Nineteen seek slot on Western District

Nineteen people are applying for an opening on the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District, the Appellate Judicial Commission said.

The commission plans to publicly interview the applicants starting at 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 25 at the appeals court building in Kansas City. The three finalists are expected to be named later that day. Under the Nonpartisan Court Plan, the governor will have 60 days to appoint one of the three.

The vacancy on the Kansas City-based court was created by the retirement this month of Judge James Smart Jr. Smart, 67, who had been on the court for 21 years.

The applicants are:

• Daren L. Adkins, an associate circuit judge in Daviess County;

• Kenneth J. Cain, an administrative law judge in Kansas City;

• Foster C. Collins, of Davis, Sands & Collins in Kansas City;

• Deborah Daniels, an associate circuit judge in Boone County;

• Lynn M. Ewing III, the Vernon County prosecutor and a member of the Missouri Southern State University Board of Governors;

• Brian J. Fowler, of Evans & Dixon in Kansas City;

• Anthony Rex Gabbert, a circuit judge in Clay County;

• Ted R. Hunt, chief trial attorney in the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office;

• James R. Layton, solicitor general of the Missouri Attorney General’s Office;

• James R. McAdams, the deputy director and general counsel for the Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions, and Professional Registration;

• Daniel N. McPherson, an appellate attorney for the Missouri Attorney General’s Office;

• John J. Miller, of Swanson Midgley in Kansas City;

• Jeff Mittelhauser, the Pettis County prosecutor;

• Jeremiah J. Morgan, an appellate attorney for the Missouri Attorney General’s Office;

• Paul K. Parkinson, an attorney and former associate circuit judge in Macon County;

• Bryan D. Scheiderer, an attorney in Chariton County;

• Harold A. “Skip” Walther, an attorney with Walther, Antel, Stamper & Fischer in Columbia and a former president of The Missouri Bar;

• Curtis E. Woods, a partner with SNR Denton in Kansas City; and

• Sophie A. Woodworth, of counsel to Holman Schiavone in Kansas City.

According to the commission, two of the 19 applicants are women, and one is a minority. Eleven are from outside the Kansas City metropolitan area. Eleven applicants work in the public sector, including three state trial court judges. Seven work in the private sector, including five in solo or small-firm practices. One works in both the public and private sectors. The applicants’ mean age is 54.