Steve Leben joined the faculty as a visiting professor in 2020 and was named the Douglas R. Stripp Missouri Distinguished Professor of Law in 2022. Before joining the faculty, he was a member of the Kansas Court of Appeals (2007–2020), a Kansas state trial judge (1993–2007), and a practicing lawyer in Kansas City (1982–1993). He is the fourth to serve as the Stripp Professor of Law, following Rafe Foreman (2011–2019), Robert Klonoff (2003–2007), and Andre Moenssens (1996–2002). In fall 2024, he began service as the law school’s Associate Dean for Faculty and Academics.
Leben’s primary research interest is procedural justice, and he has trained judges around the United States on how to improve perceptions of fairness in court proceedings. The National Center for State Courts gave him its highest award, the Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence, in 2014 in recognition of that work. He brought together his experience as an appellate judge and procedural-justice principles in a 2020 article in the Kansas Law Review on how appellate courts can improve perceptions of fairness in opinions and appellate procedure.
Leben has forthcoming articles in the Arkansas Law Review (on how to reduce politicization of the courts) and the Kansas Law Review (on considerations of precedent in intermediate state appellate courts). While at UMKC Law, he also published an article in the Drake Law Review on procedural justice in a pandemic. His scholarship before joining the faculty can be found in the UMKC Law Institutional Repository.
Leben is an elected member of the American Law Institute and served as an officer of the American Bar Association’s Judicial Division from 2018 to 2024; he is past president of the American Judges Association. At UMKC Law, he has taught Legislation, Professional Responsibility, Appellate Advocacy, Evidence, and Criminal Law.
