A judge from Salina is among three Kansas Court of Appeals judges who received awards from the Kansas Bar Association at its recent annual meeting.

According to the Kansas Judicial Branch, Judge Karen Arnold-Burger, Judge Amy Fellows Cline, and Judge Angela Coble were all honored. Judge Coble is from Salina.

Christel Marquardt Trailblazer Award

Judge Karen Arnold-Burger received the Christel Marquardt Trailblazer Award, which recognizes exceptional association members who break new ground, shatter glass ceilings, or pave new paths for others to follow. The award is given to a member who has made innovative contributions to improve the legal profession or communities, exhibiting courage, leadership, professional excellence, and service to the profession in a manner that makes a substantial and positive impact on those who follow in their footsteps. Marquardt served on the court from 1995 to 2013 and was the first woman president of the bar association. “Judge Marquardt was so welcoming to me when I joined the court,” Arnold-Burger said. “She was also very direct, which I greatly appreciated. She would be so proud of the number of women judges in our state now.” Arnold-Burger joined the court in 2011 and served as chief judge from 2017 to 2025. She previously was assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas, presiding municipal judge for the city of Overland Park, and past president of the Kansas Municipal Judges Association. “Karen led our court through two of the greatest challenges it has faced and ensured we continued to function,” said Chief Judge Sarah Warner, who nominated Arnold-Burger. “She helped us pivot from an in-person court to a fully remote one during the pandemic, then followed that with guiding us through a cyberattack that overnight moved us back to a paper-based system while we recovered.” Warner was joined in the nomination by the Kansas Women Attorneys Association, the Wichita Women Attorneys Association, the Women Attorneys Association of Topeka, and the Johnson County Bar Association. Arnold-Burger is a past recipient of the bar association’s Outstanding Service Award in 2021 and Distinguished Service Award in 2016.

Outstanding Service Award

Judges Amy Fellows Cline and Angela Coble received the bar association’s Outstanding Service Award, which recognizes those in the legal profession for services that advance the administration of justice.

“Judges Cline and Coble go out of their way to welcome new research attorneys to the court,” said Candice Wilson, a former research attorney for the court, who nominated the pair. “They are both incredible mentors and willing liaisons to promote the appellate courts.”

Cline joined the court in 2021. She previously was an attorney in Wichita with Triplett Woolf Garretson and Fleeson Gooing Coulson & Kitch. She is a past recipient of the Kansas Bar Foundation’s Robert K. Weary Award in 2020 and the association’s Young Lawyer of the Year Award in 2006. “I enjoy exploring the legal issues and considering the wider implications of each decision with a different group of colleagues each month as well as the research attorneys in my chambers,” she said. “I also enjoy visiting communities around the state to better understand how the law and our decisions impact their day-to-day lives.”

Coble joined the court in 2022. She previously was chambers counsel to two federal magistrate judges in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas and an attorney with Kennedy Berkley Yarnevich & Williamson, Chtd., Salina. She serves on the association’s Access to Justice Committee. “I love being able to discuss legal issues with multiple legal professionals before coming to a group decision,” she said. “Being able to hash out a difficult issue first with a research attorney and then with the two other judges on the panel helps ensure our decision is coming from a place of intellectual honesty.”