Scott T. Varholak has roughly 400 cases he is responsible for as a federal magistrate judge. But despite the heavy workload, he is still able to step away from the courtroom in the afternoon to take his daughter to play sports, returning to his caseload at night.

“The hours are long, but they’re a lot more flexible,” he said.

Varholak and several other members of the federal bench spoke to dozens of lawyers and law students on Monday as part of a national event: “Roadways to the Bench: Who Me? A Bankruptcy or Magistrate Judge?” The program started in 2019 with a focus on informing attorneys about the path to being a federal bankruptcy judge. This year, the discussion broadened to those thinking of becoming magistrate judges in the federal trial courts.

At the same time that attorneys in courthouses across the country participated in roundtable discussions with their own federal judges, Colorado’s roster of bankruptcy judges, magistrate judges and even presidentially-appointed U.S. District Court judges pulled back the curtain on what to expect when applying for – and serving in – a judgeship.

One message to the young attorneys assembled in the Alfred A. Arraj U.S. Courthouse was to be careful of planning their life around a hope that someday they will be appointed as a life-tenured district judge.

“It’s so random when the timing works out,” said Judge Daniel D. Domenico, a 2019 appointee of Donald Trump. “If you’re going through life thinking, ‘I’m going to set myself up to be a judge,’ it might be a foolish approach because it takes so much luck.”

He added that if lawyers take the personal and professional steps that can lead to a judicial appointment, even if the judgeship never materializes “you’ll set yourself up for other opportunities.”

The “Roadways” event coincided with an unusually high amount of turnover at Colorado’s U.S. District Court. Since President Joe Biden took office, he has appointed four of the seven active district judges, with a fifth nominee pending in the U.S. Senate. There has also been an influx of three new magistrate judges, who are hired by the district judges to eight-year renewable terms and assist with caseloads. Only one, Maritza Dominguez Braswell, is currently on the bench, as the other two will take office this year.

Two new vacancies are likely on the horizon, as the president has nominated Magistrate Judge S. Kato Crews to a district court seat and former Magistrate Judge Gordon P. Gallagher was sworn in last week as the newest district judge, following his Senate confirmation.

“Just apply,” said Magistrate Judge Kristen L. Mix. “Be ready for failure. It hurts like hell.”

“Just because you don’t get it the first time, at least people become aware you really want this,” added Magistrate Judge Michael E. Hegarty.

The lead-up

Varholak described his decision to apply for a magistrate judgeship as stemming from a realization that he could not emotionally sustain himself as a public defender given the stakes of criminal cases.

“Most of what I was doing was negotiating pleas and a lot of times it was for 10 years, 15 years. If you make a mistake in that job, it’s not fixable and it costs people years of their life,” he said. “There was a stress of ‘I can’t do this for 20 more years.'”

Domenico addressed the concerns of one lawyer who observed that “preparing for years” is essential to becoming a judge. Domenico described his early work handling venture capital and mergers and acquisitions for a corporate firm, where the senior attorneys were “miserable and divorced.” Seeking something new, he then pivoted to the government, clerking on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit and then becoming the solicitor general of Colorado.

“My career path is not something anybody really, necessarily can say, ‘Oh, here’s how you should become a judge’,” Domenico said.

The ‘sweet spot’

Generally, the judges felt that potential candidates for the bench will be scouted in their late 30s or early 40s.

“It used to be the Republicans would always appoint young judges because they’d be on the bench longer. The Democrats were terrible at that,” said Chief Judge Philip A. Brimmer, a George W. Bush appointee from 2008.

Mix elaborated that the “sweet spot” for trial judges, in her view, is between the ages of 45 and 55.

“If you’re in that age range, go, go, go,” she said.

Senior Judge Christine M. Arguello, a 2008 Bush appointee, recalled another judge approaching her when she was teaching at the University of Kansas in the ’90s, and suggested she become a judge. She said she was too young – 42.

“He said, ‘You’re perfect’,” Arguello remembered. “That was the seed that was planted.”

Case volume and appeals

Arguello explained that after joining the bench, the caseload was higher than she thought it would be and she worked harder in her first year than she ever did trying to make partner at a prestigious law firm. A big emotional toll, she said, was in sentencing criminal defendants.

At the same time, she takes solace in having the 10th Circuit reviewing her decisions for mistakes, which relieves some of the personal stress on her.

“They have more law clerks, less cases and it actually calms me that I know if I make a mistake, they’ll take a look at it. They’ll have three judges look at it. And I don’t mind being reversed,” she said. “I really get a lot of satisfaction that I know that’s the backstop for me.”

“It’s fixable on this side,” Varholak agreed. “It wasn’t fixable at the federal public defender.” 

On the other hand, there was some griping about the difficulty of being a trial judge versus an appellate judge. Hegarty said it is “objectively true” that the lower courts are more slammed, and cases involving self-represented inmates are often the most taxing.

“But the circuit takes it seriously,” he said, “so you have to take it seriously.”