Marla Luckert

From Judgepedia

Marla J. Luckert is a justice on the Kansas Supreme Court. She was appointed by Democratic Governor Kathleen Sebelius in 2003 and her current term ends in 2010. Justice Luckert was born July 20, 1955, in Goodland, Ks. She received a bachelor of arts in history in May 1977 and her J.D. in 1980 from Washburn University of Topeka. While in law school, she served as technical editor of the Washburn Law Journal and received the faculty and alumni awards for best student note.^[1]

Legal career

Luckert joined the Topeka firm of Goodell, Stratton, Edmonds and Palmer, where she practiced general litigation and health law. In 1992 she was appointed by Governor Joan Finney to the Third Judicial District Court. She was appointed by the Kansas Supreme Court to the Kansas Judicial Council where she served as chair of the Criminal Law Advisory Committee. In 2000 she became chief judge of the Third Judicial District. Governor Bill Graves appointed her to the Kansas Supreme Court effective January 13, 2003.^[1]

She also served as an adjunct professor of law at Washburn University.^[1]

Awards, civic activities

Luckert was selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America. Justice Luckert has served as president of the Kansas Bar Association, the Kansas District Judges Association, the Kansas Women Attorneys Association, the Topeka Bar Association, the Sam A. Crow Inn of Court, and the Women Attorneys Association of Topeka. She is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Kansas Bar Foundation. She has served as a delegate to the American Bar Association's (ABA) Conference of State Trial Judges and of the Young Lawyer's Division Assembly. She has served on several ABA committees, and been a member of the National Conference of Bar Presidents and the Southern Conference of Bar Presidents. She has served as a member of the American Inn of Court education committee. She is also a member of the American Judges Association, the National Association of Women Judges, the American Judicature Society, the National Center for State Courts and the Supreme Court Historical Society. She has received awards for outstanding achievement or service from the Kansas Bar Association, the Kansas Women Attorneys Association, and other bar groups.^[1]

She has also been active in numerous community groups, and has received the outstanding volunteer award from her children's elementary school and the Topeka YWCA's Woman of Excellence award. She served on the Board of Governor's of the Washburn University School of Law Alumni Association for several years.^[1]