After forming educational policy as a member of the Lawrence school board and teaching courses at Kansas University’s Law School, Tom Murray once again is putting his legal mind to work through education: this time on the test that attorneys must pass to practice in Kansas.

Murray, a resident of rural Lawrence and attorney for Lathrop & Gage in Overland Park, is the new chairman of the Kansas Board of Law Examiners – the 10-member board that administers the Kansas Bar Exam, writes its essay questions and scores applicants’ written responses.

“It’s a great honor,” Murray said. “It’s something that means a great deal to me because it’s important that we make sure that everyone who graduates from an accredited law school also is able to pass a bar exam before representing members of the public.”

Murray has served on the board for 11 years, including the past year as vice chairman. The Kansas Supreme Court appointed him chairman, succeeding Gerald L. Goodell, a Topeka attorney who had served as chairman for the past 12 years.

The last Lawrence resident to serve as board chairman was Raymond Rice, who handled the volunteer job more than 40 years ago and whose legacy endures through a foundation that provides academic scholarships for prospective KU law students.

Rice also left his home near campus to the university, and visiting law professors often live there.

Murray’s dedication, integrity, experience and commitment to public service made him an excellent choice for the chairman’s job, said Tom Stewart, Lathrop & Gage’s chief executive officer and managing partner.

The board’s influence reaches beyond the exam itself, which last year was taken by 410 people. The board also conducts character and fitness hearings to determine who can take the exam, and makes recommendations to the Kansas Supreme Court regarding admission to the Kansas Bar.

The board’s chairman needs to be a “distinguished, fair, broad-minded lawyer” with a willingness to serve, Stewart said, and Murray fits that description and more.

“You have to have a very deep and abiding love of the law to understand what’s going to make a good lawyer and what’s not going to make a good lawyer, and then to test for that, to protect the community, in other words, that the best and the brightest ultimately become lawyers,” Stewart said. “It’s that combination of special attributes that Tom has that made him an obvious candidate.”

Murray, a Kansas University graduate, earned his law degree in 1972 from the University of Michigan. He joined Lathrop & Gage in January 2004.