Central States Legal Writing Conference. Hosted by the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.
Welcome to our twenty-first biennial Central States LRW/Lawyering Skills Conference. UMKC School of Law hosted the very first Central States Conference in 1999. We are thrilled you are joining us this year. And, all systems are go for a hybrid event! Our program committee has done an awesome job. Everyone will leave with practical tips they can put to use the next week! Come join us in-person or virtually!
We can’t say enough about Mayor Quinton Lucas of Kansas City, Missouri—a dynamic and inspirational speaker who was formerly a law professor at the University of Kansas School of Law. Mayor Lucas will give our keynote speech on Saturday.
If this is your first or one-hundredth trip to Kansas City, we hope you have some time to enjoy our Midwest hospitality. The law school and your hotel are in the Country Club Plaza area of Kansas City. Known for its outstanding Christmas lights, the Plaza is a haven for excellent restaurants and shopping. Kansas City is synonymous with barbeque and jazz. One guess what our lunch will be!
Enjoy your time here in Kansas City and at UMKC. We’re glad you’re here.
Have fun!
Wanda M. Temm
Eleanore C. Blue Lawyering Skills Professor
Director of Bar Services
UMKC School of Law
Plenary Speaker—Mayor Quinton Lucas, Kansas City, Missouri
Quinton Lucas was sworn in on August 1, 2019 as the 55th mayor of Kansas City, the youngest elected Kansas City mayor in more than a generation, after serving several years on the city council. Known affectionately as “Mayor Q” to Kansas Citians, he prioritizes making Kansas City’s neighborhoods safer, creating more accessible and affordable housing and public transportation, maintaining efficiency and transparency in governance, and improving basic services.
Mayor Q has led Kansas City in launching an innovative Zero Fare Transit Initiative, making all public transit fare-free in Kansas City. He serves as Vice Chair for Transit on the United States Conference of Mayors Transportation Committee. Working with grassroots organizations, he also led the City Council in adopting Kansas City’s first-ever Tenants’ Bill of Rights. Mayor Q remains focused on decriminalizing poverty and providing second chances, including ensuring no incarceration for unpaid parking tickets, removing possession of marijuana as a violation from the City Code of Ordinances, and launching a Municipal Marijuana Pardon Program.
Mayor Q has been a member of the University of Kansas Law School faculty since 2012. He primarily teaches in the subject areas of local government law, contracts, securities regulation and federal administrative law. He has spoken throughout the country on topics concerning contract law and government regulation of business enterprises, particularly in the financial services industry. Before entering academia, he was in private practice focused on commercial disputes and government investigations of financial fraud. He has also volunteered with prison authorities in New York and Kansas, teaching courses on constitutional law in prison facilities.
Born and raised in Kansas City, Mayor Q has spent most of his life in the city’s urban core. As a child, his family moved often and even experienced homelessness. Despite these challenges, he remained focused on his schoolwork, earning academic scholarships to high school, college and law school before returning home to Kansas City. He earned a J.D. at Cornell University and an A.B. from Washington University in St. Louis. Upon graduation from law school, he served as a law clerk to Judge Duane Benton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Thanks to the generosity of the AccessLex Institute Center for Legal Education Excellence we will be able to offer travel assistance grants to a limited number of LRW faculty who do not have any travel budget from their schools and their schools serve predominantly underserved communities. We will be awarding travel grants up to $500, which will provide reimbursement for airfare or other documented transportation expenses and hotel room costs.
Click here for more information
As part of the Central States Legal Writing Conference, the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law (UMKC) will host an ALWD Scholars Forum. The Forum will take place on Friday, October 22, 2021, from 9 a.m. to noon CST. This event precedes the Central States Legal Writing Conference, which will be held on October 22 and 23. Brad Desnoyer from Indiana University--McKinney School of Law will lead the group.
The Forum is based on a colloquium model and offers scholars an opportunity to present their work to a group of other legal writing faculty. The scholar can present a work in progress or even an idea or abstract. Scholars will be broken into groups and led by an experienced scholar, who will promote discussion and lead efforts to provide constructive criticisms. Space for the Forum is limited. We encourage applications from scholars with both early ideas and substantial drafts.
To apply please email Brad Desnoyer at desnoyer@iu.edu with:
Applications are due by Friday, September 3, 2021.
Kansas City International Airport (MCI) is a unique airport that was unusually convenient pre-September 11th. Each airline’s ticket counter, gates, and baggage claim were located together such that you could walk right up and have it all right there. Post-9/11, there is no centralized location for security. As such you will see several security areas close to different airlines’ gates. Frequently, one entire gate area will be designated just for TSA pre-check approved passengers and another for non-pre-check passengers. Signage will direct you.
No centralized baggage claim exists. Each airline has its own baggage claim or shares with one other airline. They are located just a short way from the gate area on the same level.
Kansas City is building a new airport, opening in March 2023. Originally, it was to have opened in time for this conference. Undoubtedly, you will see the construction as we are past half-way at this point. At this point, the construction does not seem to interfere with airport operations.
Kansas City is served by the Kansas City International Airport (MCI), which is located approximately thirty minutes from the Country Club Plaza area and UMKC School of Law.
SuperShuttle
https://www.supershuttle.com/
800-258-3826
Other shuttle services/private car services are available by reservation: https://www.flykci.com/getting-to-from/ground-transportation/shuttle-services/
Taxi, Uber, and Lyft services are also available.
The Law School lot is typically packed during the week. We have made arrangements for parking at the Central United Methodist Church and at the National Museum for Toys/Miniatures for you to park on Friday. Both facilities are located across the street from the law school.
On Saturday, you may park in the law school lot. There may also be street parking. Overflow parking will be at the church and the museum.
Things to Do in Kansas City: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g44535-Activities-Kansas_City_Missouri.html
Country Club Plaza area: https://countryclubplaza.com/
Crown Center Kansas City: https://www.crowncenter.com/
World War I Museum: https://www.theworldwar.org/
Nelson-Atkins Art Museum: https://www.nelson-atkins.org/
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art: https://www.kemperart.org/
National Museum of Toys/Miniatures: https://toyandminiaturemuseum.org/
[Across the street from the law school]
Negro Leagues Museum: https://nlbm.com/
American Jazz Museum: https://americanjazzmuseum.org/
The Negro Leagues Museum and the American Jazz Museum are in the Historic 18th and Vine District of Kansas and are adjacent to each other. Combination tickets are available if you wish to visit both attractions.
Boulevard Brewing Co.: https://www.boulevard.com/visit-us/tours/
Kansas City Zoo: https://www.kansascityzoo.org/
UMKC School of Law is approved by the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions of the American Bar Association, 321, North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60654, 312-988-6738.
