Gov. Laura Kelly’s office on Friday morning announced 19 applicants for a state appeals court seat that will come open with Judge Henry Green Jr.’s retirement on March 3.
Kelly has already appointed six members of the 14-member court – all women, including the first woman of color and the first Hispanic woman.
Kelly uses a screening committee made up of five lawyers and four nonlawyers to help choose a nominee. The process is open to the public.
The governor is not obligated under state law to use a nominating committee.
Her nominee would need to be confirmed by the state Senate.
The nominating commission will interview applicants Jan. 28 and 29 to fill the vacancy.
The governor has 60 days from the date the position becomes vacant to make the appointment.
Here are the candidates:
Meryl Carver-Allmond, Lawrence
Experience: raining director for the Kansas Board of Indigents’ Defense Services. Also worked as Kansas capital appellate defender, who handled direct appeals of death penalty cases in the Kansas appellate courts. She was the Kansas capital appellate defender from 2012 to 2021. She researched and co-authored briefs in six death penalty cases and filed petitions for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court in four of those cases. Carver-Allmond worked as the assistant Kansas appellate public defender from 2008 to July 2012. She researched and wrote almost 150 briefs in felony cases before the Kansas appellate courts.
Education: Bachelor’s in justice studies/political science from Pittsburg State in 2003. She earned a law degree from the University of Kansas Law School in 2005.
Ali Marchant, Wichita
Experience: Administrative law judge for Kansas Department of Labor since 2014. She also was an attorney for
Catherine Zigtema, Shawnee
Experience: Private practice attorney who s
Christopher Sook, Hays
Experience: Joined the Jeter Law Firm in Hays in January 2017 and is now the firm’s managing partner. He previously practiced with the Topeka-based Sloan Law Firm. During his last five years there, he managed that firm’s Hays office. He has a civil practice working with clients on business issues; real estate transactions; land use and condemnation; civil litigation including personal injury cases; estate planning and probate; and oil and gas-related and corporate legal matters. He has served as an adjunct instructor of legal studies at Washburn University and Fort Hays State University. He is a past president of the Kansas Bar Association’s Corporation, Banking & Business Law Section and past president of the Ellis County Bar Association.
Education: Law degree from the University of Kansas and a bachelor’s in history from Fort Hays State University.
Courtney Boehm, Junction City
Experience: District judge in the 8th judicial district, which includes Dickinson, Geary, Marion and Morris counties. Appointed to the bench in 2018 by former Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer. Also served as an assistant public defender in Salina from 2012 to 2014, worked for the Cottonwood Law Group in Hillsboro from 2016 to 2018 and served as Marion County attorney from 2017 to 2018. She also was an adjunct professor at Tabor College where she taught criminal justice.
Education: Bachelor’s in secondary education, history and government from the University of Kansas in 2009 and a law degree from Washburn University in 2012. She also has a master’s in judicial studies from the University of Nevada at Reno.
Erin Thompson, Fairway
Experience: General counsel, Planned Parenthood Great Plains. She previously was in private practice and worked as general counsel for the federal public defender. She has more than 15 years of litigation experience, representing a variety of clients from oil and gas companies in civil litigation to individuals charged with drug and gun cases in federal court. She also has experience conducting internal investigations for companies and providing them general counsel services. She previously served on the Roeland Park City Council and started her professional career as a high school sports reporter.
Education: Bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Kansas and a law degree from the University of Kansas.
Kate Butler, Topeka
Experience: for the for the judicial branch. Previously associate attorney for Barber Emerson in Lawrence where her work focused on
Randall Hodgkinson
Experience: Visiting assistant professor of law at Washburn University Law School. He is currently appointed in a joint partnership between the Washburn University School of Law and the Kansas Appellate Defender Office teaching criminal appellate advocacy, where law students work, under his supervision, on felony appeals assigned to the Kansas Appellate Defender Office. Before taking his current job, he served as an adjunct professor with the trial advocacy course at Washburn Law. He has represented clients in appeals before the Kansas appellate courts and served as deputy appellate defender from 2001 to 2006. He has been co-counsel in two cases heard before the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a member of the Kansas Judicial Council Criminal Law Advisory Committee.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in math and computer science from Wichita State University; law degree from Arizona State University.
Lori Bolton Fleming, Pittsburg
Experience: Chief judge for the 11th Judicial District, which includes Cherokee, Labette and Crawford counties. She was appointed to the bench by former Gov. Sam Brownback in 2012. She was the first woman to serve as judge in the 11th District. She was in private practice from 2003 to 2012 and served as an assistant county attorney from 2001 to 2003.
Education: She earned her law degree from Washburn University and has a bachelor’s in music education from Pittsburg State.
Paul Klepper, Lawrence
Experience: District judge pro tem in the 7th District Judicial District, which covers Douglas County. He previously was a staff attorney for Kansas Legal Services and an attorney for Young Williams and
Education: Law degree from the University of Kansas in 2009 and a bachelor’s in history from Truman State University.
Paula Johnson, St. Louis
Experience: Senior corporate counsel for Ameren, an electric utility company based in St. Louis. Worked in the energy industry since 1996, when she took a law clerk position for the Kansas Corporation Commission, shifting to an attorney position upon graduation. In 2006, she accepted a position with Alliant Energy’s Iowa office, where she represented the utility company’s electric and natural gas operations before utility regulatory commissions in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In 2014, she shifted her focus to electric transmission system compliance while working for Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. in Indiana. In 2016, she accepted the position of senior corporate counsel for Union Electric Company, which does business as Ameren Missouri.
Education: Earned law degree from Washburn University in 1997. Earned bachelor’s degree in writing and English in 1994 from Washburn.
Russell J. Keller, Fairway
Experience: Assistant U.S. attorney since November 2022. Also worked as a litigation attorney for the Forbes Law Group. Previously served as a law clerk for Judge Mary Beck Briscoe on the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Served as assistant attorney general/unit leader for litigation at the Missouri attorney general’s office; attorney and partner for business, securities, antitrust and appellate litigation at Stinson LLP; attorney for business, antitrust and securities litigation at Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago; and law clerk for U.S. District Judge John F. Grady in Illinois.
Education: Bachelor’s in political science and a master’s in communication studies from Northwestern University; law degree from Northwestern.
Paula Langworthy, Derby
Experience: Has been in private practice since graduating from law school in 2005. She also serves as a special judge for the Oglala Lakota Tribal Courts in South Dakota. Her work is focused on family law, including property valuation and division, child custody and parenting time, child support, spousal support, paternity, common-law marriage. She also has experience in contested estate litigation, contested adoptions and civil litigation.
Education: Earned a law degree from Washburn University in 2005 and a bachelor’s in criminal justice/administration of justice from Northeastern State University, which has its main campus in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
Regine Thompson, Scandia
Experience: A district magistrate judge since 2020. Before becoming a district magistrate judge, Thompson practiced law for 23 years with her husband at Thompson & Thompson, P.A., in Scandia. She is president of the Kansas District Magistrate Judges Association.
Education: She earned a bachelor’s from the University of Maryland and law degree from George Washington University Law School
Sherri Schuck, Topeka
Experience: Pottawatomie County attorney and a Riley County police officer.
Education: Law degree from Washburn University in 2002 and a bachelor’s in English literature from Kansas State University.
Tonda Jones Hill, Lawrence
Experience: Assistant district attorney in Wyandotte County and deputy public defender for the Northeast Kansas Conflicts Office. She also ran unsuccessfully for Douglas County district attorney last year.
Education: She has a bachelor’s and master’s from the University of Kansas. She earned her law degree from the University of Kansas.
David J. Rempel, Overland Park
Experience: Clerk for U.S. District Judge John Lungstrum from 1996-98 and 2008 to present. He unsuccessfully sought a seat on the Kansas Supreme Court last year.
Education: Bachelor’s in English from Yale University and law degree from the University of Kansas.
Jason Thompson, Topeka
Experience: Senior revisor of statutes for the Kansas Legislature since 2011. Started with the Revisor’s Office in 2007. He has worked with the House and Senate Judiciary Committees; the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee; the Joint Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice Oversight; and the Special Committee on Government Overreach and Impact of COVID-19 Mandates. He also was a research attorney for the Johnson County District Court.
Education: Bachelor’s in political science from the University of Kansas in 2000 and a law degree from KU in 2004.
Kristen D. Wheeler, Wichita
Experience: Has been a member of the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals since May 2021. Previously worked as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Thomas Marten. She has worked with the Robinson Law Firm in Wichita, focusing on business advising and litigation; real estate advising and litigation; small-business representation; intellectual property protection; consumer protection; foreclosure defense; contracts; and environmental law. She also was of counsel to Morris, Laing, Evans, Brock & Kennedy.
Education: Bachelor’s from the University of Kansas in biodiversity, ecology and evolutionary biology; law degree from Washburn University.
