Melissa Taylor-Standridge spent six years working as a buyer for a department store chain before she decided to go to law school.

“I think I wanted to change the world,” said the Lawrence native, now living in Overland Park. “I had the desire and the motivation but I didn’t have the tools. I think when you go to law school and learn, you get those tools.”

Taylor-Standridge was in her 30s in 1993 when she earned her law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. This month Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius appointed Taylor-Standridge to the Kansas Court of Appeals.

“That’s a huge honor and I’m thrilled,” Taylor-Standridge said.

Taylor-Standridge becomes the 13th appellate judge, a position that was created by last year’s Kansas Legislature. She grew up in Lawrence, attending Hillcrest School and South Junior High School before her family moved to Johnson County. She graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School.

Taylor-Standridge earned an undergraduate degree in business administration from Kansas University. As an attorney she worked as chambers counsel for a U.S. District Court judge in the Western District of Missouri. From 1995 through 1999, she handled more than 100 state and federal cases while working at the Shook, Hardy & Bacon law firm.

Lisa Hardwick, a judge with the Missouri Court of Appeals’ Western District, worked with Taylor-Standridge at the firm, where the two became good friends. Taylor-Standridge understands the role of a judge and will be a tremendous asset to the judiciary, Hardwick said.

“Based on my experience with her over the years, I know that she has excellent judicial temperament and acumen for the job,” she said. “The acumen part of it comes from her strong analytical and writing skills.”

Taylor-Standridge joins the appellate court from her previous job as chambers counsel to Kansas U.S. District Court Magistrate David Waxse. In 2004 she earned the Sandra Day O’Connor Award for professional service and in 2001 the Outstanding Service Award from the Kansas Bar Association.

In 2004 Taylor-Standridge met O’Connor, the now-retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice, and had breakfast with her in her chambers.

“It was fabulous,” Taylor-Standridge said, recalling the experience. “She’s wonderful and smart.”

Outside of her profession, Taylor-Standridge has been involved with helping families with foster care and adoption opportunities. She has been a foster mother and is an adoptive mother to three children.

“That’s my passion,” she said.

Taylor-Standridge will have a robing ceremony sometime next month and will be working in the intermediate appellate court in Topeka’s Kansas Judicial Center.