Second Judicial District - District Court Judge
Honorable Ericka F. H. Englert
Retention Year: 2022
Recommendation: Meets Performance Standard
Reports:
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The Second Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance agrees by a vote of 8-1, with one Commissioner absent from voting, that Judge Ericka F. H. Englert MEETS PERFORMANCE STANDARDS. The Colorado statutory judicial performance standards are integrity, legal knowledge, communication skills, judicial temperament, administrative performance, and service to the legal profession and the public.
Judge Englert presently presides over a criminal docket, and previously presided over a domestic relations docket. She meets all aspects of the performance criteria and writes in a clear, concise, and well-reasoned manner. Judge Englert’s strengths, as described in survey results, include using language all parties can understand and speaking clearly in the courtroom. Based on survey responses and other feedback, some Commission members were concerned about the manner in which Judge Englert treated attorneys in her courtroom and her diligence in applying the law. The Commission appreciates that Judge Englert has taken steps to seek mentorship and feedback on her courtroom demeanor. For the cases open on Judge Englert’s criminal docket as of April 2022, she did not meet, by a small margin, the court’s benchmark for completing 90% of cases within 12 months. Overall, the Commission did not identify any evaluation category in which Judge Englert displayed a significant weakness.
The Commission met with the Chief Judge of Denver District Court regarding Judge Englert’s performance, as well as with members of the District Attorney’s Office, Public Defender’s Office and Probation Department. The Commission conducted a personal interview with Judge Englert and observed her during court proceedings. It also reviewed opinions she authored, comments received from interested parties during the evaluation, recordings from her courtroom, case management data, and judicial performance survey responses from attorneys and non-attorneys that interacted with her. The surveys reflected personal opinions on Judge Englert’s Case Management, Application and Knowledge of the Law, Communications, Diligence, Demeanor, and Fairness. Of the 15 attorneys and 18 non-attorneys who completed the survey and reported they had sufficient knowledge of Judge Englert’s performance to evaluate her, 53% of the attorneys and 63% of the non-attorneys believe that Judge Englert met performance standards. She received ratings significantly below the statewide average among district court judges in all areas surveyed, including Case Management, Application and Knowledge of the Law, Communications, Diligence, Demeanor, and Fairness. Judge Englert received ratings above the statewide average for district court judges from the seven appellate judges who evaluated her performance. While the Commission used these survey results in its evaluation, this evaluation tool was used in conjunction with several others to evaluate Judge Englert’s performance. The overall data reviewed by the Commission supports the recommendation that Judge Englert be retained.
Governor Polis appointed Judge Englert in July 2019. She earned her undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and her law degree from the University of Colorado Law School. She was previously in private practice, was a deputy district attorney, and deputy regulation counsel for the Office of Attorney Regulation. She is a member of the American Bar Association, Colorado and Denver Bar Associations, and the Colorado Women’s Bar Association.