TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on Wednesday named an attorney who said he's similar in temperament to former Chief Justice Lawton Nuss to replace Nuss as a Kansas Supreme Court justice.

K.J. Wall, of Lawrence, also formerly worked for the state's highest court overseeing special projects and research for justices in death penalty cases. He was most recently a partner in law firm that represents rural Kansas hospitals and previously worked as an attorney for a Minnesota-based insurance company.

Kelly cited what she described as his wide-ranging background in picking Wall over a...