Crofton resident John P. McKenna was appointed last week to the District Court bench in Anne Arundel County by Gov. Parris N. Glendening.

McKenna, 49, said he will close his private law practice in Greenbelt within a month to fill one of two vacancies created by the appointments of Judges David S. Bruce and Paul A. Hackner to the Circuit Court this spring.

McKenna grew up in Crofton and attended Arundel High School before graduating from Georgetown University and the University of Maryland School of Law. He was an assistant state's attorney in Prince George's County for seven years, then a county attorney there for three years before going into private practice.