Magistrate Kristin G. Farmer will become Judge Farmer on January 7 after her appointment today by Gov. John R. Kasich to the Stark County Common Pleas Court.

Farmer fills the vacancy left by former Judge Charles E. Brown Jr. who retired October 31. Farmer will serve at least two years by filling the unexpired term that ends December 31, 2014. If she chooses to run for a full six-year term, she would need to be on the ballot in the November 2014 general election.

Stark County residents may recognize the name, as her mother Sheila is a judge on the Fifth District Court of Appeals.

Farmer has worked as a magistrate since 2003. She earned her law degree from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law and was admitted to the bar in 2001.

This will not be the only vacancy on the common pleas bench that Gov. Kasich will need to fill as Judge Lee Sinclair plans to retire December 31.

According to Article IV, Section 13 of the Ohio Constitution, the governor has sole authority to fill all judicial vacancies in the state.