“Becoming a Weigand Scholar opens the doors to serving the Kansas legal community. Beyond the confines of law school, I can now connect with lawyers across the state, each one acting as a paragon of their profession. It excites me to realize that I will have the chance to practice embodying the values of the Trust alongside them someday.”
John Ralston
Washburn University
Weigand Scholar: 2021, 2022
Hometown:
Wichita, KS
Education:
Friends University
- Graduate Summa Cun Laude
- President’s List all semesters
- SGA Representative, Sigma Delta Pi, Spanish Honor Society
- Member, Alpha Chi National Honor Society
Washburn University School of Law
- Graduate Summa Cum Laude
- Notes Editor, Junior Staff Writer, Washburn Law Journal
- Top Paper: Trademark Law, Water Law, Criminal Law, LARWI, Property, Torts, Professional Responsibility and Leadership for Lawyers, Natural Resources Law and Policy
- Delmas Hill Scholarship
- Judge J. Richard Roth Writing Award
- Romano-Drill Scholarship Award
Employment
US District Court, District of Kansas
Born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, John Ralston has grown up immersed in the rich community that makes Kansas special. After graduating from home school, he attended Friends University in Wichita. During college, he was blessed with the opportunity to travel extensively, serving abroad in Peru, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and Cuba. Although he was better known on campus as a student leader in the music department, he graduated with a degree in Spanish in 2019. Thereafter, he proceeded directly to Washburn University’s School of Law, drawn by its promise of teaching students how to best practice law in Kansas. At Washburn, John serves as Treasurer for the Christian Legal Society. In 2020, he enjoyed taking a law class while splitting his summer between Martin Pringle’s Wichita office (part-time) and a federal judicial internship with Judge Eric Melgren. Beyond academia, John enjoys all manner of creative activities, including writing, playing both jazz and classical piano, and either participating in or simply enjoying the theatre.
For summer 2021, John has secured a summer associate position with Triplett Woolf and Garretson in Wichita. He will be the first Wichita participant of Washburn’s new “Third Year Anywhere” program as he completes his third year while earning valuable on-the-job experience at TWG.
After graduating top of his class from Washburn, John Ralston began a two year clerkship for the Honorable Eric Melgren. He is immensely grateful for this opportunity, as clerking for a federal judge was his primary goal upon entering law school. He is stepping into the shoes of fellow Wiegand Scholar Audrey Koehler, who just finished her clerkship.
“I wouldn’t be where I am today without the blessing of my family and community in Wichita. And frankly, I can’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else! That is why I am so grateful for the chance to serve my beloved community all the better through my legal education. Although it’s overused and cliche, like Dorothy, I have learned that there is truly ‘no place like home.”