Former Wichita attorney named chief judge of state’s appeals court

Thomas E. Malone, a former Wichita attorney, was named Tuesday as chief judge of the Kansas Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court made the appointment.

Malone succeeds Richard D. Greene, a former Wichitan who died from a heart condition Oct. 7. Malone has been on the appeals court since 2003 and has been acting chief judge since Greene became ill this summer.

Malone, 59, was an attorney for the Wichita firm Redmond and Nazar from 1979 to 1990 and also taught business law at his alma mater, Newman University. He was elected as a Sedgwick County District Court judge in 1990 and served for 12 years.