Denver law firm Keating Wagner Polidori Free is set to take on Denver District Court Judge Christina Habas to fill a Denver legal job, according to a press release.

Set to step down from the bench on Friday, July 13, the justice will join the Denver law firm as a shareholder and trial lawyer on Monday, July 16.

Elevated to the bench in January 2004, Habas lamented stepping down but also noted that a valuable opportunity awaits.

“It is difficult to leave the friends I have made there, all of whom are dedicated to making the Denver bench as effective as it can possibly be,” she said. “Instead I know that Bill Keating, Bob Wagner and Steve Polidori understand that it is vital to the legal profession to continue the same values they learned as young lawyers, beginning with their own firm. They have offered me a wonderful opportunity to mentor the younger lawyers in the same way we were mentored by those who came before us. I cannot wait to nurture, and learn, from those talented people.”

Habas began private practice in 1982 and devoted the following 22 years to more than 150 trials.

She presided over more than 200 jury and bench trials as a judge.