About Hilary Heap

Hilary chose Las Vegas as her home nearly 20 years ago. She is raising her three young children here with her husband who is retired law enforcement. When she moved to Las Vegas in 2005, she was immediately drawn to the hard-working hospitality industry on the world-famous Las Vegas Strip where she worked at the front desk of the Boardwalk Hotel and Casino and then the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino.

While working on the Strip, Hilary attended UNLV, and ultimately received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice. During her studies, Hilary focused on criminal justice courses that concentrated on victims of crimes and violent offenders. She was the recipient of numerous scholarships including the Jay Hahn Law Enforcement Scholarship and the Edwin Sutherland Award, which helped her achieve her goal of being the first in her immediate family to obtain a four-year university degree. Hilary graduated with the highest honors, summa cum laude, and was recognized at commencement as an “Outstanding Student.”

Hilary decided during her time at UNLV that she wanted to continue contributing to her community and felt that she would be best of service in the legal field, so in the fall, after graduating from UNLV, Hilary began her law studies at our own William S. Boyd School of Law. During law school, Hilary worked in the community as much as she could through service projects, internships and externships, summer associate programs, and clinical programs. While working in the Juvenile Justice Clinic she represented children facing delinquency charges. Part of her clinic work included a policy project whereby she and another student successfully lobbied several members of the juvenile justice system to allow non-violent children in custody to appear before the court unshackled. 

After graduating law school with cum laude honors, Hilary joined the Clark County District Attorney’s Office as a Law Clerk in the Appellate Division. There she spent her timing handling post-conviction matters in District Court as well as direct appeals to the Nevada Supreme Court. 

In the Spring of 2012, Hilary was promoted to Deputy District Attorney. She spent several years on general litigation tracks where she prosecuted all types of criminal cases, from traffic tickets to first degree murder cases. During the five years Hilary was on the general litigation tracks she sought justice for victims and successfully completed over 20 jury trials. 

In 2017, Hilary was promoted to the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (“HIDTA”) specialty team with the DAs office where she was responsible for the prosecution of high-level drug trafficking cases. There, Hilary spent five years working with multiple federal and local law enforcement agencies and task forces to try to keep our community safe from drug trafficking cartels.

In 2020, while working tirelessly to protect our community, Hilary felt it was important to reach young members of our community and began teaching undergraduate criminal law classes at UNLV. As a part-time instructor, she mentors students and encourages them to become active members of the community and positive members of the criminal justice system.

In late 2021, Hilary returned to a general litigation track to mentor and train newly hired deputy district attorneys. Hilary focused on training interns and new deputies in the Las Vegas Justice Court and the Eighth Judicial District Court. 

In January 2023, Hilary returned to work on the Las Vegas Strip, but this time in a different way. She became a lead member of the newly created “Resort Corridor Court.” A court that focuses on protecting our community members and tourists that are victimized on the Strip as well as helping at risk community members receive rehabilitative services when possible. 

In March of 2024, Hilary was promoted to Team Chief of General Litigation Track 2. Hilary now leads a team of 11 district attorneys and 15 support staff positions including secretaries, court clerks, process servers and investigators. As team chief, Hilary is responsible for three separate justice courts (two in Las Vegas and one in North Las Vegas) and five separate district courts. 

During her years at the District Attorney’s Office, Hilary has handled thousands of cases at all stages of litigation. From bail hearings, to bench trials and preliminary hearings, sentencing and revocation hearings, and jury trials, she has extensive experience in all areas. Throughout all the courts she handles, Hilary is known to be a fair and reasonable prosecutor with a focus on community safety and improvement and she will bring those same qualities to the Las Vegas Justice Court Department 4 bench.