Yesterday Governor Laura Kelly appointed Phyllis K. Webster, an Assistant Butler County Attorney, to fill the term of retiring Magistrate Judge Ross McIlvain.
“Phyllis has extensive experience with a wide variety of legal issues,” Kelly said. “I know she will serve the citizens of Greenwood County and the 13th judicial district well.”
Webster has spent the last five years as an Assistant Butler County Attorney, where she prosecutes criminal and traffic cases. Webster has prior experience as an Assistant Butler County Attorney, in addition to over a decade of experience as a public defender to juveniles and guardian ad litem to abused and neglected children. She graduated from Pittsburg State University in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a major in English and a minor in Journalism. She earned her juris doctor from Washburn University School of Law in 1986. Since then she has practiced law within Butler County, one of the three counties, along with Greenwood and Elk, which comprise the Thirteenth Judicial District of Kansas.
Magistrate judges in Greenwood County are elected and serve four-year terms. When a judge retires in the middle of a term, the governor appoints a new judge to complete the term. The position to which Webster is being appointed will be on the ballot in 2020.