Judge Tod Davis, magistrate judge for Allen County since 2016, has been appointed to a newly created judgeship position in the 31st Judicial District.
Gov. Laura Kelly appointed Davis on Friday.
“Tod is a dedicated, hardworking, and conscientious Magistrate Judge,” Kelly said in a news release. “I am confident he will continue to serve the 31st Judicial District well.”
“I am honored and thankful,” Davis said. “I am committed to serving the citizens of the 31st Judicial District with integrity, fairness and respect, and to continue the high standards that our past and current Judges exemplify.”
District Court Judges are appointed by the governor and selected from nominees chosen by a district nominating commission. Judges in nominating commission districts are subject to retention elections every four years.
The other nominees selected by the district nominating commission were Thomas P. Mikulka and Dennis Depew.
Davis is active in the legal community with memberships in the Kansas Bar Association, Allen County Bar Association, and the Neosho County Bar Association.
After graduating from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, Davis, 59, clerked for a private law firm in Rolla, Mo., before moving to Chanute, where he became one of the first members of the Southeast Kansas Public Defenders Office when it was formed in the early 1990s.
Davis, who also operated a private practice in Parsons, opened an office in Iola in 2001 before health issues a few years later prompted him to return to the Public Defenders Office. He remained there for the next nine years, before his selection to succeed Judge Thomas Saxton as Magistrate Judge in Allen County in 2016.
The new district judge position was among several certified by a Supreme Court administrative order, after the position was funded by state lawmakers.
