A special nominating commission on Tuesday recommended a federal public defender and two lawyers in private practice for a seat on the Kansas Court of Appeals.
The eight-member panel, working one short because of an illness, recommended assistant federal public defender Carl Folsom III and Wichita lawyers Amy Cline and Diane Sorensen to replace Judge G. Joseph Pierron Jr., who is retiring April 3.
Gov. Laura Kelly will choose from Folsom, Cline and Sorensen to nominate for a seat on the court. The nominee must be confirmed by the Kansas Senate.
Here is a roundup of everyone who applied for a seat on the court.
Folsom, Cline and Sorensen led throughout four rounds of balloting conducted late Tuesday afternoon.
By the third round, Folsom led the field with seven votes, followed by Cline with six votes and three others tied at five.
The panel of four lawyers and four nonlawyers had to break a third-round tie between Sorensen, Wichita lawyer Marcia Wood and University of Kansas Law School professor Suzanne Valdez.
Folsom led in the fourth round with seven votes, followed by Cline and Sorensen with five each. Wood finished with four votes, followed by Valdez at three.
Folsom is a federal public defender in Topeka. He worked as an assistant federal public defender in Oklahoma after working in private practice for about three years.
He also worked in the Kansas appellate defender office, handling criminal appeals for indigent defendants.
He unsuccessfully applied for a seat on the Kansas Court of Appeals in 2018.
He earned bachelor’s and law degrees at the University of Kansas.
Cline is a lawyer with Triplett Woolf Garretson in Wichita.
Her practice focuses on commercial litigation, including contract, oil and gas, employment, construction and consumer protection.
She represents landowners and independent oil and gas companies. She also counsels municipalities on oil and gas leasing issues.
She also represents employers and employees in unemployment, wage and discrimination disputes before the Kansas Department of Labor, Kansas Human Rights Commission and U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Cline earned a bachelor’s degree from Wichita State and a law degree from the University of Kansas.
Sorensen is a lawyer with the Wichita firm Morris Laing Evans Brock & Kennedy.
Her practice focuses on employment litigation in state and federal court.
Her work ranges from enforcing noncompete agreements to discrimination claims.
She counsels employers on employment law, handling of administrative complaints, drafting of employment contracts, conducting on-site investigations and training managers.
She earned bachelor’s degrees in secondary education, English and math from Kansas State. She received her law degree from the University of Kansas.
Here is the panel appointed by the governor to screen the judicial recommendations.
Chairwoman Linda Parks is a partner at Hite, Fanning & Honeyman in Wichita. Her work is focused on banking, bankruptcy, corporate law, business law and real estate. She has a bachelor’s from Washburn University and a law degree from Washburn.
Rick Marquez of Garden City is the legal professional member for the First Congressional District. Marquez is a partner with Lindner, Marquez and Koksal law firm and graduated from Washburn University School of Law.
Don Noland of Pittsburg is the legal professional member for the Second Congressional District. Noland is a retired 11th District Court judge and graduated from Washburn University School of Law.
Mike Fleming of Leawood is the legal professional member for the Third Congressional District. Fleming is an attorney at the law firm Kapke and Willerth and graduated from Washburn University School of Law.
Karen Humphreys of Wichita is the legal professional member for the Fourth Congressional District. Humphreys is a retired U.S. District Court magistrate judge and graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law.
Henry Schwaller of Hays is the public member for the First Congressional District. Schwaller is president of Henry Schwaller and Associates and previously served as the mayor of Hays.
Danielle Dempsey-Swopes of Topeka is the public member for the Second Congressional District. Dempsey-Swopes works at Washburn University as an adjunct professor and director diversity and inclusion. She is a graduate of Kansas State University and Washburn University School of Law.
Jonathan Eshnaur of Olathe is the public member for the Third Congressional District. Eshnaur works at Olathe Northwest High School as a special education teacher and received his master’s from Kansas State University.
Monique Garcia of Wichita is the public member for the Fourth Congressional District. Garcia is the director of community relations at the Kansas Health Foundation. She received her master’s in business administration from Southwestern College.
