Alumni News


Recent Alumni Notes

Items were received or collected between July 8 and Oct. 6, 2009. Alumni news items may be submitted by e-mail to patti@ku.edu or by clicking here and filling out the form. We rely on our alumni for the accuracy of information submitted.

1960s

Donald A. Johnston, L’66, is a recipient of the University of Kansas Alumni Association 2009 Fred Ellsworth Medallion. He was honored at a private dinner held in Lawrence in September. Johnston is executive vice president of Intrust Bank’s Northeast Kansas region.

Judge J. C. Irvin, L’67, Shenandoah, Iowa, retired from his full-time duties in the Fourth Judicial District Court in September 2009. Judge Irvin will still preside over the court as a senior judge, and will continue to hear court cases periodically over the next couple of years. He was appointed to the court in 1980 and began hearing cases in 1981. Judge Irvin said he is looking forward to having more free time to pursue his interests in photography and traveling.

1970s

Paul T. Moxley, L’73, has been selected as the Distinguished Lawyer of the Year for 2009 by the Utah State Bar. Moxley has also been appointed to the American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. He will serve a three-year term focusing on complex civil litigation and white-collar crime. Moxley practices with the law firm of Parsons Kinghorn Harris in Salt Lake City.

Deana S. Peck, L’75, was one of 152 attorneys from the national law firm of Quarles & Brady selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2010. Peck is in the firm’s Phoenix office and practices in the areas of antitrust law and commercial litigation.

Mary Kathleen Babcock, L’76, is with the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas. She was ordained a transitional deacon in the Episcopal Church in June 2009, and is to be ordained to the priesthood in 2010.

1980s

Wendell W. Wurst, L’80, of Garden City, Kan., has been appointed as a district judge of Kansas’ 25th Judicial District by Gov. Mark Parkinson. Wurst began his career as an attorney at the Calihan Law Firm in Garden City, where he has remained a top attorney for nearly three decades. Wurst practiced in the areas of insurance defense, personal injury, workers’ compensation, criminal law and domestic litigation. He and his wife, Rhonda, have three grown children and are the proud grandparents of a 1-year-old grandson.

Anne E. Burke, L’81, of Manson & Karbank, Overland Park, was elected chair of the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission in a statewide election. The commission is charged with the responsibility of evaluating applicants for vacancies on the Kansas Court of Appeals and the Kansas Supreme Court. Burke is the seventh chairperson of the Supreme Court Nominating Commission and its first female chair. The chair is selected by a statewide vote of all lawyers practicing in Kansas.

Mark B. Knowles, L’81, has joined the Dallas law firm of Shackelford, Melton & McKinley LLP, where he is of counsel and will work in the firm’s banking, corporate and public finance, bankruptcy, energy, and real estate groups. In addition to his legal practice, Knowles currently serves on the Legal Opinions Committee for the State Bar of Texas Business Law Section.

Brig. Gen. Clyde J. “Butch” Tate, L’82, was recently selected for promotion to the rank of Maj. Gen. in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps and appointment as the Deputy Judge Advocate, U.S. Army. Butch and his wife, Lynn, reside at Fort Belvoir, Va.

Timothy M. O’Brien, L’83, was sworn in as president of the Kansas Bar Association in June 2009 at the KBA Board of Governors meeting held during the association’s annual meeting in Overland Park. O’Brien is the clerk for the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. Prior to joining the court in 2008, he was a partner at the law firm of Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP at its offices in Overland Park and Kansas City, Mo.

Janet Murguia, L’85, received the Kansas and Western Missouri ACLU’s Kurtenbach Racial Justice Award at their Liberty Awards Dinner in October 2009. Murguia is president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza in Washington, D.C.

Scott J. Bloch, L’86, is a partner with Tarone & McLaughlin LLP in Washington, D.C., and a principal with SmithBloch PLCC in Kansas City, practicing in complex litigation, class actions, employment and government contracts law.

Robert P. Harris, L’87, was one of 152 attorneys from the national law firm of Quarles & Brady selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2010. Harris is in the firm’s Phoenix office and practices in the areas of bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights law.

1990s

Larry Swall, L’90, was recently honored by the Missouri Bar Association as the recipient of two prestigious awards: the 2009 Roger Krumm Family Law Practitioner of the Year Award and the Missouri Bar President’s Award for excellence in the practice of law. Swall was the first and only executive director of the MARCH Mediation Program in Missouri. He was involved in starting and building the Missouri Bar Family Law Conference and was a founding member and past president of the Missouri Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. He is currently chair of the Missouri Bar Family Law Section. 

Kurt Level, L’92, has returned to Wichita and Koch, where he is associate general counsel for labor and employment, Koch Companies Public Sector LLC. Level moved to Las Vegas in November 2008. He reports that he is happy to be back in Kansas, where it is far more convenient to watch the KU football and basketball games than it was in Las Vegas. Kurt, his wife, Elaine, and their two children live in Andover.

R. Patrick Riordan, L’92, is practicing with the newly formed law firm of Riordan, Fincher & Munson PA in Topeka. He is specializing in commercial litigation, business and banking, and contracts.

Harry H. Herington Jr., L’93, has embarked on a mission to raise awareness of the dangers that law enforcement officers face and the sacrifices made by the families of fallen officers. Herington was a law enforcement officer in Midland, Texas, and Wichita prior to attending law school. He is currently CEO of Olathe-based NIC Inc., which manages Web sites and online services for more than 3,000 government agencies in 23 states. A combination of his work-related visits to state capitals, his respect for law enforcement officers and his purchase of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle led Herington to come up with the idea for a nationwide ride: Ride4Cops. He plans to ride his motorcycle to each state capital over the next three years. He began his ride in July 2009 in Texas and has since visited five capitals, including Topeka. You can follow the progress of Herington’s nationwide ride at http://www.ride4cops.com.

Brandee L. Caswell, L’98, a partner in the Faegre & Benson LLP Denver office, has been honored as a prestigious “Forty Under 40” recipient by the Denver Business Journal. The award highlights business leaders under the age of 40 whose professional and community contributions are shaping the future of the Denver area. Caswell was recognized for her business leadership, accomplishments and community involvement.

Blake H. Reeves, L’98, has been selected as an “Up and Coming Lawyer” for 2009 by the Missouri Lawyers Weekly. Reeves is a senior associate at Polsinelli Shughart, where he is in the Kansas City firm’s health care litigation practice.

2000s

Darron C. Farha, L’01, Valparaiso, Ind., joined Valparaiso University’s senior leadership team as vice president and its first university general counsel in the fall of 2009. Farha has extensive experience addressing legal issues in a higher education setting. He was general counsel for Pittsburg State University in Kansas for six years prior to joining Valparaiso. As chief legal counsel, Farha will work closely with the president, board of directors and university administrators on law-related and policymaking issues affecting the institution. He will also have supervisory responsibilities over compliance, risk management and internal auditing functions within the university.  

Christopher P. Sobba, L’01, has been selected as an “Up and Coming Lawyer” for 2009 by the Missouri Lawyers Weekly. Sobba is a partner at Polsinelli Shughart, where he is in the Kansas City firm’s construction litigation practice.

Andrew Steinberg, L’01, is the new vice president-revenue for the Kansas City Wizards. Steinberg will oversee all aspects of revenue generation and brand development for the Wizards. The previous seven years, he was with the University of Kansas Athletics Department, most recently as the associate athletics director for marketing and revenue development. He is a member of the State Bar of Kansas and the United States Federal District Court for Kansas.

Jennifer Knapp Riggs, L’02, and Peter Riggs, L’04, welcomed their second daughter, Riley Elizabeth, in December 2008. Jennifer is practicing with Shook, Hardy & Bacon. Peter left private practice to work for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Kansas City, Mo.

John E. Rapp, L’03, graduated from the National College for DUI Defense at Harvard in July 2009. John is practicing with Hulnick, Stang & Rapp in Wichita.

Aidan Loveland Koster, JD MPA ’06, and her husband, Dr. Chris Koster, welcomed their second child, Claire Edwyna Koster, in April 2009. Claire joins an older sister, Emma, 5. The Kosters have recently relocated from Kansas City, Kan., to Great Bend, where Aidan is the executive director of Central Kansas CASA (20th Judicial District), and Chris is a pediatrician with the Great Bend Children’s Clinic.

Sean O’Hara, L’06, and Amy O’Hara are proud to announce the birth of a baby girl, Ellen Ann, in August 2009, in Scottsdale, Ariz. Sean is an associate with the law firm of Snell & Wilmer LLP.

Michael Payne, L’07, and wife, Brooke, are pleased to announce the birth of their first child, a daughter, Beatrix June, in May 2009. Peter is practicing with Otis, Coan & Peters LLC in Greeley, Colo.

Liz Rogers, L’07, is practicing with the law firm of Manson & Karbank in Overland Park.

Luke P. Sinclair, L’08, is practicing with the newly formed law firm of Riordan, Fincher & Munson PA in Topeka. His practice areas include general civil, contracts and commercial law.

Daniel Yoza, L’08, and Natalie Stoker, L’07, will be married in August 2009. Daniel is an assistant revisor with the office of the Kansas Revisor of Statutes. Natalie is a clerk for Kansas Supreme Court Justice Dan Biles. Daniel reports that he and Natalie first met at an SBA-sponsored Halloween party.

Trinia Arellano, L’09, has been selected to serve as the first fellow to KU Law’s Family Health Care Legal Services Clinic. The post-graduate fellowship program was established with a three-year grant from the Sunflower Foundation of Topeka to enable the law school to participate in efforts to expand and enhance the medical-legal partnership model in Kansas. Arellano was an Army Nurse Corps Officer, gaining clinical and managerial nursing experience. Prior to law school, she worked as a legal nurse consultant with Fulbright & Jaworski in its San Antonio office. In law school, she worked as an extern at the KU Medical School in the Office of the Assistant Vice Chancellor of Compliance, and was one of the first students enrolled in the medical-legal clinic. Last spring, Arellano and Professor Elizabeth Weeks Leonard gave a presentation on KU Law’s medical-legal clinic at a conference on medical-legal partnerships.

Beau Jackson, L’09, is practicing with the law firm of Adduci, Mastriani & Schaumberg LLP in Washington, D.C.

Charles Daniel Miller, L’09, is practicing with The Law Offices of Smith/Coonrod LLC in Overland Park.

In Memoriam

Richard L. Ankerholz, L’54, Lyons, Kan., July 9, 2009
William A. Bonwell Jr., L’52, Wichita, Kan., September 1, 2009
Gerald E. Hertach, L’71, Kansas City, Mo., July 20, 2009
Deanna L. “Dea” Lieber, L’98, Lawrence, Kan., July 17, 2009
Robert H. Miller, L’43, Topeka, Kan., September 9, 2009
David W. Norburg, L’91, Leawood, Kan., August 6, 2009
Jack C. Stewart, L’52, Wichita, Kan., July 12, 2009
Redford J. Wedel, L’55, Springfield, Va., July 28, 2009