17th Judicial District announces District Court vacancy
Commission sets date to select nominees
The Seventeenth Judicial District Nominating Commission will meet on April 21, 2025, at the Adams County Justice Center, 1100 Judicial Center Dr., Brighton, CO 80601, to interview and select nominees for appointment by the governor to the office of district court for the Seventeenth Judicial District (Adams and Broomfield Counties). The vacancy will be created by the retirement of the Honorable Rayna Gokli. The vacancy will occur on June 7, 2025.
To be eligible, the applicant must be a qualified elector of the Seventeenth Judicial District at the time of investiture and must have been admitted to the practice of law in Colorado for five years. The current annual salary for this position is $198,798. The initial term of office of a district judge is a provisional term of two years; thereafter, the incumbent district judge, if approved by the voters, has a term of six years.
Application forms are available from the office of the ex officio chair of the nominating commission, Justice Maria Berkenkotter, 2 E. 14th Ave., Denver, CO 80203, and the office of the Court Executive, Patricia Kmitta or Deputy Court Executive, Simone Jones at 1100 Judicial Center Dr. Brighton, CO 80601. Applications are also available on the court’s home page at coloradojudicial.gov/careers/judge-opportunities.
The completed application must be e-mailed to the address listed in the instructions below no later than 4 p.m. on April 4, 2025. Late applications will not be considered. Any person wishing to suggest a candidate to fill the vacancy may do so by letter to be submitted to any member of the nominating commission, with a copy to the ex officio chair, no later than March 28, 2025, by 4 p.m.
The members of the nominating commission for the Seventeenth Judicial District are:
Dr. Ajenai Clemmons of Northglenn; Martin Flaum and Jennifer Hostetter of Westminster; and Jonathan Datz, Andy Kramer, and Shivam Malhotra, all of Broomfield.
Editor’s Note: Contact information for the nominating commission members:
- Dr. Ajenai Clemmons, asclemmons@gmail.com
- Martin Flaum, martyflaum@yahoo.com
- Jennifer Hostetter, jprince@da17.state.co.us
- Jonathan Datz, jonathan.datz@datzlawfirm.com
- Andy Kramer, andytkramer@yahoo.com
- Shivam Malhotra, sm1982@gmail.com
JUDICIAL NOMINATING COMMISSION APPLICATION FOR COLORADO STATE COURT JUDGESHIP
Instructions
- The application form for a Colorado state court judgeship can be found on the Judicial Branch website at https://www.courts.state.co.us/Careers/Judge.cfm
Please be complete and thorough in answering the questions. If an answer to any question requires more space than provided, attach a separate page for the question(s). Do not change the margins or font size on the application.
- Your application materials should be prepared in the following manner:
The application and any attachments must be submitted as a single PDF file with reference letters attached last. The application should be in text searchable format.
You may submit letters of reference from not less than three and no more than five individuals who are able to comment upon your qualifications for a judicial position.
It is preferred that reference letters are included with your application submission. However, if they are submitted directly by the author, they must be submitted by email as described below in paragraph 3. All letters of reference are due by the filing deadline listed in paragraph 4.
- Your application materials compiled as outlined above should be sent via email with your name and 17th JD Adams District Court in the subject line with your materials attached as outlined above no later than 4 p.m. on April 4, 2025 to the following email address:
judicial.applicants@judicial.state.co.us
You should receive an automatic response to your email submission. If you do not, please call the supreme court at the telephone number listed below. Please add this email address to your contacts so that email does not get filtered into your spam.
- Your application must be received no later than: 4 p.m. on April 4, 2025.
- Call the Colorado Supreme Court Clerk’s office with questions: 720-625-5150