Johnson County Courthouse
Derica Schoenig and Jenifer Ashford join our meeting to discuss improvements to the Johnson County Courthouse.
Erica Schoenig has been a district court judge for the State of Kansas Tenth Judicial District in Johnson County, Kansas since 2013, assigned to the family court division. She hears divorce, parentage, protection order, and child abuse and neglect cases. Prior to becoming a judge, she worked as a criminal defense and family law attorney in private practice, and was an assistant district attorney here in Johnson County, Kansas. She has previously served on the Kansas Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Committee, including the privilege of serving as the Committee Chair. She is a past president of the Johnson County Family Law American Inn of Court. Judge Schoenig grew up on a farm in Southwest Kansas, where her parents continue to reside and farm. In 1998, she graduated from Wichita State University with dual degrees of music education and performance. She graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law with her juris doctorate in 2001.
Jenifer Ashford is a District Magistrate Judge for the 10th Judicial District in Johnson County, Kansas. Judge Ashford presides over juvenile offender cases (criminal cases involving youth between the ages of 10-17) and child in need of care cases involving truancy. Prior to taking the bench in 2017, Judge Ashford worked as a prosecuting attorney at the district, circuit, and city attorney levels in both Kansas and Missouri. Judge Ashford currently serves as the President of the Kansas District Magistrate Judge’s Association, the Vice President of the Johnson County Bar Association, Secretary of the Earl O’Connor Inns of Court, and is a member of the Drug and Alcoholism Council of Johnson County. Judge Ashford has been married to Bart for 19 years and they have two children, Max and Otto. Judge Ashford is active in Boy Scouts, and her church, Rolling Hills Presbyterian, where she serves on the Hospitality Committee, participates in the mobile food pantry in conjunction with Harvesters, and spent a week in Sitpach, Mexico, working with the community building a new school. Judge Ashford works towards positive change in our judicial system and our children’s lives by engaging with the Disproportionate Minority Contact committee, the Constitutional Law/Civics education committee, the Supreme Court Task Force on Permanency Planning, and Mental Health Summits. Judge Ashford is a graduate of Kansas State University with a Bachelor of Science degree (1994) and the University of Kansas with a Juris Doctorate degree (1997).