Eighteenth Judicial District - District Court Judge
Honorable Angela R. Arkin
Retention Year: 2004
Recommendation: Retain
Reports:
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The Eighteenth Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance unanimously recommends that Judge Angela R. Arkin BE RETAINED.
Judge Arkin received her law degree from Emory University School of Law, Atlanta, Georgia, in 1983 after earning an undergraduate degree in 1980 from the University of Maryland.
Her professional practice prior to her judicial appointments was in the State of Georgia until 1993, and in Colorado until August 1, 2000, when she was hired as a District Court Magistrate with a juvenile and domestic docket. Judge Arkin is a recognized expert in family law and has written numerous publications and lectured in that field, both nationally and locally. Since her appointment to the District bench on July 13, 2002, she has served as a District Judge in both Douglas and Elbert counties. In November, 2002, Judge Arkin began covering the docket formerly held by Judge Jack Smith, and at this time, spends 2 weeks of the month in Elbert County handling domestic, juvenile, probate, mental health, civil and criminal dockets. Her Douglas County docket includes all of the family law probate and mental health cases.
In surveys of non-attorneys, such as jurors, law enforcement officers and court personnel recommended that she be retained in office. This recommendation was slightly below the average survey recommendations for all district court judges, which is likely a result of the often contentious nature and strong feelings of litigants in family court matters.
In the attorney surveys, Judge Arkin's retention recommendation ranks somewhat above the average of all the District Court judges who were included in the survey. Both attorneys and non-attorneys ranked Judge Arkin high in communication skills and in her judicial demeanor. In application and knowledge of the law, Judge Arkin ranked slightly below all
trial judges in both surveys, which was attributed by Judge Arkin to her limited professional practice and judicial experience in the general civil area, other than family law.
Judge Arkin states that one of her goals as a District judge is to continue to improve her knowledge in the civil area, and generally to improve her overall judicial skills.