Longtime Santa Fe lawyer Sarah Singleton will replace Judge Jim Hall as a 1st Judicial District judge in Santa Fe, Gov. Bill Richardson announced Monday.

"Ms. Singleton is bringing with her more than 30 years of legal experience and I am confident she will serve the 1st Judicial District Court and the people of New Mexico justly," Richardson said in the news release.

Hall, who is retiring at the end of the month, presides over civil cases. Singleton said the nominating commission discussed the possibility of her position being a family court judge, but she's unsure what kind of cases she'll handle.

A member of the Democratic Party, Singleton said she will seek election to the position next year. Under New Mexico law, state judges must face one partisan election then face periodic yes-or-no retention votes.

Singleton, 60, was born in Ann Arbor, Mich. She's practiced law since 1974. Her first job was in Santa Fe in the Office of the Public Defender. She worked there for two years, then went into private practice in the city. In 1985, she went to work for the Montgomery & Andrews law firm. She's now a shareholder at the Montgomery firm.

She earned her bachelor's degree in 1971 from Sarah Lawrence College and her Juris Doctorate from Indiana University School of Law in 1974.

Singleton said one of her passions has been trying to increase access to the legal system for the poor.

She was appointed by former President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate in 2006 to be one of 11 members the bipartisan board of directors for the Legal Services Corp. — the leading provider of civil legal aid for the poor in the United States. Singleton said she's still a member of the board until her successor is confirmed.

She's also served on several New Mexico committees working for legal access. The state Supreme Court appointed Singleton to the New Mexico Access to Justice Commission. She served two terms on the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants and on the New Mexico Civil Legal Services Commission.

Singleton has applied to be a judge at least four times in the last 13 years. She's been on the short list to fill vacancies on the bench in the 1st Judicial District in 1996, 1998, 2005 and earlier this year.

She was chosen by the governor from a list of six candidates from a nominating committee. The others were T. Glenn Ellington, Mary Marlowe Sommer, Francis Mathew, David Thomson and Aaron Wolf, all of Santa Fe.

Hall, who had been a prosecutor in the 1st Judicial District, was appointed to the district bench in 1995 by then Gov. Gary Johnson.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.