Association survey released Tuesday.

The Bar voted for the 28 judges from the county's District, Justice and Municipal courts.

Mancuso rated number one in the Justice court section with 4.089 and he received a 96 percent 'yes' vote on whether he should be retained in office.

"I am pleasantly surprised," Mancuso said.

One of his goals since taking office twenty years ago has been to make the court user-friendly and accessible to lawyers and the public, he said.

Cmdr. Jim Musick at the Incline Village substation said, "I'm certainly not surprised that he'd be rated so high by attorneys, and his peers. He continues to do an outstanding job for this community."

Musick said he noticed that Mancuso also was in the top five of all the judges in Washoe County.

Mancuso said it's like getting a report card and he sees that as a positive thing.

It is always interesting to see how people see things differently, he said.

"I'll look where I got low ratings and see how I can improve," he said.

The court's mandatory settlement conference program was among the lowest ratings Mancuso received.

Mancuso said he found this a bit surprising as Incline does not have the settlement conference program.

Attorneys were asked to rate each of the judges in 29 areas of performance on a scale of 0 to 5.

Mancuso rated 4.500 in knowledge of substantive law, 3.842 in promptness in rendering decisions, 4.000 in management and control of trials and hearings and 4.526 in patient and courteous to attorneys.

Constable Jim Wallace said of Mancuso's high rating, "It's well deserved. He's been a prominent member in the community."

Wallace said Mancuso has worked had to be a judge for the community and he is a strong individual.

"We're lucky to have him," he added.