Clark County Judge Ron Parraguirre has been elected president of the Nevada District Judges Association and Douglas County's Michael Gibbons vice president of the group.
James Hardesty of Washoe County is outgoing president of the association, which represents Nevada's 60 district judges.
Parraguirre said funding and staffing the district courts is the biggest challenge.
"The district courts are not anticipating much new funding and we are looking at creative ways to improve efficiency and solve other problems created by increased workloads," he said.
He said the association is supporting expansion of specialty courts in Nevada - providing drug courts in northeast Nevada and other rural areas and increasing the number of mental health courts operating in the state.
He said business courts have also been successful in Clark and Washoe counties.
Parraguirre is running for the Nevada Supreme Court. If he wins, he will leave the position of association president and Gibbons would take over the responsibility.
