Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Brian D. Boatright announced Thursday that Erin Sokol has been appointed as chief judge in the 4th Judicial District, which includes El Paso and Teller counties.

Sokol will assume the role on Feb. 5, replacing Judge William Bain, who has served as a judge on the bench since 2010, and as chief judge since Aug. 2017, according to a press release sent out by the Colorado Judicial Department. He was preceded in the role by Judge Gilbert Martinez, who retired in 2017. 

Bain chose to make the change so he could return to presiding over a full-time docket, the release states.

“Chief Judge Bain has proved to be an exemplary administrative leader for a very busy system of courts and probation in the 4th Judicial District,” Boatright said in the release. “We are happy that the people of Colorado will continue to benefit from his skills as a judicial officer. At the same time, I am confident that Judge Sokol will continue the tradition of very able leadership in the district.”

The Colorado Judicial Department says that Sokol will be the first female chief judge in the 4th Judicial District’s history. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and earned her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1999. She had a private practice in Washington, D.C., and in Colorado Springs before being appointed to the bench in August 2017. 

According to the Colorado Judicial Department, a chief judge serves as the administrative head of the district, “responsible for appointing the court executive, chief probation officer and clerk of court, assisting in personnel, financial, and case-management duties, and seeing that the business of the courts and probation is conducted efficiently and effectively.”

Judge Erin Sokol

Courtesy of the 4th Judicial District