Alumni receive top award from KU law school


LAWRENCE — A judge, a retired tech executive and an energy attorney will receive the University of Kansas School of Law’s 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award.

Kansas Appeals Court Judge Karen Arnold-Burger, Houston energy lawyer John Bowman and retired NIC Inc. executive officer William “Brad” Bradley Jr. will be recognized during a private dinner April 7 in Lawrence. The award celebrates graduates for their professional achievements, contributions to the legal field and service to their communities and the university.

Judge Karen Arnold-Burger is chief judge of the Kansas Court of Appeals. After a career as a prosecutor and assistant United States attorney for the District of Kansas, she was appointed municipal judge for the city of Overland Park. In 2011, Gov. Mark Parkinson appointed Arnold-Burger to the Kansas Court of Appeals, and Chief Justice Lawton Nuss named her chief judge in 2017. She received the Kansas Bar Association’s Distinguished Service Award in 2016. Arnold-Burger earned a bachelor’s in political science, psychology and personnel administration in 1978 and a law degree in 1982, both from KU.

John Bowman is a partner with King & Spalding LLP in Houston, where he specializes in energy law arbitration and litigation. Bowman served as president of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators and is a former member of the governing council of the Texas State Bar Oil, Gas and Energy Resources Law Section. In 2017, he received the Institute for Energy Law’s Lifetime Achievement in Energy Litigation Award. Bowman received his law degree in 1980 and is a former editor-in-chief of the Kansas Law Review.

William “Brad” Bradley Jr. is a founder of NIC Inc., an Olathe company that provides online services for federal, state and local government agencies. Bradley retired in 2015 after 21 years as a senior executive officer at NIC. He established and served as president and CEO of Indiana Interactive Inc., a NIC subsidiary, from 1996-2001. A conservation and natural resources champion, Bradley chairs the Kansas River Regional Advisory Committee of the Kansas Water Authority and the Board of Trustees of The Nature Conservancy in Kansas. He is president-elect of the KU Law Board of Governors. Bradley holds KU degrees in English (1977) and law (1980), and he was a Distinguished Military Graduate.

View previous Distinguished Alumni Award recipients on the law school’s website.

The law school will also recognize James Woods Green Medallion honorees and members of the Deans Club. Named after the school’s first dean, the Medallion recognizes the school’s major financial supporters. This year’s honorees include:

  • Jett Anderson and Julia Gille Anderson, Class of 1982
  • Jo Ann Butaud, Class of 1981
  • David E. Hall, Class of 1989
  • Brian A. Jackson, Class of 1998
  • Kansas Law Review
  • Thomas H. Krueger, Class of 1959
  • Brian C. McCormally, Class of 1982
  • Gary Olson, Class of 1968, and Vicki Olson
  • Larry R. O’Neal, Class of 1972, and Janet M. O’Neal
  • James A. Riedy, Class of 1977
  • Stephen and Karen Schutter, both Class of 1994
  • Jay Simpson, Class of 1985, and Carolyn Simpson
  • Mark Thompson, Class of 1980, and Barbara Thompson
  • Mark Van Blaricum, Class of 2002, and Jackie Van Blaricum
  • Withers, Gough, Pike & Pfaff LLC

Mon, 04/02/2018

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Mindie Paget

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