Keynen "K.J." Wall Jr.

Updated at 12:40 p.m. Monday

TOPEKA — The newest member of the Kansas Supreme Court has been sworn in.

Keynen “K.J.” Wall Jr., of Lawrence, took the oath at the Kansas Judicial Center Monday. Chief Justice Marla Luckert presided at the ceremony.

The ceremony was smaller than usual because of the room needed to allow social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic. Wall wore a mask as he was sworn in.

Gov. Laura Kelly appointed Wall in March to fill a vacancy created when former Chief Justice Lawton Nuss retired in December.

Wall had been in private practice with the Forbes Law Group of Overland Park since 2015. Before that he was special projects counsel to the Supreme Court, which involved managing the court’s capital appeals office.

His other experience includes stints as senior legal counsel for Federated Insurance in Owatonna, Minn., and as an associate attorney with a law firm in Greeley, Colo. He was a judicial law clerk from 2002 to 2004 for U.S. District Judge John Lungstrum.

Wall has a bachelor’s degree in communication from Kansas State University, a master’s degree in scientific and technical communication from the University of Minnesota and a law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law.