Salinan Angela Coble appointed to Kansas Court of Appeals

After being selected as one of the finalists for the position, Angela Coble, of Salina, has been appointed by Gov. Laura Kelly to fill a vacancy on the 14-judge Kansas Court of Appeals.

Coble has been working as legal counsel to judges in the U.S. District Court of Kansas since 2013 serving under former Magistrate Judge Karen Humphreys and now under Magistrate Judge Gwynne Birzer.

She began her legal career in 2009 working with the Kennedy, Berkley, Yarnevich and Williamson law firm in Salina. While practicing private law, she represented clients in employment law, personal injury law, family law and general civil litigation.

She was promoted to Junior Partner at the Salina firm and advocated in all aspects of federal and state civil litigation.

“Ms. Coble will be an exceptional addition to the Court of Appeals,” Kelly said. “She has the Kansas grit, dedication, and experience, in addition to a strong reputation in her local and legal communities, that will make her an excellent Court of Appeals judge.”

Coble has been active in the Salina community through volunteer efforts such as serving for more than a decade on the board of directors for Salina Family Healthcare Center and formerly serving on the board of the Salina Airport Authority.

She has also acted in other community leadership positions including the Salina Emergency Aid Food Bank, Leadership Salina, the Four Rivers Support Committee, and other school and parent-teacher organizations.

Coble serves the legal community in the state through her activities in the Kansas Bar Association, as a member and past President of the Saline-Ottawa County Bar Association, as District Representative in the Kansas Women Attorneys’ Association and as a member of the Wichita Women Attorneys Association.

“As a lifelong Kansan, it will be the honor of my life to serve my fellow Kansans as a Court of Appeals Judge,” Coble said. “From my career prior to law school as a legal assistant, to my time in private practice, and now sitting beside the judicial bench as chambers counsel, I have had considerable opportunities to view a judge’s duties from my diverse roles in the legal community which have uniquely prepared me to serve on the appellate court. I am now ready to synthesize and utilize my experiences to fairly apply the laws of Kansas from a respectful and empathetic manner as a judge.”

Coble graduated from Washburn University School of Law in 2009 with honors. She was a member of the Washburn Law Journal editorial board and received the Sangster American Board of Trial Advocates Award. She earned her B.A. in Criminal Justice from Kansas Wesleyan University in 1994 as a Presidential Scholar and was named to the university’s Student Hall of Fame for her academic and public service achievements.

The appointment is subject to Senate confirmation and her materials are being forwarded to the Senate. Before 2013, Court of Appeals judges were not subject to Senate confirmation and were selected by the governor from a group of finalists named by the Supreme Court Nominating Commission. Kelly's office said the governor favors that merit-based selection process and she created the Court of Appeals Nominating Commission, a committee of knowledgeable lawyers and non-lawyers tasked with recommending finalists for the Court of Appeals vacancy.

The nominating commission initially forwarded three candidates for Governor Kelly’s consideration: Coble, Judge Rachel Pickering and Randall Hodgkinson.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Governor Laura Kelly appoints Angela Coble to Kansas Appeals Court