A new judge joined the Washington County Common Pleas Court bench in the general and domestic relations divisions.

After serving as the Washington County prosecutor, Nicole Tipton Coil will now be donning a robe upon being appointed to the court by Gov. Mike DeWine. This week, she took the seat left open by Judge Mark Kerenyi, who retired.

Judge Coil spent the last decade as a prosecuting attorney. She joined the office in 2015 as an assistant prosecutor and was appointed prosecutor in 2019. She was then elected to the role in 2024.

“I am honored and humbled that I have been entrusted with another opportunity to serve Washington County,” said Judge Coil. “I look forward to the transition and my opportunity to work with new groups of people after I assume the office.”

Before her prosecuting career began, Judge Coil started in 1996 as an associate at a Cincinnati firm where she first clerked during law school. In 1998, she joined another firm in the city, where she spent three years as an associate attorney and eventually opened her own private practice in 2001.

Judge Coil is a 1996 graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Law. She graduated from Wake Forest University in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in history.

Judge Coil will serve the remainder of Judge Kerenyi’s unfinished term and must run for election in November to retain the position.