Thirteenth Annual Awards Banquet: Washburn Law Journal and Family Law Quarterly
Keynote speaker Justice Eric Rosen.
Amy Leisinger receiving Kuether Award for best WLJ note.
Michael Wyatt receiving GNIP-GNOP Award for best WLJ comment.
Kristen Wheeler receiving GNIP-GNOP Award for best WLJ note.
Washburn University School of Law held its Thirteenth Annual Awards Banquet for the Washburn Law Journal and Family Law Quarterly Tuesday, April 18, 2006 at the Bradbury Thompson Center on the Washburn University campus. The Honorable Eric S. Rosen, Justice on the Kansas Supreme Court, gave the keynote address. Following the keynote address awards were presented.
Washburn Law Journal Presentations
John F. Kuether Awards
The Washburn Law School Faculty established its own awards for the best note and comment to provide an additional incentive and to recognize successful completion of the students' Journal experience. Each year the faculty selects student writers for the awards based on the students' ability to develop and explain an area of the law.
In 1999, the awards were renamed in memory of Professor John F. Kuether, long time faculty advisor of the Washburn Law Journal. Recipients of the Awards have their names engraved on a plaque permanently on display at Washburn University School of Law.
The Hinkle Elkouri Law Firm L.L.C. of Wichita, Kansas has established a fund that helps sponsor this award.
Best Comment: Michael J. Wyatt
Best Note: Amy L. Leisinger
John D. Ensley Memorial Award for Excellence in Legal Writing
Washburn Law presents the John D. Ensley Memorial Writing Award semi-annually to the student who writes the top memo in the Washburn Law Journal writing competition. The award memorializes John D. Ensley, a 1983 graduate of Washburn Law School, whose experience on the Law Journal made him a careful practitioner of the craft of legal writing. Learn more about John Ensley and this award.
Fall 2005: Andrew J. Parmenter
Spring 2006: Patrick A. Turner
The Free Society of GNIP-GNOP
GNIP-GNOP Awards honor the top Note and top Comment published in the Washburn Law Journal during the previous year. Each member of GNIP-GNOP reads the top three student Notes and the top three student Comments selected by the Editor-in-Chief and other Law Journal editors. GNIP-GNOP members then choose the students who, in their judgment, wrote the best Note and Comment.
John N. Sherman presented the GNIP-GNOP awards.
Best Comment: Michael J. Wyatt
Best Note: Kristen D. Wheeler
For those interested in the origin of the name, GNIP-GNOP stands for one of the group’s two favorite pastimes. It spells 'Ping-Pong' in reverse! The group’s other favorite pastime is horseshoes.
Family Law Quarterly
The Family Law Quarterly is a scholarly journal published by the American Bar Association Section of Family Law, which focuses on important and emerging family law issues. The Quarterly has been edited by Washburn Law students since 1992.
In addition to three "regular" issues each year, the Quarterly publishes an annual review of the changes in family law throughout the fifty states, commonly referred to as the "Law in 50" issue. Critique of this type is a tremendous undertaking and requires soliciting reporters in each state to summarize changes in case and statutory law. When a reporter fails to deliver, the responsibility falls to the student editors. However, the publishable product is well worth the effort, as this issue is arguably the most anticipated that the Quarterly publishes.
As with any publication, the Quarterly is only as good as its staff. The student editors are the heart and soul of the Quarterly. It is through their hard work that the Quarterly has remained at Washburn and has become one of the most cited speciality journals in the United States.
Staff for 2005-2006 were:
- Student Editor-in-Chief: Amy C. Coppola
- Student Executive Editor: Laura M. Findley
- Junior Editors: Kimberly A. Bieker, Skye N. Johnson, Kristen C. Kellems, Kana R. Lydick, Aaron J. Mansfield, Elizabeth R. Mathews, Lorien E. Showalter, Matthew B. Todd, Peter M. Wells, Keron A. Wright
Professor Linda Elrod with some of the 2005-2006 Family Law Quarterly staff.
