Susan Keers Serko will be sworn in as a Pierce County Superior Court judge at 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10 in room 100 at the County-City Building. She was appointed Dec. 23 by Gov. Chris Gregoire to fill the Department 14 vacancy created by Judge Bruce Cohoe’s retirement.

“I am thrilled to be returning to the legal community in Tacoma and Pierce County,” the new judge said. She has been working as an administrative law judge with the Office of Administrative Hearings in Seattle and Olympia.

Judge Serko will be presented to the court by Judge Marywave Van Deren of Washington State Court of Appeals Division II, and the oath of office will be administered by U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Kelley Arnold of the Western District of Washington. Both Van Deren and Arnold are former Pierce County Superior Court judges.

She chose as speakers for the ceremony Daniel R. Kyler of Rush, Hannula, Harkins & Kyler, her former law partner; and Margo T. Keller, arbitrator/mediator for Washington Arbitration & Mediation Service.

Candice Augustin will serve as Judge Serko’s judicial assistant and will start orientation Monday, Jan. 23.

Her family includes husband, Peter J. Serko, and children Lorean, 23, Alice, 20, and Michael, 17.