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News Releases

05/08/08: New 29th Judicial District Chief Judge |05/06/08: Shawnee County Judgeship Vacancy |04/16/08: Lawyer Assistance Director Named |02/29/08: Supreme Court Special Session - Case Nos., 99,951, 99,972, and 100,042: George R. Tiller, M.D. and Women’s Health Care Services Inc. v. Hon. Michael Corrigan, Presiding Judge, and Hon. Paul Buchanan, assigned senior judge |02/29/08: Douglas County Judge Nominees|02/26/08: Swearing-In Ceremony for Melissa Taylor Standridge| 02/22/08: District Judicial Nominating Commission Election Results| 02/20/08:Sixteen Apply for Seventh Judicial District Judge Position |02/06/08: Sentencing Symposium - Johnson County | 01/28/08: Seventh Judicial District Nomination Procedures
See the Archives for new releases dating back to 1997.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 8,2008

For more information,
contact Ron Keefover,
Education-Information Officer

The Supreme Court today announced the appointment of Wyandotte County District Judge R. Wayne Lampson as the new chief judge of that district’s 16-member bench.

He is succeeding Hon. Philip R. Sieve, who is retiring effective May 30, 2008. The successor to fill Judge Sieve’s district court judge position has not yet been named, and will be filled by appointment of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius later this summer.

Judge Lampson was appointed district judge in 1995 following the death of Judge David Lamar. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Lampson served as the Wyandotte County Counselor, with responsibility for legal representation of the then-Wyandotte County Commission and county government agencies. He also served as Assistant City Attorney for the City of Kansas City, Kansas, was in private practice in Kansas City, Kansas, and served as an Assistant District Attorney.

During his career, Judge Lampson has served as an adjunct professor at Kansas City, KS, Community College and Friends University. Before his appointment to the bench he served as a pro tem judge for Municipal Court and for Wyandotte County District Court. A Winfield native, Judge Lampson earned his law degree at the University of Tulsa law school. His undergraduate degree is from Emporia State University. Judge Lampson is married to Donna Lampson, who works for Deluxe Corporation. He has five adult children, all who live in the metro area.

As chief judge, he will have general management responsibilities in the judicial district, including assigning judicial caseloads and directing all clerical and administrative personnel.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 6,2008

For more information,
contact Ron Keefover,
Education-Information Officer

A nominating commission charged with naming candidates to fill a district judge vacancy in Shawnee County District Court has issued a request for assistance from the public.       
           
The seven-member commission is responsible for submitting the names of two or three nominees to the Governor for the vacancy which will be created when Judge Thomas R. Conklin retires effective July 4.

Judge Conklin has been a judge of Shawnee County District Court since 1987.  Before that, he was general attorney with the Santa Fe Southern Pacific Co. since 1971.  Judge Conklin began his legal career with the office of Kansas Revisor of Statutes upon his graduation from the Washburn University School of Law in 1968.  He is a 1964 graduate of Washburn University with a major in history.

“The nominating commission is especially interested in receiving recommendations of suggested nominees to fill the vacancy from the general public.  All of the citizens of the 3rd Judicial District are requested to consider this matter, and the names of suggested nominees submitted by the general public will be welcomed by the commission,” according to Supreme Court Justice Marla Luckert, departmental chair for the judicial district.   

Kansas statutes require that a judge be a resident of the district in which selected, be at least 30 years of age, have been in the active practice of law for at least five years, and have been admitted to the practice of law within the State of Kansas.

Suggested nominees are requested to complete questionnaires for the position.  The completed forms should be returned to Alan F. Alderson, Commission Secretary, 2101 SW 21st, Topeka, no later than noon, June 6.  The forms are available in the office of the clerk of the district court in Shawnee County and online at www.shawneecourt.org and www.kscourts.org.

The nominating commission will convene at 9:00 a.m., June 23, in the Shawnee County Courthouse to interview the suggested nominees.  The meeting will be open to the public; however, the commission has the authority to adjourn to executive session to discuss personal traits of the suggested nominees.

The law requires that the commission submit at least two names, but not more than three, to the Governor who may appoint any of the suggested nominees.

Notices of the vacancy have been mailed to every attorney in this judicial district by the chair of the commission.

The 3rd Judicial District Nominating Commission includes Justice Luckert as the nonvoting chair and Alan F. Alderson, Topeka; Terry E. Beck, Topeka; Mary D. Feighny, Topeka; Thomas W. Kirker, Topeka; Ginger A. Barr, Auburn; and Mary M. Thomas, Topeka.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 16,2008

For more information,
contact Ron Keefover,
Education-Information Officer

Wichita attorney Wallace W. Underhill has been appointed executive director of the Kansas Lawyers Assistance Program (KALAP), a rehabilitation program for attorneys and law students struggling with mental illness, substance abuse or emotional distress, it was announced in Topeka today.

Underhill was appointed to the position by the Kansas Supreme Court, which established the lawyer assistance program in 2001. He succeeds Wayne Hundley, Topeka, who served as interim director upon the death of Donald Zemites, KALAP’s first director.

The program is governed by the Kansas Lawyers' Assistance Commission, a volunteer board made up of 11 lawyers from around the state appointed by the Kansas Supreme Court.

Underhill has been in private practice since 1973 and a court-appointed mediator and case manager serving Butler, Reno, Sedgwick, and Sumner counties since 2005. He was an assistant Sedgwick County district attorney from 1970 to 1973.

He is a 1967 graduate of Kansas Wesleyan University and a 1970 graduate of the University Kansas School of Law.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 29,2008

For more information,
contact Ron Keefover,
Education-Information Officer

The Supreme Court today announced it will meet in special session April 8th to hear oral arguments in three cases challenging subpoenas of abortion patient medical records by a Wichita grand jury.

The court scheduled the rare special session to expedite resolution of three challenges of  the subpoenas that were filed by Kansas Attorney Gen. Stephen Six, a Wichita abortion clinic operated by Dr. George R. Tiller, and clinic patients whose records were subpoenaed.

The Court also consolidated all three cases for decision and kept its earlier order blocking enforcement of the subpoenas in place until further order of the Court.  The Wichita judges handling the grand jury proceedings—Chief Judge Michael Corrigan and Senior Judge Paul Buchanan—were directed to refrain from issuing additional patient  records subpoenas generated by the clinic.

Attorneys have been given until 5 p.m. March 17th to file written briefs in the case. The Court limited the briefs to not more than 25 pages in length.  Each side of the consolidated case will be allotted a total of one hour to present their arguments to the Court.  The special session is to begin at 9 a.m. in the Supreme Court Courtroom in the Judicial Center.

Supreme Court Order: Case 99,951 - Stay Enforcement of Subpoena

Supreme Court Order: Case Nos., 99,951, 99,972, and 100,042 - Consolidation

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 29,2008

For more information,
contact Ron Keefover,
Education-Information Officer

Three area attorneys have been nominated to fill the district court vacancy in Douglas County that was created by the appointment of Judge Stephen N. Six as attorney general.

The nominees are Peggy Carr Kittel, a Douglas County judge pro tem; Trevor C. Wohlford, executive director and chief legal counsel for the State Board of Tax Appeals; and Justice B. King, managing partner of the Topeka law firm of Fisher, Patterson, Sayler & Smith.

The governor will have 30 days from Monday in which to make the appointment.

Kittel has been a judge pro tem for Douglas County District Court since 1998. As such, she presides over juvenile offender hearings and child support and parenting time enforcement hearings.  Prior to that, she served as an assistant district attorney, municipal court prosecutor and was in private practice.  She was graduated from University of Kansas in 1980 and from its law school in 1982.

King has been with the Fisher Patterson law firm since 1976.  He became a partner of the firm in 1979 and became managing partner in 1988.  He is a 1976 graduate of the University of Kansas School of Law and received his undergraduate degree from KU in 1973.

Wohlford has been with the State Board of Tax Appeals since 2004.  Before that he was an associate attorney in the law firm of Hinkle Elkouri, LLC from 2002-2004 and in the firm of Foulston, Siefkin LLP from 1999 to 2002.  He holds a law degree from the University of Denver, and a BA and MA degree from the University of Kansas.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 26,2008

For more information,
contact Ron Keefover,
Education-Information Officer

The newest member of the Kansas Court of Appeals will be sworn into office in a ceremony Friday at 2 p.m. in the Supreme Court Courtroom.

Melissa Taylor Standridge, Overland Park, was appointed to fill the newly created 13th position on the Court of Appeals.

She has practiced law for 13 years, including four years with the Overland Park firm of Shook, Hardy & Bacon.  Standridge has served as chambers counsel for U.S. Magistrate Judge David J. Waxse in Kansas City, KS, since 1999.

A 1993 graduate of the University of Missouri—Kansas City School of Law, she served as editor-in-chief of the school’s law review.  She is a 1984 graduate of the University of Kansas, Lawrence.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 22,2008

District Judicial Nominating Commission Elections

The purpose of each commission is to nominate persons for appointment to the office of district judge and to appoint persons to the office of district magistrate judge in judicial districts that have adopted the nonpartisan method for the selection of judges. There are currently seventeen nonpartisan judicial districts: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 21st, 25th, 28th, 30th, and 31st.

The Clerk of the Supreme Court has recently conducted elections for lawyer members whose terms are expiring on March 3, 2008. There were vacancies in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 21st, 25th, 28th, 30th, and 31st judicial districts. Below are the election results with terms ending March 5, 2012.

JUDICIAL DISTRICT ELECTED LAWYER MEMBER
First (3 positions), J. David Farris, E. Roger Horsky & John R. Kurth
Second (1 position), Gary F. Conklin
Third (2 positions), Terry E. Beck & Mary D. Feighny
Fourth (1 position), Steven B. Doering
Fifth (2 positions), William T. North & w. Irving Shaw
Sixth ( 2 positions), Richard M. Fisher, Jr. & Blake Hudson
Seventh (1 position), Janine A. Cox
Eighth (2 positions), Darrel W. Bryant & Douglas G. Thompson
Ninth (2 positions), Thomas A. Adrian & Robert W. Wise
Tenth (2 positions), Victor A. Bergman, Charles W. German, Kevin P. Moriarty, & Lee M. Smithyman
Eleventh (2 positions), Sara S. Beezley & Larry A. Prauser
Twelfth (2 positions), Daniel D. Metz & Darrell E. Miller
Twenty-First (1 position), James W. Morrison
Twenty-Fifth (2 positions), Gene H. Gaede & John M. Linder
Twenty-Eighth (3 positions), Lance H. Cochran, Catherine J. Craft & Norman R. Kelly
Thirtieth (1 position), Alan C. Goering
Thirty-First (2 positions), James M. Immell & R. Kent Pringle

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 20, 2008

For more information,
contact Ron Keefover,
Education-Information Officer

The names of 16 area attorneys who have applied for the district judge position in Douglas County District Court that was created by the appointment of Judge Stephen Six as Kansas attorney general were released today.

The 7th Judicial Nominating Commission will meet Thursday and Friday, February 28-29th to nominate either two or three persons to the governor for appointment.  

Following is a list of those applying for the judgeship:
David J. Brown, private practice
Darian P. Dernovish, Legal Counsel, Kansas Highway Patrol
Margaret Ann Farley, private practice
James T. George, private practice
John C. Gilroy, private practice
Justice B. King, private practice
Peggy Carr Kittel, Judge pro tem, Douglas County
Kenneth P. Kula, private practice
Terence E. Leibold, private practice
Kirk W. Lowry, Legal Director, Disability Rights Center of Kansas Inc.
Suzanne (Valdez) McAllister, Clinical Associate Professor, KU School of Law
Martin L. Miller, private practice
Shon D. Qualseth, private practice
Jeffrey S. Southard, private practice
Michael Warner, Assistant U.S. Attorney

Trevor C. Wohlford, Chief Counsel/Executive Director, State Board of Tax Appeals

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 6, 2008

For more information
contact Ron Keefover,
Education-Information Officer

Ever wonder what judges are thinking when they sentence an offender to probation?  To prison?  Why aren’t all offenders just put away until some magic day when they see the light and decide to not commit crimes again?  After all, if they do the crime, shouldn’t they do the time?

To help area news media and other community leaders make sense of the state’s complex sentencing guidelines, Johnson County Chief Judge Stephen Tatum has scheduled a sentencing symposium for Monday, February 11,  from 9—11 a.m. in the Judges Conference Room on the sixth floor of the Johnson County Courthouse in downtown Olathe.

Featured speaker will be Helen J. Pedigo, executive director of the Kansas Sentencing Commission, who will speak on the subject “Unraveling the Mysteries of Sentencing Guidelines.”

“Perhaps no other duty of a district judge gets closer scrutiny by the media than sentencing someone to a penal or community correction facility or placing an offender on probation,” Chief Judge Tatum said in announcing Monday’s program.

“Just as we judges want to understand the needs of the media in explaining sentencing decisions, we want the media and our community to understand the sentencing guidelines and the process that judges must go through when imposing sentences,” Judge Tatum commented.

“Why do some offenders receive probation, yet others are sent to prison?  When may judges depart from the sentencing guidelines?  We hope these and any other questions on the mind of members of the media will be answered at this symposium,” he said.

Cameras and recording devices are permitted at this session, and questions from the media to Judge Tatum will be welcome.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 28, 2008

For more information
contact Ron Keefover,
Education-Information Officer

A nominating commission charged with naming candidates to fill a district judge vacancy in the 7th Judicial District that was created by the appointment of Judge Stephen Six to serve as Kansas attorney general, has issued a request for assistance from the public.    

The 7th Judicial District is a one-county district comprised of Douglas County.

The seven-member commission is responsible for submitting the names of two or three nominees to the Governor for the vacancy which was created when Judge Six resigned effective January 18.  He takes office as attorney general on Friday.

“The nominating commission is especially interested in receiving recommendations of suggested nominees to fill the vacancy from the general public.  All of the citizens of the 7th Judicial District are requested to consider this matter, and the names of suggested nominees submitted by the general public will be welcomed by the commission,” according to Justice Eric S. Rosen, departmental justice.          

Kansas statutes require that a judge be a resident of the district in which selected, be at least 30 years of age, have been in the active practice of law for at least five years, and have been admitted to the practice of law within the State of Kansas.

Suggested nominees are requested to complete questionnaires for the position.  The completed forms should be returned to Justice Rosen at the Kansas Judicial Center, 301 SW 10th Avenue, Topeka, KS  66612 no later than noon, February 20th.  The forms are available in the office of the clerk of the district court in Douglas County and online (Fillable PDF Nomination form)at www.kscourts.org.

The nominating commission will convene at 9:00 a.m., February 28-29th, in the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th, Lawrence, to interview the suggested nominees.  The meeting will be open to the public; however, the commission has the authority to adjourn to executive session to discuss personal traits of the suggested nominees.

The law requires that the commission submit at least two names, but not more than three, to the Governor who may appoint any of the suggested nominees.

Notices of the vacancy are being mailed to every attorney in this judicial district by the chair of the commission.

The 7th Judicial District Nominating Commission includes Justice Rosen as the nonvoting chair and Edward G. Collister, Jr., Lawrence; John W. Nitcher, Lawrence; Janine A. Cox, Lawrence; Kurt Von Achen, Eudora; John Frick, Lawrence; and Multon Scott, Lawrence.

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