Hawai'i Intermediate Court of Appeals Associate Judge Corinne Watanabe will step down at the end of the year, the latest in a spate of judicial early retirement announcements in the past 12 months.

Watanabe said in an interview yesterday, "I just think it's probably time" to end her 17-year tenure on the Intermediate Court of Appeals bench.

Before her appointment to the appeals court, Watanabe served 17 years in the state attorney general's office.

"It has been an incredible honor and privilege to have had a hand in shaping Hawai'i's common law," Watanabe said in a retirement announcement sent to the state Judicial Selection Commission.

"I have tremendous aloha for the outstanding, talented and dedicated members of the judiciary family," she said in the written notice.

Watanabe yesterday said salary restrictions and budget cuts in the judiciary and elsewhere in state government contributed to her decision to step down before her current term of appointment expires in May 2012.

"That's one of the factors that come into it," she said. "I'm looking forward to retirement."

She plans on taking "a few months" off before returning to "serve the community" in another way, she said.

Three women judges — Circuit Judges Karen Blondin and Victoria Marks and Senior Family Court Judge Frances Wong — have retired this year or will retire by November. State Supreme Court Associate Justice Steven Levinson also retired early at the end of last year.

The Judicial Selection Commission is responsible for submitting lists of qualified replacements to Gov. Linda Lingle, whose appointees must be confirmed by the state Senate.