Honorary Doctor of Law
Past Recipients
2006 -The Honorable Sam A. Crow
The Honorable Sam A. Crow, Senior U.S. District Court Judge, received his bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas in 1949 and graduated from Washburn University School of Law in 1952, setting the stage for his five decades of service not only to his fellow Kansans but his countrymen as well.
After graduating from Washburn Law, he served in Korea before entering the JAG, or Judge Advocate General School at the University of Virginia. During the next 12 years while working in private practice, he completed the JAG basic course, advanced JAG course, JAG officer career course and military judge course certifications. In 1975, he completed the Selective Service Military Course in Washington, D.C., and received certification from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in National Security Management in 1977. Judge Crow served his country for more than 30 years, retiring at the rank of colonel in 1986.
In 1953 he joined the firm of Rooney, Dickinson, Prager & Crow in Topeka. He worked in private practice until 1975 arguing cases at the Kansas Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. Army General Court Martial Courts. He was appointed part-time magistrate judge in 1973, becoming full-time in 1975. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed him to the federal bench. Fifteen years later, Judge Crow became the senior judge for the district.
Judge Crow shares his talents and knowledge with others in the legal community by speaking at venues across the country including lecturing at his alma mater, Washburn University School of Law. Judge Crow has guest lectured at other law schools and legal associations, the Kansas Bar Association and Military Law institutes throughout the United States.
In addition to serving on the Washburn Law School Association Board of Governors from 1994-1998, Judge Crow has volunteered his time for Boys Scouts of America Board of Review, Grace Episcopal Church, Shawnee County Historical Society, American Legion, Riverside Hospital Board of Directors, Topeka Council of Churches Board of Directors, Shriner's, various law and social fraternities and has served as Kansas Chairman of March of Dimes.
His professional associations are numerous as are his awards and honors. In June 2000, Judge Crow receiving the Distinguished Service Award from Washburn University School of Law, the Distinguished Service Award from the Topeka Bar Association in 2000, and was inducted into the Topeka High School Hall of Fame, which honors graduates who have excelled at local, state or national levels. Since 1999, Judge Crow has served on the Attorney Disciplinary Committee of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.
In 1997, The Topeka American Inns of Court in honor of Judge Crow changed its name to the Sam A. Crow American Inns of Court. Judge Crow was the organization's founding president from 1992 to 1995. The Sam A. Crow American Inns of Court emphasizes excellence in litigation, lawyering and legal ethics to improve the skills, professionalism and ethics of the bench and bar. Each year Judge Crow helps to provide scholarships for students to join the Sam A. Crow American Inns of Court.
He married Ruth M. Rush on January 30, 1948, and he and Ruth have two children, Sam A. Crow, Springfield, Missouri; and Daniel W. Crow, Topeka.
2004 - The Honorable Paul L. Brady
The Honorable Paul L. Brady, a naval veteran of World War II, received a BA in Economics from Washburn University in 1951 and a JD from the Washburn University School of Law in 1956. At the time Judge Brady was attending Washburn, he was living with his aunt, Lucinda Todd, one of the plaintiffs in the landmark decision known as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, which changed the face of American public education. Judge Brady abandoned his psychology career path to pursue a law degree after working with the small group that met and developed the case in his aunt's home.
After graduation from law school, he had a private law practice in Chicago, Illinois from 1957 to 1968. Beginning in 1968, he was a trial attorney and later became a supervisory trial attorney for the Federal Power Commission, until he was appointed as Federal Administrative Law Judge in 1972. He retired in 1997. Judge Brady received the Power Commission's highest award for outstanding performance, as well as receiving nationwide recognition for organizing governmental attorneys to assist in a Neighborhood Legal Service Program in Washington, D.C. He was the first African-American attorney employed by the Federal Power Commission and the first African-American to be appointed as a Federal Administrative Law Judge. A library and conference room is named in his honor in the Sam Nunn Federal Office Building in Atlanta, Georgia.
Judge Brady serves as Chairman of the Bass Reeves Education Foundation, which provides programs and materials to students to promote a better understanding of the legal system, advances the cause of justice, and coordinates local law enforcement agencies in youth activities. He has also been involved in the Feed the Hungry Program in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Carrie Steele Pitts and Florence Crittendon Orphanages where he provides counsel to the children as well as taking them on their holiday shopping spree. He participates with libraries that sponsor special occasions such as Black History observances, and he is a life member of the NAACP. Judge Brady is the author of A Certain Blindness, a book chronicling his family's history as a prototype of other African-American families' quest for the promise of America.
Judge Brady comes from a long line of individuals who have made major contributions to United States law. His family includes his uncle, Bass Reeves, a former slave, who, in 1875, was appointed a U.S. Deputy Marshal and became the first African-American to serve as a federal enforcement officer on the western frontier. Judge Brady has spent his lifetime championing for equal justice, both on the side of those asking and petitioning for equality, and on the side of deciding equal justice for those seeking it. He has volunteered in numerous organizations and speaks to groups on equality for all and the impact Brown v. Board has had on not only him, but his family. He has spent time visiting schools to discuss the need for improved race relations and how to accomplish this within the law. He has been instrumental in dispelling myths about people of different ethnic backgrounds, and his visits with students have helped change many negative attitudes. He is relentless in discussing the merits of respect for the law and humankind.
Judge Brady is a distinguished alumnus who has been directly involved in civil rights issues that have had a widespread implication on almost every individual in the nation. He was inducted into the National Bar Association's Hall of Fame. He will receive the Honorary Doctor of Law at the May 2004 School of Law commencement ceremony.
