As a family violence prosecutor, colleagues say Karla Smith does a job that not many others can—or will—do. Now Smith, 42, is readying to take on a position that no one like her has ever held.

Smith will be sworn in as Montgomery County’s first black woman district court judge Thursday, The Washington Post reports. 

She’s been head of the county’s family violence assistant state’s attorney’s office for five years, defending victims of child abuse, domestic violence and elderly abuse, according to the state's attorney's office. 

“It’s an awesome responsibility,” Smith told The Post. “My sole job is to be fair and impartial and work hard and make all the people who paved the way for me to get there proud.”