TOPEKA—The names of two attorneys in private practice and a Sedgwick County district judge were submitted to Gov. Sam Brownback late Friday afternoon as nominees to fill a vacancy on the Court of Appeals that was created by the October 7, 2012, death of Judge Richard D. Greene.
Nominated were Dennis Depew, a Neodesha attorney; Stephen M. Kerwick, an Eastborough attorney; and Sedgwick County District Judge Anthony J. Powell. The governor will have 60 days in which to appoint one of the three to the intermediate appellate court.
The three were nominated following interviews conducted of nine applicants to succeed Judge Greene, who was chief judge of the Court of Appeals at the time of his death. Also under consideration were 16 others who had applied for a vacancy that will be created by the January retirement of Court of Appeals Judge Christel E. Marquardt.
Names of three of the 25 already had been forwarded to the governor to fill Judge Marquardt’s impending vacancy. They include Steven J. Obermeier, Senior Deputy District Attorney in Johnson County; Judge Kim R. Schroeder, a Hugoton district court judge; and Teresa L. Watson, a Topeka attorney in private practice.
Depew has practiced law in Neodesha in the Depew Law Firm since 1983, upon graduating from the University of Kansas School of Law. Depew also received a Bachelor of Business degree from KU in 1980. Among his professional and civic endeavors, Depew is the president-elect of the Kansas Bar Assn., and will become president next June. He also is current president of the Kansas Assn. of School Boards. He served as a member of the Board of Education for USD 461 for 18 years.
Kerwick began his law practice in 1981, when he graduated from the KU law school. He is currently a partner in the Wichita law firm of Foulston Siefken, LLP, where he has practiced continuously since law school. Kerwick is a former president of the Kansas Assn. of Defense Counsel and has been active in the Wichita, Kansas, and American Bar Assns. He received a BA degree from La Salle University.
Judge Powell has been a Sedgwick County District Judge since 2003, and before that was in private practice from 1991 until becoming a judge. In addition to his law practice, Judge Powell served as a member of the Kansas House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. He obtained a BA degree from George Washington University and his JD degree from the Washburn University School of Law. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Kansas District Judges Assn. and has been active in the Wichita and Kansas Bar Assns.