Iola attorney Chuck Apt has been tapped as the next magistrate court judge for the 31st Judicial District, and in so doing, will bring an end to a legal legacy that has extended 138 years.
Apt, whose ascension to the bench was made official Friday, will replace Judge Tod Davis, who was appointed earlier this year as a district judge.
He was selected by an eight-person nominating committee following a lengthy interview process earlier this month.
“Becoming a judge wasn’t necessarily my goal, but it’s certainly an honor,” Apt said Monday. “When the opportunity came about, particularly located in Allen County, I thought it would be a good fit. Luckily, I was selected.”
That said, there are bittersweet emotions.
Becoming a judge means closing Apt Law Offices LLC, which was formed by Apt’s great-grandfather in Pratt in 1885.
The office moved to Iola in 1903, where his grandfather, father and uncle eventually joined the practice.
Apt has been a part of the office for the past 43 years.
“One of the things that’s difficult, that makes it sad, is I’ve got some clients today whose grandparents were clients of my grandfather,” Apt said. “We’ve got relationships that go back 70-80 years.”
Apt was unaware — as were a couple of folks he asked from the Kansas Bar Association — if other firms in the state, with family members remaining as principle partners, have practiced for as long as the Apts.
Apt will not be sworn in until this summer — he’s targeted June 1 — to give him time to contact his clients to inform them of the closure.
“We want to get them situated so they’re not left dangling,” he said.
Apt and wife Mary have three children, none of whom followed their father’s steps.
His family’s exposure to law extended another generation before that. Apt’s great-great-grandfather practiced law in Ohio in the mid 1880s.
“It appears the fifth generation will be the last,” he chuckled.
