TRACY APPLEGATE COLE

Ms. Cole, a Kansas native, graduated from University of Kansas in 1980, with a B.S. in Accounting and Business Administration. Before returning to law school in 1986, she was comptroller for an ethanol company. In 1989, she obtained her J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law. She was admitted by the State of Kansas to practice law in 1989 and began her legal career with the firm of Hershberger, Patterson, Jones & Roth in Wichita, Kansas; in 1993, she became a partner in the firm. She came to Gilliland & Hayes, P.A. in 1998 and became a shareholder in 2003. 

She is a member of the Kansas, Reno County, and Wichita Bar Associations (Law Day Chair 1996) as well as the  Kansas Association of Defense Counsel (Board member 2004 –), and was a judicial candidate in Reno County in 2000.  She maintains an active, statewide litigation practice, and appears and has tried cases in both State and Federal Court and has argued cases before the Kansas Court of Appeals and Kansas Supreme Court. 

In addition to her work, Ms. Cole has been active in her community, including volunteering her time as a Girl Scout leader, a truancy volunteer, as Secretary and President of the Board of Roots & Wings, a board member of Girls Scouts, and as Secretary and President of the Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Reno County.