WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — President Barack Obama has nominated a Lawrence attorney to serve on the federal bench in Kansas.

The president announced Thursday that his choice of Terrence J. Campbell for the U.S. District Court. He would succeed U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil, who in 2014 took senior status, a form of semi-retirement.

He must still be confirmed by the Senate.

Campbell practices civil and criminal litigation at the law firm of Barber Emerson, L.C., a Lawrence firm he joined in 1999. His resume includes stints as a traffic judge pro tem for the District Court of Douglas County and as an adjunct professor teaching contracts at the University of Kansas School of Law. He began his legal career as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge John Lungstrum from 1997 to 1999.