The Hon. James Charles Droege is a judge for the 10th Judicial District Court of Kansas in Johnson County. He was appointed to the bench by former Governor Kathleen Sebelius on August 7, 2007.
During his judicial tenure, Droege was named Chief Judge of the 10th Judicial District in January 2022.
Prior to his appointment, he managed his own private practice, the Law Office of J. Charles Droege, in Overland Park since 1991. In addition, he served as a city prosecutor (1996 to 2001) and a municipal court judge (2001 to 2007) for the City of DeSoto and was also a municipal court judge for the City of Edgerton (2001 to 2007) and an administrative hearing officer with the Kansas Department of Revenue (2003 to 2007).
Before establishing his law firm, Droege was in private practice at Linde Thomson Langworthy Kohn & Van Dyke, PC (1988 to 1991) and Morris & Larson, PC (1985 to 1988). He entered private practice after working as an assistant district attorney with the Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office for one year (1984 to 1985).
Droege received a B.B.A. (1978) and an M.S. in business administration (1981) from Wichita State University. He then completed a J.D. at Washburn University School of Law in 1983.
His memberships include the Johnson County Bar Association, the Johnson County Bar Foundation, the Earl E. O’Connor Kansas Inns of Court, the Kansas Bar Association, and the Kansas Bar Foundation.
Droege was born in St. Louis, Missouri.