Christine Downs, a Geneva resident who spent 12 years working for the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, has been appointed as an associate judge for the 16th Judicial Circuit.

Downs began working as an assistant state’s attorney starting in 1997. She then became an associate with the law offices of Collison and O’Connor in Chicago. She will take the bench Feb. 4. According to a news release issued by the 16th Circuit, she was selected from a field of 36 candidates.

Downs said becoming a judge is a goal of many attorneys, “and I certainly was one of them.”