Join the TBA & WAAT
Lunch and CLE Panel Discussion
Friday, March 4, 2022
Noon- 1:00 P.M.
Approved for 1.0 hour of CLE credit
Lunch Provided for In-Person Attendees, Webinar option also available
CLE Description: Panel Discussion on the History of Topeka Women in Law
Panelists:
Chief Justice Marla Luckert is a fourth generation native of Sherman County, Kansas. After growing up on the western Kansas border and graduating from Goodland High School, Justice Luckert moved to Topeka for college and law school and has spent her professional career in the Capitol City. Justice Luckert has served the public as a judge and justice for nearly 30 years, handling thousands of cases.
2019–present, chief justice, Kansas Supreme Court
2003-19, justice, Kansas Supreme Court
Second woman to be appointed to the Kansas Supreme Court
Chair, Kansas Judicial Council
Former member, Kansas Criminal Justice Coordinating Council
Former ex-officio member, Kansas Children's Cabinet
2000-03, chief judge, 3rd Judicial District
First woman to be appointed chief judge of a Kansas judicial district
1992-2000, district judge, 3rd Judicial District, appointed by Governor Joan Finney
Linda D. Elrod is the Richard S. Righter Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Washburn University School of Law Children and Family Law Center. She served as a Fulbright Senior Specialist at the Dublin Institute of Technology in 2011.
Professor Elrod is past chair of the American Bar Association Family Law Section; has served on the ABA Family Law Section Council since 1988; served as co-chair of the ABA Child Custody and Adoption Pro Bono Advisory Board; and has been Editor of the Family Law Quarterly since 1992. She is currently the reporter to draft a Family Law Arbitration Act for the Uniform Law Commission. Professor Elrod was the Reporter for the Uniform Child Abduction Prevention Act (UCAPA) now enacted in twelve states and sits on the Joint Editorial Board on Family Law for the Uniform Law Commission. She is on the U.S. State Department Advisory Committee on Private International Law. Professor Elrod was an official observer for the International Society of Family Law to the 21st Diplomatic Session of the Hague Convention on Private International Law which drafted the Hague Convention on International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance.
Professor Elrod is the author of a national family law treatise, Child Custody Practice and Procedure; a state family law treatise, Kansas Family Law and Practice; and co-author of a family law textbook, Family Law: Cases Comments and Questions, that has been used in 35 law schools. In 2000 she coordinated an international, interdisciplinary think tank on "High Conflict Custody Cases Reforming the System for Children." Professor Elrod has written dozens of articles and is a frequent CLE speaker.
Linda P. Jeffrey is a native of Topeka. She earned bachelor's degree from Washburn University in 1974 and a juris doctorate from the Washburn School of Law in 1977. She served in the Kansas Attorney General’s office. Then she was county counselor in the Shawnee County Legal Department. She served as Topeka City Attorney until her retirement. She is a graduate of Leadership Greater Topeka, a member of the Topeka Chapter of the Links, Inc., and a silver life member of the NAACP. She continues to serve as a trustee for the Church of God in Christ and has been Sunday school superintendent for 22 years. Jeffrey is involved in many boards in Topeka and Shawnee County including Community Action, Inc., and the Women's Fund, Topeka Community Foundation.
Jeffrey was elected to the Kansas Historical Foundation Board of Directors in 2017.
Judge Cheryl Rios was appointed to the district court bench in 2008. Previously she was Associate Judge for the City of Topeka, Municipal Court. After practicing critical care nursing for 6 years, Judge Rios graduated from Washburn University School of Law in 1993. The judge served as a staff attorney for Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, served as an adjunct professor at Washburn University and is a former Shawnee County Assistant District Attorney.
Judge Rios currently is assigned to do hear felony criminal cases in Shawnee County District Court.
Judge Rios was selected to serve on the Kansas Supreme Court Bench hearing some cases called on the docket in December, 2019. Judge Rios remains an active member of community in Kansas and nationwide. Judge Rios currently serves on the National Association of Women Judges Board of directors, the Kansas District Judges Association Board of Directors, the Kansas Judicial Council (Criminal Law Advisory Board), and Topeka Community Foundation’s Healthy Lifestyle Committee. Judge Rios is a member of the following organizations: NAWJ, HNBA, KBA, TBA, KWAA, KWAAT, MANA de Topeka, and Washburn University Alumni Association.
Judge Rios previously served on the YWCA Board of Directors, Topeka Collegiate School Board of Directors, MANA de Topeka’s Board of Directors, and the Topeka Community Foundation’s Board of Directors.
