Finalists named for Supreme Court vacancy

TOPEKA—The names of three persons were submitted to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius Tuesday as nominees for appointment to a vacancy on the state Supreme Court that was created by the March 30th death of Justice Robert L. Gernon.

They include Martha J. Coffman, Lawrence; Douglas County District Judge Robert W. Fairchild and Shawnee County District Judge Eric S. Rosen. Gov. Sebelius will have 60 days in which to make the appointment. The three have been nominated by the Supreme Court Nominating Commission, which conducted interviews throughout the day Monday.

Coffman is the Director of Advisory Counsel for the Kansas Corporation Commission. As such, she serves as legal advisor to the three commissioners. Before joining the KCC in 2000, she served as Director of the Office of Central Research for the Kansas Court of Appeals for nine years. Other public service appointments include serving as a Supreme Court research attorney, assistant appellate defender, and the Paul E. Wilson Defender Project at the University of Kansas School of Law. Upon graduation from law school, she maintained a private law practice.

She earned both her law degree and BA from KU. She also has a MA degree from the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.

Judge Fairchild is currently chief judge of the one-county 7th Judicial District, which consists of Douglas County. He became a district judge in 1996 and was appointed chief judge in January 2002. Prior his appointment to the bench, Judge Fairchild had been in private practice in Lawrence since 1973.

He received a BA degree in economics from Texas Tech University in May 1970, and was graduate from the KU law school in May 1973.

Judge Rosen has been a Shawnee County District Court judge since 1993. He began his legal career upon his graduation from the Washburn University Shool of Law in 1984 when he served as an assistant public defender. He then served as an assistant district attorney and later as associate general counsel to the Kansas Securities Commission before entering the private practice of law in 1990.

In addition to an MS and a BS degree from KU, Judge Rosen has completed the Law and Economic Institute for Judges at KU and the Judges' General Jurisdiction course at the National Judicial College at the University of Nevada in Reno, Nevada.