Robbins: How do you get to be a judge in Colorado?

A bit of parsing first.

There are as many kinds of judges in Colorado, as in most states, as there are flowers in the field. OK, maybe not quite that many. But there are a bunch. There are municipal court judges, county court judges, district court judges, water court judges, magistrate judges, appeals court judges, supreme court judges, and others. And that’s just in state court. When we leap into the federal court system, the beat goes on: federal district court judges, bankruptcy judges, and the like.

OK, if not quite as many types as there are flowers in the field, perhaps a better analogy is there are as many kinds of judges as there are varietals of, say, spring columbines.

One other thing before we start; judges are overworked and underpaid. While I understand and appreciate the dedication and commitment, why one would actually want to be a judge remains a head-scratcher … at least to me.

So, aspiring young lawyers, or just the curious among you, how does one actually become a judge in Colorado? What are the requirements and what’s the process?

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Let’s talk here only about trial-level judges (as compared to justices of the higher courts: the Court of Appeals and Colorado Supreme Court).

First, one must be a qualified elector in the judicial district in which one wishes to serve. Let’s define both terms. A “qualified elector” is one who is qualified to, and is registered to vote. “Judicial districts” are the territorial area for which a court has jurisdiction; it is the breadth and reach of a particular court’s authority to hear the cases that come before it. In Colorado, there are presently 22 such districts. Eagle County is part of the 5th Judicial District. If one wishes to become a judge in the 5th JD, she or he must be registered to vote within that district.

Next, to be considered for a judgeship, one must be licensed in this state to practice law for a minimum (perhaps surprisingly) of only five years. But wait; in counties with a population of fewer than 35,000 souls, of which there is a surprising number, one need not be licensed to practice law at all!

Say what?!

In such counties, all that is required to become a judge is to have graduated from high school or have attained the equivalent of a high school education and meet residency and qualified elector status.

Well, hush my mouth!

One must also be younger than 72 years old at the time his or her name is submitted to the governor.

That’s the whole kit and caboodle of requirements. Which leads us, next, to process.

If there is a judicial opening in the district in which you’re registered, and one wishes to toss his or her name into the proverbial hat, one does so by first applying for the vacancy. Not surprisingly, it starts with a form to fill out. The form is sent to the judicial nominating committee for that judicial district which is comprised of four non-lawyers and three attorneys, with no more than four members of one political party. The non-lawyer members are appointed by the governor, the lawyers are jointly appointed by the governor, the chief justice of the Colorado Supreme Court, and the state attorney general.

Next is screening. No one becomes a state judge in Colorado without being thoroughly screened by a cross-section of people in the community in which the judge will serve. The individuals who do the screening evaluate the experience, temperament, and knowledge of each candidate for the bench.

Within 30 days after a vacancy occurs, the judicial district’s nominating commission interviews applicants and recommends two or three individuals to the governor for consideration. After the nominating commission picks the candidates, the governor has 15 days to make the appointment from the list of names submitted to him. If the governor does not act in that time period, the chief justice of the Colorado Supreme Court appoints one of the individuals recommended by the commission.

Thereafter, after some pomp and circumstance — the swearing-in and all — and a bit of training, the newly minted judge dons his or her robe and takes the bench.

Once chosen, all judges in the state court system serve a two-year provisional term. After that term, they come up for their first retention election before the voters. If a judge or justice is retained after this term, she or he can serve subsequent terms (four years for county court judges; six for the district court) before coming up for evaluation again.

Judges are where the rubber of the law meets the road. It is a hard and often thankless job. God bless ’em.

Rohn K. Robbins is an attorney licensed before the Bars of Colorado and California who practices Of Counsel in the Vail Valley with the Law Firm of Caplan & Earnest, LLC. His practice areas include business and commercial transactions; real estate and development; family law, custody, and divorce; and civil litigation. Robbins may be reached at 970-926-4461 or at his email address: Rrobbins@CELaw.com. His novels, “How to Raise a Shark (an apocryphal tale),” “The Stone Minder’s Daughter,” and “Why I Walk so Slow” are currently available at fine booksellers. And coming soon, “He Said They Came From Mars.”