Journal Board of Editors Ofournal the Kansas Bar Association Your Partner in the Profession •
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THE OctOber 2010 • VOlume 79 • NO. 9 The Journal Board of Editors ofOURNAL the KANSAS BAR ASSOCIATION Your Partner in the Profession • www.ksbar.org Catherine A. Walter, Chair Topeka Terri Savely Bezek Topeka J Hon. David E. Bruns Topeka Boyd A. Byers Wichita Focus Toby J. Crouse Overland Park Professor J. Lyn Entrikin Goering Topeka Introducing the Connie S. Hamilton Topeka 24 Evan H. Ice Lawrence Katharine J. Jackson Manhattan Kansas False Michael T. Jilka Overland Park Lisa R. Jones Wichita Claims Act: A Hon. Janice Miller Karlin Topeka Casey R. Law McPherson Primer Julene L. Miller Topeka By Daniel E. Lawrence and Hon. Robert E. Nugent Wichita Stephen E. Robison Hon. Lawton R. Nuss Topeka Nancy A. Ogle Wichita Professor John C. Peck Lake Quivira Richard D. Ralls Kansas City, Mo. Teresa M. Schreffler Lawrence Richard H. Seaton Sr. Manhattan Sarah B. Shattuck Ashland Items of Interest Richard D. Smith Topeka Regular Features Marty M. Snyder Topeka 8 The State of Kansas Courts 06 President’s Message Matthew A. Spurgin Topeka By Chief Justice Lawton R. Nuss Issaku Yamaashi Overland Park 07 Young Lawyers Section News Rachael K. Pirner, BOG liaison Wichita 10 In Memoriam 12 The Diversity Corner Chief Justice Robert E. Davis Catherine A. Walter, Chairperson 13 Law Practice Management [email protected] 11 Access to Justice: "Inadequate to Tips & Tricks Susan McKaskle, Communications Director Meet the Needs" [email protected] 14 The Legacy Project: 2011 15 Law Students’ Corner The Journal of the Kansas Bar Association Members in the News is published monthly with combined 16 Thinking Ethics: 18 issues for July/August and November/ Can We Be (Facebook) Friends? Appellate Decisions December for a total of 10 issues a year. 37 Periodical Postage Rates paid at Topeka, 19 Your Carefully Crafted HOA 42 Appellate Practice Reminder Kan., and at additional mailing offices. Documents, Now Rewritten by The Journal of the Kansas Bar Association Classifieds (ISSN 0022-8486) is published by the the Kansas Legislature 48 Kansas Bar Association, 1200 SW Harri- 22 Casemaker: Helpful Changes in CLE Docket son St., Topeka, KS 66612-1806; Phone: 50 (785) 234-5696; Fax: (785) 234-3813. Your Online Legal Research Member subscription is $25 a year, which is included in annual dues. Nonmember 40 Notice of Amendment of the subscription rate is $45 a year. POST- Local Rules of Practice and Pro- MASTER: Send address changes to The cedure of the U.S. Bankruptcy Journal of the Kansas Bar Association, 1200 Court for the District of Kansas SW Harrison St., Topeka, KS 66612- 1806. 41 U.S. Supreme Court Swearing In OUR MISSION The Kansas Bar Association and the mem- Ceremony Registration bers of the Board of Editors assume no re- sponsibility for any opinion or statement 47 Kansas Commission on Judicial The Kansas Bar Association is dedicated to advancing of fact in the substantive legal articles Performance Announces Judicial the professionalism and legal skills of lawyers, provid- published in The Journal of the Kansas Bar Performance Evaluations ing services to its members, serving the community Association. through advocacy of public policy issues, encouraging public understanding of the law, and promoting the effective administration of our system of justice. www.ksbar.org The Journal of the Kansas Bar Association | October 2010 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTINUED Article ... serving the citizens of Kansas and the legal profession through funding chari- 17 table and educational projects that foster Ethics for Good XI the welfare, honor, and integrity of the By Meg Wickham legal system by improving its accessibility, equality, and uniformity, and by enhanc- ing public opinion of the role of lawyers in our society. Kansas Law Center 1200 SW Harrison St. Topeka, Kansas 66612-1806 Telephone: (785) 234-5696 Fax: (785) 234-3813 Website: www.ksbar.org Cover design by Ryan Purcell OFFICERS [email protected] James D. Oliver Overland Park President [email protected] Daniel H. Diepenbrock Liberal Coming Soon: Your opportunity to continue access to President-elect [email protected] all of the GREAT! Kansas Bar Association membership Joni J. Franklin Wichita Secretary-Treasurer benefits. RENEW your membership! If you are not a [email protected] John D. Jurcyk Roeland Park member, become one for 2011 and get acquainted with Immediate Past President [email protected] benefits that will serve you in your practice. BOARD OF TRUSTEES James C. Dodge Sublette Holly Dyer Wichita Kenneth J Eland Hoxie Gregory P. Goheen Kansas City, Kan. Terence E. Leibold Lawrence David K. Markham Parsons Amy E. Morgan Overland Park David H. Moses Wichita Edward J. Nazar Wichita Randall J. Pankratz Wellington H. Douglas Pfalzgraf Newton Hon. Ronnie L. Svaty Ellsworth J. Ronald Vignery Goodland Kenneth W. Wasserman Salina Hon. Evelyn Z. Wilson Topeka Jennifer M. Hill Wichita Young Lawyers Representative Katherine L. Kirk Lawrence Kansas Association for Justice Representative Susan G. Saidian Wichita Kansas Women Attorneys Association Representative William L. Townsley III Wichita Kansas Association of Defense Counsel Representative Laura L. Ice Wichita +"! Kansas Bar Association Bookstore Representative Learning Living Law Bruce W. Kent Manhattan Kansas Bar Association Representative David J. Rebein Dodge City Kansas Bar Association Representative EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jeffrey J. Alderman Topeka [email protected] MANAGER, PUBLIC SERVICES Meg Wickham Topeka For more details on what your KBA member benefi ts include, go to [email protected] www.ksbar.org/prospective www.ksbar.org The Journal of the Kansas Bar Association | October 2010 5 SPECIAL GUEST AUTHOR Jack Focht It’s Hard to be Nasty to a Friend By Special Guest Author Jack Focht, Foulston Siefkin LLP, Wichita, KBA President 1989, [email protected] hortly after receiving my 50-year certificate at this year’s computer, while making communication faster, also makes annual meeting, President Glenn Braun called and asked it possible to insult a colleague in a very impersonal format. me to write a message on what I had learned in 50 years How did this change come about? Sof practice. Since one thing I’ve never learned was how to say How did this change come about. As I thought about this, no, I accepted. I went back and checked the attendance at the first state bar As I ruminated over the last 50 years, I concluded that the convention I attended in 1961 in Wichita. My law firm ex- one constant I could rely on was change. I recalled the advent pected all its lawyers to attend. Of the 1,900 KBA lawyers of the IBM Selectric typewriter with the carbon ribbon that in 1961, 850 came to Wichita for the annual meeting ‒ al- began the change heading toward the word processor years most 45 percent of the members. What happened at those later. I had fond memories of the first copier that made it meetings? We talked, we laughed, and we swapped stories. We possible to do away with carbon copies. Many of us still re- got to know each other. To test my memory, I called Jeff Al- member the secretary who could make 10 carbon copies of derman before making the comparison to recent attendance. a document ‒ often typed without a mistake. We often still Our executive director confirmed that attendance at the last include a “cc recipient” on our letters. The technological ad- three bar conventions when totaled didn’t match the 850 of vances in just 50 years make my head spin. A lawyer went 1961. Not all change is bad but that statistic goes a long way from dictating to a secretary to dictating into a machine or to prove my theory that it is easier to be nasty or mean to a keyboarding for himself. “Himself” is used because the make- stranger than it is to a friend. up of the practicing Bar 50 years ago was almost exclusively When I was president of the KBA, I often quoted Shake- men. speare, who wrote: Not only has technology changed, but the law evolved rap- “Do as Adversaries do at law, strive mightily but eat and idly as well. During my brief time as a lawyer, the civil, crimi- drink as friends.” nal, corporation, probate, and business codes all changed. My I still cling to that premise. The profession of law is a great top paper in Bills and Notes at Washburn became worthless privilege that I have enjoyed for more than 50 years. But the when the Uniform Commercial Code was established. While greatest gift of those 50 years is not the advances in the law or I used to go to the law library to look up law, I now turn to my in technology, but the friendships I have made. I have known computer and use Lexis or Westlaw (or sometimes a willing and respected some great men and women who are devoted associate) to find answers. to making this world a better place through service. While we But of even greater significance to me as a former president may disagree, we do not need to be disagreeable. of both the Wichita (WBA) and Kansas (KBA) bar associa- God willing, I hope to shake your hand at next year’s annual tions is the change in relationships. When I returned to my meeting; to swap a few stories and plan how to improve our hometown of Wichita in 1960 to practice law, there were 391 profession, state, nation, and world. n members of the WBA and 1,900 members of the KBA. We were a small group and we got to know each other. Before About the Author I could become a member of the WBA, I had to report to former Justice Hugo T.