“People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.” ― Ernest Hemingway
A Letter From Our President: Blake Shuart
Dear Friends –
If you are reading this newsletter, you have already displayed your support for our constitution, our profession and our federal courts by joining the Federal Bar Association – the largest organization of practitioners and court personnel supporting the interests of the federal legal system and the public.
The Federal Bar Association has over 80 chapters and over 18,000 members nationally, including lawyers, judges and law students. Our own chapter – the Federal Bar Association for the Districts of Kansas & Western Missouri – has many members across all three categories of individuals. We have many practicing attorneys across Kansas and the western portion of Missouri. We are the only FBA chapter in the country to comprise two different districts, and we have many judges as members across both districts – both Article III and Magistrate judges. We also have many involved law students across all of our law schools within our chapter’s boundaries: KU, MU, Washburn & UMKC.
Equally important as who we are is what we do for our profession, and for our federal courts. Here are some examples of what we do, right here in our home chapter:
EDUCATION – We put on several Continuing Legal Education events every year, either on our own or in conjunction with other local bar associations. On March 25, President-Elect Judge Gwynne Birzer and Judge Brooks Severson put on a one-hour lunchtime CLE at the Wichita U.S. District Courthouse, where local practitioners met to hear the Judges’ take on civil litigation issues and ask questions of their own. On May 9, our chapter will co-host an amazing, all-day live CLE event with the Kansas Bar Association at the Frank Carlson Federal Building in Topeka, covering Famous Criminal Trials in Kansas History. If you are reading this and would like more information about the event, please e-mail me at Blake.Shuart@huttonlaw.com. Other CLE events are in the works as well, including the 37th annual “Media and the Law” Seminar in KC, MO on May 8-9, which is an amazing event that members of our chapter help organize and promote every year. If you’d like more information on this seminar, visit https://law.ku.edu/seminar-media-law. In addition to CLE events, we help educate the public about our constitution and about our federal courts through a series of informative and entertaining videos our chapter has produced with the assistance of many judges, lawyers and public figures. These Civics Outreach Videos can be accessed at https://fedbarkanmo.org/civics-education-resources/. Please take a few minutes to hop on our website and check them out. Lastly, on the education front, we regularly publish the only known Civil Jury Verdict Reporter covering every single jury verdict entered in the Kansas & Western Missouri districts. This is a valuable informational tool that is completely free to members of our chapter. Again, please e-mail me if you’d like more information about this publication and how you can access it.
NETWORKING – Our Social Committee provides many social and networking opportunities every year across the various courthouses, including evening “Happy Hour” events and “Brown Bag” lunches with federal judges. We publicize these events via e-mail, through this newsletter, and on our website when they are scheduled.
CIVIC EVENTS – Our Law Day and Constitution Day events at various sites across Kansas and KC, MO are always well-attended by attorneys, judges, court staff, public officials, schoolchildren and members of the public. Please be on the lookout for more information on these events as well.
We would love for you to get more involved in our chapter. If you are reading this and it sounds interesting, or fun, or both – please e-mail me. We will invite you to a meeting (always via Zoom to help protect our busy schedules) and provide opportunities to be as involved as you’d like.
Our constitution and our courts are more important than ever. Our chapter is dedicated to supporting our courts, educating practitioners and the public, and providing meaningful opportunities for attorneys and law students to interface with fellow practitioners and court personnel. Thank you for your support of the Federal Bar Association – we hope to see you soon at one of our events!
Sincerely,
Blake Shuart
2024-2025 FBA Chapter President
2025 Law Day Presentations
Our FBA Chapter is proud of our commitment to sharing resources and learning opportunities on civic education with students in our communities. We participate in Law Day celebrations (See ABA Law Day information here: LINK) each year the first week of May.
What we need from you:
Volunteer Presenters! Please sign up to speak during this week. We need volunteers to go into schools and speak to the students (classroom assignments may be elementary through high school). We will provide you with a presentation and training on that presentation. All we need is your time! If you are interested please email Danielle Atchison at datchison@uslegalimmigration.com!
School Contacts! We need contacts to more schools/teachers who may want an attorney/judge to present to their students. If you have any, please have them directly email Civic Education and Outreach committee chair, Danielle Atchison at datchison@uslegalimmigration.com
On March 25th we held a catered lunch CLE with Judge Birzer & Judge Severson. There were about 17 participants with a lot of participation and questions. The hour went by very quickly.
“Judge Birzer and Judge Severson share something in common – they built reputations as cooperative and fair litigators prior to serving on the bench. During the March 25th CLE event at the Wichita federal courthouse, Judges Birzer and Severson led a roundtable discussion with the attendees on practical points during the discovery phase leading up to the pretrial conference. It was a refreshing conversation where the judges answered questions and lent their perspective on the common goal amongst the court and all counsel – keeping cases moving forward without jeopardizing the parties’ claims and defenses. I can comfortably say that all of the attendees were grateful to hear not just the tips that were shared, but also to be reassured of the Court’s viewpoint.”
– Stephen H. Netherton, Hite, Fanning & Honeyman L.L.P.
Join us on Zoom the first Thursday of each month at 4:00pm for monthly chapter meetings – open to all members! For more information please email Fedbarkanmo@gmail.com or visit https://fedbar.org/ to join!
Event Spotlight: Speaker Panel: KU Federal Bar Association
Russ Johnson, Whitney Casement, Anne Emert, Ben Stueve, Robert Calbi
On April 1st, the KU FBA Student Chapter hosted a panel discussion with seasoned federal litigators including our own Robert Calbi. There was wide range of experience and diversity of expertise represented. The Panelists offered insight, advice, and lessons learned to the FBA student members through discussion and a Q&A session.
