School of Law Alumni Fellows, 2011-2020
2020 - No Honoree Due to Covid-19 Pandemic
2019 - Nancy Moritz, '85
The Honorable Nancy Moritz was born in Beloit, Kansas, and grew up in Tipton, Kansas. In 2013, President Barack Obama nominated Moritz to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. The United States Senate confirmed her to that position in 2014. The Tenth Circuit is based in Denver, Colorado, and reviews legal cases from Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming. She previously served on the Kansas Supreme Court starting in 2010 and before that on the Kansas Court of Appeals starting in 2004. She was a United States assistant attorney in Kansas City, Kansas, and later in Topeka, working in the civil division and then as the appellate coordinator. Moritz served for nearly two decades on the board of editors of the Kansas Bar Journal and was the first woman to chair that organization. She delivered meals for Meals on Wheels for many years and served on the Kansas CLE Commission and the board of governors of Washburn University School of Law. [Watch acceptance speech (12:21).]
2018 - Jalen O’Neil Lowry, '87
Jalen O'Neil Lowry grew up in Glasco, Kansas, and lives in Topeka where she has been associate dean for student affairs at Washburn University School of Law since 2011. She advises students, supervises student organizations, and plans student orientation weeks and professionalism training. After graduating law school, she clerked first for Justice Harold Herd, ba '41, jd '42, and later for Chief Justice Robert Miller of the Kansas Supreme Court. She joined the law faculty in 1991. She has volunteered her time in numerous ways to benefit the legal community, including serving on the Kansas Board of Continuing Legal Education since 2013. [Watch acceptance speech (9:03).]
2017 - George C. Bruce, '80
George Bruce was born in Wichita, Kansas, and resides there, working as CEO of Aladdin Petroleum Corporation, and he serves as counsel at Martin, Pringle, Oliver, Wallace & Bauer, LLP, focusing on traditional and alternative energy, as well as securities, financial, real estate and international matters. He started working at Aladdin as general counsel in 1980 and became chairman in 1991. He has experience in oil and gas exploration and production in Turkey with Aladdin-Middle East. With Aladdin Petroleum Corporation, he has experience in the United States, Canada, West Africa and the Caribbean. Bruce serves as managing member of a number of energy and natural resource companies. He is a director of CrossFirst BankShares, Inc, a bank holding company, based in Kansas City and is a founding elder of Heartland Community Church, in Wichita.
2016 - Natalie G. Haag, '85
Natalie Haag was born in Holton and resides in Topeka where she has been general counsel and executive vice president of Capitol Federal Savings Bank since 2012. She provides legal advice on regulatory, contractual, litigation and employment issues.
Haag worked at Security Benefit Corporation for nine years prior to that as second vice president, director of governmental affairs and assistant general counsel. She was also general counsel and chief of staff for Kansas Governor Bill Graves.
She is the immediate past president of the Kansas Bar Association and is a representative on the Supreme Court Nominating Commission. She won the KBA Outstanding Service Award in 2008 and was a YMCA Women of Excellence recipient in 2016.
2015 - Jeffrey R. Hewett, '95
Jeffrey Hewett grew up in Topeka and resides in Houston where he founded Granite Legal Systems, Inc., in 2004 and serves as chief executive officer.
Granite is a legal software and discovery services company that provides project and technical consulting for large-scale litigation in the pharmaceutical, medical device and energy industries.
Previously, Hewett worked as a practice group leader for Baker Robbins & Company. He managed litigation, records management and case management groups providing services to corporations and law firms.
About his time at Washburn, Hewett says "While in law school, I appreciated the personal nature of the Washburn learning experience. Professor Ronald Griffin took the time to discuss business concepts and make recommendations for good, practical business practices. The information continues to provide guidance and insight today."
Hewett was nominated as an Alumni Fellow by Washburn Law and the Business and Transactional Law Center. He will present the Lunch and Learn "From Washburn Law to Legal Discovery Consulting" on Thursday, November 12, 2015, at 12:10 p.m. in Room 102.
2014 - Michael Kuckelman, '90
A native of Atchison and a resident of Olathe, Michael Kuckelman is a partner at Kuckelman Torline Kirkland and Lewis specializing in commercial and personal injury litigation.
Kuckelman previously worked as an attorney at Blackwell Sanders and was a member of the plaintiffs' executive committee appointed by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to litigate the 9/11 World Trade Center litigation.
He is a member of the Kansas, Missouri, New York, U.S. Supreme Court and Supreme Court of England and Wales bars.
Kuckelman's community service includes the Catholic Education Foundation Board, Maur Hill Mount Academy prep school board of trustees and the Kansas ethics and grievance committee for Johnson County.
2013 - Michael Lennen, '74
Syracuse, Kan., native and Topeka resident Michael Lennen is of counsel at the Law Offices of Morris, Laing, Evans, Brock and Kennedy, Chtd., a firm he has worked with for 20 years.
He previously worked as vice president of regulatory affairs at Westar, chairman of the Kansas Corporation Commission, secretary of the Kansas Department of Revenue, administrative assistant to congresswoman Martha Keyes and as a law clerk.
Lennen’s extensive community service includes serving as president of the Topeka Symphony.
2012 - Bradley E. Haddock, '80
Bradley E. Haddock, '80, Wichita, Kansas, was honored as the Washburn University Alumni Fellow from the law school on October 26, 2012. Sponsored by the Washburn University deans and the Alumni Association, the Alumni Fellows program recognizes alumni who have distinguished themselves in their career fields. The Alumni Fellows program brings successful alumni to campus to meet with students, faculty, and other alumni and share their expertise formally and informally in the classroom and other campus settings.
Haddock graduated cum laude from Washburn University School of Law in 1980. While in law school, he served as executive editor of the Washburn Law Journal. Haddock is the founder and chairman of Haddock Law Office in Wichita, Kan. He offers a wide-range of legal expertise and hands-on experience, as well as industry-specific legal and business knowledge. He formerly served as executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of Koch Chemical Technology Group in Wichita. During his distinguished career at Koch, Haddock served as lead counsel for several key businesses, including Koch's refining, chemicals, and asphalt businesses, and the group of 10 global manufacturing and engineering businesses that became KCTG. While at Koch, he led or significantly participated in more than 65 domestic and international acquisitions.
Haddock has served as a member of the board of directors of the American Arbitration Association since 2005 and was elected to a second four-year term at the AAA's 2009 annual meeting in New York City. He is also a qualified member of the American Arbitration Association's Roster of Neutrals and a member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution. During his tenure at Koch, Haddock was an active member of the Association of Corporate Counsel. He is also a member of the Association for Corporate Growth, American Bar Association, Christian Legal Society, Kansas Bar Association, Licensing Executives Society, and the Wichita Bar Association. He has received an AV (5.0 out of 5.0) rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest peer review rating available for legal expertise and ethics.
A lifelong member of the Boy Scouts of America ("BSA"), Haddock is a Distinguished Eagle Scout, served as Quivira Council President, and has been recognized by the National Council with its highest commendation, the Silver Buffalo Award, for his noteworthy and extraordinary volunteer service to youth.
2011 - George A. Barton, '77
George A. Barton, '77, Kansas City, Missouri, was honored as the Washburn University Alumni Fellow from the law school on October 27, 2011. Sponsored by the Washburn University deans and the Alumni Association, the Alumni Fellows program recognizes alumni who have distinguished themselves in their career fields. The Alumni Fellows program brings successful alumni to campus to meet with students, faculty, and other alumni and share their expertise formally and informally in the classroom and other campus settings.
Barton graduated magna cum laude from Washburn University School of Law in 1977. Since that time he has been a practicing attorney in Kansas City, Mo., specializing in complex commercial litigation. Barton has had extensive experience in the preparation and trial of complex commercial lawsuits, including class action cases, antitrust cases, royalty underpayment cases, and breach of fiduciary duty cases, which have included complex litigation cases filed in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, and Oklahoma.
During the past 15 years, Barton has devoted an extensive part of his practice to representing mineral interest owners in royalty underpayment cases against both coal producers and natural gas producers. Barton was lead counsel for 25 mineral owners in a royalty underpayment case recently tried in Yuma County District Court in Wray, Colo., which culminated in an important decision by the Colorado Supreme Court clarifying the contractual obligations of natural gas producers to calculate and pay royalties to mineral interest owners in the State of Colorado. Rogers v. Westerman Farm Co., 29 P.3d 887 (Colo. 2001). Barton has also successfully represented thousands of other oil, gas, and coal royalty owners in Colorado and nationally, including the successful trial and appeal of a substantial punitive damage verdict against a major coal company. Reis v. Peabody Coal Company, 997 S.W.2d 49 (Mo. App. E.D. 1999).
Barton is currently the sole shareholder of The Law Offices of George A. Barton, P.C., a three-person law firm in Kansas City, Mo., which specializes in complex civil litigation, primarily representing plaintiffs. Barton was a Visiting Advocate at Washburn Law in 2006.