Honorary Doctor of Law
Past Recipients
2010 - D. Duke Dupre '73
D. Duke Dupre received a bachelor of arts degree in accounting from Kansas State University in 1967 and served three years in the U.S. Army, with duty in Vietnam. In 1973, he earned a juris doctor from the Washburn University School of Law and worked as law clerk to Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Fatzer.
During his career, Dupre held a variety of legal positions in the telecommunications industry, retiring in 1999 as vice president and general counsel of external affairs for SBC Communications. He later served as chairman of the board of a software technology company developing encryption algorithms for military and commercial use, and retired from that position in 2005. Dupre is a member of the Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas state bar associations and the American Bar Association.
In 1999, Dupre was honored as an Alumni Fellow by the Washburn University School of Law and in 2008 he received the Washburn University School of Law Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award. He currently serves as president of the Washburn Law School Foundation and on the Business and Transactional Law Center board of advisors. He is a trustee for the Washburn Endowment Association and served as president and a member of the Washburn University School of Law Alumni Association Board of Governors. In 2005, Dupre and his wife, Helen, established a business and transactional law fund in their names.
2009 - The Honorable Kay McFarland '64
Chief Justice Kay E. McFarland, Retired, was born on July 20, 1935, in Coffeyville. McFarland grew up in Topeka, where her late father, Dr. Kenneth McFarland, was the former superintendent of Coffeyville and Topeka schools and was a nationally known lecturer and public speaker.
In her youth, McFarland had great interest in Tennessee walking horses, a breed known for its graceful movements, and naturally a favorite among equine aficionados. Midnight Secret was undefeated in his three years she showed him, winning the biggest horse shows in the country. She competed regularly and in 1958 was world amateur champion. In 1963, she won two major events at the National Celebration in Shelbyville, Tennessee, the breed's equivalent of the World Series. Later she was very successful raising and showing Irish Wolfhounds.
McFarland graduated magna cum laude from Washburn University with dual majors in English and history/political science in 1957. She is a 1964 graduate of Washburn University School of Law and was admitted to the Kansas Bar the same year. While in law school, McFarland owned and operated a nationally advertised mail order quilt business.
McFarland's career has been a remarkable series of "firsts." Following law school, she was in private practice in Topeka until 1971, when she challenged the incumbent Judge of the Probate and Juvenile Courts in Shawnee County. With McFarland's win, she became the first woman elected to a judgeship in Shawnee County. McFarland delivered the court reforms pledged in her campaign, and reduced serious juvenile offenses by more than half in the two years she held the office.
In January 1973, McFarland became judge of the newly created Fifth Division of the District Court of Kansas, in Topeka — thereby becoming the first woman to be a district judge in the history of Kansas. Her election to this high office came after her victories over opponents in both the primary and general elections.
On September 19, 1977, she was appointed by Governor Robert F. Bennett to be a justice of the Kansas Supreme Court, having the distinction of being the first woman to hold that office. She became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on September 1, 1995, upon the retirement of The Honorable Richard W. Holmes.
In 2006, the Women Attorney's Association of Topeka created the Chief Justice McFarland Award to honor her many accomplishments in the legal field. The award recognizes an individual who has achieved professional excellence in her field and has influenced other women to pursue legal careers, opened doors for women lawyers in a variety of job settings that historically were closed to them, or advanced opportunities for women within a practice area or segment of the profession. The award has been presented to Justice Marla Luckert of the Kansas Supreme Court, Judge Christel Marquardt of the Kansas Court of Appeals, and Judge Evelyn Z. Wilson of the Third Judicial District Court. Chief Justice McFarland retired on January 12, 2009. Since her retirement, she continues to pursue her many interests, which include water gardening, wildlife conservation, and world travel.
2007 - Michael C. Manning
The Washburn University School of Law 2007 commencement speaker is Michael C. Manning. Mr. Manning received his BA degree in Political Science and Psychology from Emporia State University in 1971. He earned his JD degree cum laude from the Washburn University School of Law in 1977. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the Washburn Law Journal 1976-1977 and was a member of Phi Kappa Phi legal fraternity. The Washburn University Board of Regents has also named Mr. Manning as the 2007 recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Law. The award will take place during the commencement ceremony.
Manning is the managing partner of the Phoenix office of Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP where he has worked since 1977. His areas of practice include Commercial, Professional Liability, Bankruptcy and International Commercial Relationships litigation.
In 1994, Manning was recognized by the National Law Journal in its triennial selection of the "100 Most Influential Lawyers in America".
Manning is noteworthy for his astute representation in a number of ground-breaking cases, locally and nationally:
- In 1984, the FDIC chose Manning to head its litigation against New York, mob-related money broker, Mario Renda. Manning's successful multi-state civil and criminal prosecutions, ultimately resulted in Renda's conviction and incarceration, and are chronicled in the book, Inside Job. Successful civil and criminal prosecutions in New York, Florida, Kansas, California, and Hawaii concluded in 1989.
- In 1989, Manning acted as lead counsel in MDL-834 - the Lincoln Savings/Charles Keating cases. At the time, MDL-834 was the largest commercial litigation in U.S. history, involving over 51,000,000 pages of documents and over 600 depositions. Manning's team collected nearly $300 million and coordinated dozens of related criminal and administrative matters. Manning's leadership of those cases is detailed in the book, Trust Me.
- Manning accepted representation of an employee of the Arizona State Bar Association in her successful claim of sexual harassment against the Bar and its executive director.
- In 1995, Manning was retained by a group of union pension funds to pursue Arizona's then current Governor, J. Fife Symington, III, for fraud in connection with a $10 million loan he acquired from the funds to develop an office building. Manning filed a 5 count financial fraud complaint against the Governor in 1996. A few months later, the Governor was indicted by a federal grand jury on 23 counts of financial fraud which paralleled the allegations of Manning's civil fraud complaint. Manning successfully tried that fraud/bankruptcy case.
- In 1999, Manning achieved an $8.5 million settlement, the largest-ever wrongful death and civil rights settlement in Arizona history against defendants Joe Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. He represented the sons and parents of a 34 year old man who was beaten to death by jailers while he was in the Sheriff's custody.
- Manning and his trial team achieved a $9 million Federal Court verdict against the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and Maricopa County in another wrongful death case.
- In 2001, Manning achieved one of the largest commercial case punitive damages award in Arizona history. The jury awarded Manning's client a defense verdict on claims made against his clients and then, in only 2 1/2 hours of deliberations, awarded his client nearly $30 million in damages.
- In 1994, Attorney General Janet Reno stated that he was one of four attorneys under consideration to serve as Independent Counsel to investigate the real-estate controversy involving President Clinton.
- In the summer of 2004, Manning tried back-to-back, three week jury trials. Manning won both trials with unanimous jury verdicts. His clients in these commercial fraud and breach of contract trials were awarded more than $20 million in damages. In 2005, Manning was recognized for his outstanding contributions to the Valley's legal community by the Business Journal's editorial board, in its "Best of the Bar" edition. He was one of only four Arizona attorneys to receive that honor.
In addition to his regional and national litigation successes, Manning has significant international experience in connection with construction contracts, technology exchange contracts, royalty agreements, distributor agreements and sales agreements in Norway, Great Britain, France, the Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.
The May 2005 edition of Arizona Attorney magazine features the Top 10 Verdicts of 2004. Manning was lead counsel in two of the ten cases. Most notably, the largest and the sixth largest jury awards in Arizona that year.
Manning is considered one of the nation's most accomplished proponents of the use of advanced technology to reduce the cost of litigation to clients and the public.
Manning has received the Alumni Fellow Award for the law school from Washburn University in 2002 and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Emporia State University in 1996. He gave the commencement address for Washburn University School of Law in 1992 and was the FBI Citizens Academy, past president.
He currently serves on the Advisory Board for the Washburn University School of Law Center for Excellence in Advocacy; is chairman of the Advisory Board of LIFE TEEN, INC., a Phoenix-based charity which, through spiritual development, helps teens cope with the special challenges they face; and is an active participant and significant fund-raiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Arizona.
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.
