The McFarland Award is WAAT’s most prestigious honor and is given to a female attorney, judge, or justice of the local Topeka bar who meets the following criteria:
(1) Achieved professional excellence in her field;
(2) Influenced other women to pursue legal careers; or
(3) Opened doors for women lawyers in a variety of job settings that were historically were closed to them; or
(4) Advanced opportunities for women within a practice area or segment of the profession.
2024 Recipient: Melissa Wangemann
Melissa Wangemann currently serves as Assistant General Counsel to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka. She previously served as General Counsel to the Office of the State Bank Commissioner. Before that, she served as General Counsel and Director of Legislative Affairs for the Kansas Association of Counties 2008-2018. Prior to joining KAC, she served as Legal Counsel to Kansas Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh for twelve years. Before joining the Secretary of State’s Office, she worked in the private practice of law in Wichita and Topeka.
While Melissa’s resume speaks volumes, she is much more than the sum of these achievements. She has established a reputation of willingly speaking to women attorneys about improving their careers on topics such as how to best serve as general counsel. Melissa has put on programs at KWAA’s annual women’s conference to share her guidance with other women attorneys. And very recently she was a panelist for a WAAT program on the Hows and Whys for Serving Successfully on a Board. Her involvement in these activities has regularly opened doors for women lawyers.
Several of Melissa’s nominating letters highlighted her perseverance through the pandemic as WAAT’s social chair. During the pandemic, we all experienced some sort of disconnection—but with her enthusiasm and social activities, Melissa allowed for the members of WAAT to come together as a community.
Past Recipients
2023: Judge Mary E. Christopher
2022: Judge Nancy Parrish
2021: Judge Cheryl Rios
2020: Barbara Rankin
2019: Natalie Haag
2018: Angel Zimmerman
2017: Anne McDonald
2016: Professor Linda Elrod
2015: Judge Rebecca A. Sanders
2014: Marty M. Snyder
2013: Judge Karen Arnold-Burger
2012: Martha Hodgesmith
2011: Carol Ruth Bonebrake
2010: Carol Foreman
2009: Judge Evelyn Z. Wilson
2008: Judge Christel E. Marquardt
2007: Justice Marla Luckert
2006: Chief Justice Kay McFarland
(2019 Recipient Natalie Haag pictured here with 2009 Recipient Justice Evelyn Wilson)
(2018 Recipient Angel Zimmerman pictured here with 2007 recipient Justice Marla Luckert and 2017-18 WAAT President Whitney Casement)
Remembering Chief Justice Kay McFarland
On August 18, 2015, former Chief Justice Kay McFarland passed away at the age of 80. A charter member of this organization, Justice McFarland blazed the trail that many female attorneys now walk. She was the first woman elected to serve as a judge in Shawnee County, the first woman in Kansas to serve as a district judge, and the first female chief justice on the Kansas Supreme Court. Justice McFarland represented all the tenets of this organization and inspired many women to follow in her very prestigious footsteps. The McFarland Award is named for Justice McFarland and celebrates all the qualities she embodied. As women in the legal profession, we owe her a debt of gratitude that cannot be repaid.