THE OURNAL of the Kansas Bar Association November/DecemberJ 2006 • Volume 75 • No. 10 A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Let Your Voice be Heard! KBA Officers and Board of Governors PRESIDENT: YOUNG LAWYERS SECTION PRESIDENT: Teresa L. Watson David J. Rebein Paul T. Davis (785) 232-7761 Topeka (620) 227-8126 Dodge City (785) 843-7674 Lawrence [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] DISTRICT 6: PRESIDENT-ELECT: KDJA REPRESENTATIVE: Gabrielle M. Thompson Linda S. Parks Hon. Daniel L. Love Dodge City (785) 537-2943 Manhattan (316) 265-7741 Wichita (620) 227-4620 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] DISTRICT 7: VICE PRESIDENT: DISTRICT 1: Laura L. Ice Ernest C. Ballweg Eric G. Kraft (316) 660-1258 Wichita (913) 491-6900 Overland Park (913) 498-3536 Overland Park [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Rachael K. Pirner SECRETARY-TREASURER: Kip A. Kubin (316) 630-8100 Wichita Thomas E. Wright (816) 531-8188 Kansas City, Mo. [email protected] (785) 232-2200 Topeka [email protected] [email protected] Mary Kathryn “Kathy” Webb Lee M. Smithyman (316) 263-5851 Wichita EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: (913) 661-9800 Overland Park [email protected] Jeffrey J. Alderman [email protected] (785) 234-5696 Topeka DISTRICT 8: [email protected] DISTRICT 2: Gerald L. Green Gerald R. Kuckelman (620) 662-0537 Hutchinson IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT: (913) 367-2008 Atchison [email protected] Richard F. Hayse [email protected] (785) 232-2662 Topeka DISTRICT 9: [email protected] Jeffrey S. Southard Hon. Kim R. Schroeder (816) 329-8527 Lawrence (620) 428-6500 Hugoton KBA DELEGATES TO ABA: [email protected] [email protected] Sara S. Beezley (620) 724-4111 Girard DISTRICT 3: DISTRICT 10: [email protected] Dennis D. Depew Glenn R. Braun (620) 325-2626 Neodesha (785) 625-6919 Hays Hon. David J. Waxse [email protected] [email protected] (913) 551-5434 Kansas City, Kan. [email protected] DISTRICT 4: DISTRICT 11: William E. Muret Melissa A. Taylor Standridge KANSAS DELEGATE TO ABA: (620) 221-7200 Winfield (913) 551-5405 Kansas City, Kan. Thomas A. Hamill [email protected] melissa_taylor_standridge@ksd. (913) 491-5500 Overland Park uscourts.gov [email protected] DISTRICT 5: Martha J. Coffman DISTRICT 12: ABA DELEGATE AT LARGE: (785) 271-3105 Topeka Michael A. Williams Hon. Christel E. Marquardt [email protected] (816) 292-2000 Kansas City, Mo. (785) 296-6146 Topeka [email protected] [email protected] THE OURNAL of the Kansas Bar Association November/DecemberJ 2006 • Volume 75 • No. 10 ITEMS OF INTEREST REGULAR FEATURES 5 Casemaker – the Ultimate 4 President’s Message Member Benefit – 7 Young Lawyers Section News has Arrived! 8 A Nostalgic Touch of Humor 9 Shifting the Balance from 10 Law Students’ Corner Work to Fatherhood for 6 Law Marketing 101 12 Members in the News His Children Help build your law practice 12 “Jest is for All” through the KBA LRS 13 Obituaries 29 Appellate Decisions 14 Advance Notice: Elections for 36 Appellate Practice Reminders 2007 KBA Officers and Board 38 Classifieds of Governors 39 CLE Docket 15 Kansas Legal Services Board Cover design by David Gilham, desktop pub- Vacancies lishing coordinator 15 Kansas Attorneys Sworn in Before the U.S. Supreme 16 Kansas Controlled Business Law Court Pre-empted 17 Legislature Passes Property Tax Exemptions and Credits 37 Notice of U.S. Bankruptcy Court Local Rules Amendment 20 A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Consumer Bankruptcy 37 Notice of U.S. District Court Reform for the District of Kansas Local By Larry A. Pittman II and Rules Amendment Jeffrey A. Deines Our Mission: The Journal Board of Editors Michael T. Jilka Overland Park The Kansas Bar Association is dedicated to advancing the professionalism and legal Casey Law McPherson skills of lawyers, providing services to its members, serving the community through Assistant Executive Director: Michelle Reinert Mahieu Dodge City advocacy of public policy issues, encouraging public understanding of the law, and René Eichem Hon. Tom Malone Topeka promoting the effective administration of our system of justice. Managing Editor: Susan McKaskle Michelle Masoner Kansas City, Mo. Jill A. Michaux Topeka The Journal of the Kansas Bar Association is published monthly with combined issues for Terri Savely Bezek, Chair Topeka Julene Miller Topeka July/August and November/December for a total of 10 issues a year. Periodical Postage Anne L. Baker Topeka Brian J. Moline Topeka Rates paid at Topeka, Kan., and at additional mailing offices. The Journal of the Kansas Hon. Monti L. Belot Wichita Hon. Lawton R. Nuss Topeka Bar Association (ISSN 0022-8486) is published by the Kansas Bar Association, 1200 Hon. Donald W. Bostwick Wichita Hon. James P. O’Hara Overland Park S.W. Harrison, P.O. Box 1037, Topeka, KS 66601-1037; Phone: (785) 234-5696; Fax: Boyd Byers Wichita Prof. John Peck Lake Quivira (785) 234-3813. Member subscription is $25 a year, which is included in annual dues. Tamara Lee Davis Dodge City Richard D. Ralls Kansas City, Mo. Nonmember subscription rate is $45 a year. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Hon. Jerry Elliott Topeka Richard H. Seaton Manhattan The Journal of the Kansas Bar Association, P.O. Box 1037, Topeka, KS 66601-1037. J. Lyn Entrikin Goering Topeka Marty M. Snyder Topeka Connie Hamilton Topeka Angela M. Stoller Lawrence The Kansas Bar Association and the members of the Board of Editors assume no Mark D. Hinderks Overland Park Catherine A. Walter Topeka responsibility for any opinion or statement of fact in the substantive legal articles Evan Ice Lawrence Diane S. Worth Wichita published in The Journal of the Kansas Bar Association. Katharine J. Jackson Manhattan Martha Coffman, board liaison Topeka For advertising information contact Suzanne Green at (800) 211-1344 or e-mail [email protected]. Publication of advertisements is not to be deemed an endorsement of any product or service advertised unless otherwise indicated. Terri Bezek, Board of Editors chairperson, [email protected] COPYRIGHT 2006 Kansas Bar Association, Topeka, Kan. Susan McKaskle, managing editor, [email protected] From the President David J. Rebein In Search of Sandra Day O’Connor udges have taken a beating lately. It is no trick to find critics. Elizabeth Rogers is a third-year law student. She recently ac- JJudges are in the public arena and their work is the proper cepted a clerkship with Kansas Supreme Court Justice Lawton subject of review, critique, and commentary. They are, however, Nuss. She will spend the next two years in a front row seat in citizens who sacrifice much to advance the law. It is a difficult Kansas litigation. In the interview, Justice Nuss expressed his love job and a paradoxical one; a great judge is devoted to the for the job and his respect for the law. He told Liz that rule of law, but does this without sacrificing his or her he would have high expectations and that he believed humanity or love of the community. she would be well-suited for the challenge. Liz Rog- Great judges have the capacity to inspire the ers, the girl from Bucklin, who worked her way lawyers who practice in front of them. I have an through college and law school walked out of the old-fashioned and idealistic view that the high- Judicial Center with purpose and a determina- est honor a lawyer can attain is to be a judge. tion to live up to those expectations. Who was the best judge you ever appeared be- Judge Deanell Tacha is the Chief Judge of fore and how would you describe his or her the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. She S . a y n t d e i attributes? Scholarly? Stern, but fair? Inter- r is also an aunt. So, when Judge Tacha’s niece c a o D S a l ested in you personally? A coach and a men- a asked her to speak to a high school class in y c O i r ’ o C t tor? Funny? Passionate about the law? What s Oakley, she accepted and went the extra mile. o i n H n t did you learn? Did he or she teach you how to e r This talk to the high school class became a r u C o o C write or to make an argument? Did he or she ll e daylong moot court presentation involving e c m t e io r n p build your confidence or help you love the law? , u several area high schools and a half-dozen law- Th S e e h S f t yers. Those of us who spent the day with Judge Gail Agrawal is the new dean of the KU Law up o re esy me urt School. She was a clerk to Justice Sandra Day Co , co Tacha learned more about the judiciary and its role urt o tates O’Connor. I asked Dean Agrawal to relate to me a f the United S in community service than the students. memory of Justice O’Connor. Her face brightened and Regine Thompson is a lawyer in Scandia. She recently she told me that Justice O’Connor would sometimes show up was sworn into the U.S. Supreme Court. She was accompanied at the Court on Saturday, knowing that her clerks were working by her husband, Jeffrey, who was also sworn in before the U. S. over the weekend and bringing them a lunch she had cooked at Supreme Court that day, and her two children. It was a great home.