Court News & Notes

4th Annual Frank W. Koger Bankruptcy Symposium
	Friday, May 13, 2011 8:30 a.m. ― 12:00 noon, followed by BBQ luncheon Location                                                                              Charles Evans Whittaker Courthouse, Kansas City, Mo. CLE Three hours, Missouri and  Kansas pending (one hour, ethics)

About the Speakers

		U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Eugene R. Wedoff has served in the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago for 17 years, and he also served as chief bankruptcy judge from 2002 through 2007.  Judge Wedoff’s recent publications include “Means Testing in the New § 707(b),” 79 Am. Bankr. L.J. 231 (2005), and he is the author of the chapter on professional employment in Queenan, Hendel and Hillinger’s “Chapter 11 Theory and Practice” (LRP Publications, 1994).  Judge Wedoff is a frequent lecturer, having presented papers on a variety of consumer and business issues. In 1995, Judge Wedoff received the Excellence in Education Award from the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges.  Judge Wedoff drafted the model Chapter 13 plan currently used in the Northern District of Illinois.
The Hon. Eugene R. Wedoff

Laurie L. Levenson is a professor of law, William M. Rains fellow and the David W. Burcham chair in Ethical Advocacy at Loyola Law School. She has written books on California criminal law and is a frequent television commentator on criminal legal issues, first coming to fame as a frequent commentator for CBS in the O.J. Simpson trial.  She has written about the ethics of being a television commentator.  While in law school, Levenson was chief articles editor of the UCLA Law Review.  After graduation, she served as law clerk to the Hon. James Hunter III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. In 1981, she was appointed assistant U.S. Attorney, Criminal Section, in Los Angeles, where she was a trial and appellate lawyer for eight years, and attained the position of senior trial attorney and assistant division chief. Levenson was a member of the adjunct faculty of Southwestern University Law School from 1982-89. She joined the Loyola faculty in 1989 and served as Loyola's associate dean for academic affairs from 1996-99.
		Professor Laurie L. Levenson

Notice of online registration will be sent to active bar members in April.

11th Annual D. Brook Bartlett Lectures
		Friday, June 24, 2011 8:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon, followed by BBQ luncheon Location                                                           1228 Main Kansas City, MO CLE Three hours, Missouri and Kansas pending (one hour, ethics)
			Dean Erwin Chemerinsky (left) and Judge Kenneth Starr (right)

We have changed both the location and format of this year’s event to highlight our keynote speakers―Judge Kenneth Starr, current president of Baylor University, and Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, founding dean of the University of California-Irvine School of Law.

U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey said: “When I saw Erwin Chemerinsky and Ken Starr discuss current Supreme Court cases at the Byrne Clerkship Institute, Pepperdine University, I knew I wanted to bring the discussion to the Western District of Missouri.  While Dean Chemerinsky and Judge Starr sometimes had a different perspective on the law, they were always professional and congenial.  We can all learn from them how to defend our principles while remaining collegial members of the bar.” 

This lively debate will be followed by an ethics presentation by Burnele Powell, dean and professor of law at the University of South Carolina School of Law.  Please mark your calendars for the morning of June 24, as there will not be an afternoon session.  By gathering at the Midland Theater for this special event, we should be able to accommodate all those who wish to attend.

Notice of online registration will be sent to active bar members in May.

The Truman Library has asked the court to pass along details on its upcoming event featuring one of our Supreme Court justices.  Event details are listed below.
Truman Library Benefit―Wild About Harry! The Marriott-Muehlebach Hotel, Kansas City, Mo. April 28, 2011, 6:15 p.m. The event will feature U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer and Christopher "Kit" Bond, recipient of the Harry S. Truman Legacy of Leadership Award. Individual tickets for Wild About Harry are now available.  For more information, please e-mail kim.rausch@nara.gov.You can also call Kim Rausch at 816-268-8237.