Faculty/Staff Profile
I enjoy working with students on what sometimes is their first 'real client' experience. Although classroom writing exercises are an invaluable tool in developing writing and advocacy skills, there really is no substitute for real cases and real clients for getting a taste of the practice of law.
While at the Arizona State University College of Law, Professor Hodgkinson served on the law journal as associate editor and was named a member of the Order of the Coif. After graduation, he served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Sheldon H. Weisberg, Judge of the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One. A Kansas native, he returned to practice as a public defender—in the Wichita trial office for a year and afterwards in the Kansas Appellate Defender Office in Topeka. He has represented clients in hundreds of felony appeals before the Kansas Appellate Courts and served as Deputy Appellate Defender from 2001 to 2006. Professor Hodgkinson has been co-counsel in two cases heard before the United States Supreme Court, Kansas v. Ventris and Kansas v. Garcia, and authored an amicus brief cited by the United States Supreme Court in Blakely v. Washington.
Professor Hodgkinson is currently appointed in a joint endeavor between Washburn University School of Law and the Kansas Appellate Defender Offiice teaching Criminal Appellate Advocacy, where law students work, under his supervision, on felony appeals assigned to the Kansas Appellate Defender Office. Prior to his appointment to this position, he served as an adjunct professor with the trial advocacy course at Washburn Law.
Professor Hodgkinson is licensed to practice in Kansas, Missouri, and Arizona, before the Ninth and Tenth Circuits, and before the United States Supreme Court. He is a member of the Kansas Judicial Council Criminal Law Advisory Committee and is a co-chair of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Tenth Circuit Amicus Committee. He was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers in 2014.
Professor Hodgkinson's Justice Quote:
"He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" – Micah 6:8
Professor Hodgkinson's Recommended Reading on Racial Justice:
"No Merit Briefs Undermine the Adversary Process in Criminal Appeals," 3 Journal of Appellate Practice and Process 55 (2001).
"Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Power Over Direct Legislation in Arizona," 23 Arizona State Law Journal 1111 (1991).
"Making the Record in Appellate Court" (Chapter 25), Kansas Criminal Law Handbook, 5th ed. (Kansas Bar Association, 2016).
"Diversion" (Chapter 5), Kansas Criminal Law Handbook, 5th ed. (Kansas Bar Association, 2016).
"Criminal Law" (Chapter 9), Kansas Annual Survey, Kansas Bar Association, annually, 2002-2009 (with various co-authors).
"Diversion" (Chapter 5), Kansas Criminal Law Handbook, 4th ed. (Kansas Bar Association, 2006).
"Clear as Mud? 'Clearly Erroneous' as a Standard of Review for Instructional Claims," Kansas Bar Association Appellate Practice Newsletter (Spring 2012).
» Cited in: State v. Simmons (The Supreme Court of the State of Kansas, August 24, 2012).
Co-author, United States Supreme Court Respondent's Merits Brief, Kansas v. Ventris (Sixth Amendment case). Professor Hodgkinson was second-chairing the January 21, 2009 argument (first chair was Matthew Edge from the Kansas Appellate Defender Office).
Kansas Defenders Blog, January 16, 2006-
Quoted, "Appeal Seeks Overturn of Wichita Man’s Rape, Human-Trafficking Convictions," The Wichita Eagle, September 16, 2014.
Quoted, "Court Reverses Itself on Drug Tax-Stamp Law in Kansas," The Wichita Eagle, January 21, 2014, (State of Kansas v. Michael Rae Hensley, Kansas Supreme Court, January 29, 2013).
Quoted, "Passage of 'Hard 50' Bill Paves Way for End of Special Session," The Topeka Capital Journal, September 4, 2013.
"Racial Bias and Traffic Stops: State v. Gray and Strategies for Defense Advocacy," Third Judicial District Public Defender Office, Lawrence, Kansas, March 9, 2018.
"Making the Record on Appeal" 2010 KBA Criminal Law Seminar, Wichita, Kansas, May 28, 2010.
"Protect That Record," Kansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers CLE, Lawerence, Kansas, April 30, 2010.
"Difficulties in Criminal Appellate Advocacy," Appellate Practice Symposium, Kansas Bar Association, Topeka, Kansas, April 20, 2007.
Member, Kansas Supreme Court Time Standards Committee, 2015-.
Fellow, American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, October 2014-.
Testified at Special Committee on Judiciary, August 26, 2013 (regarding proposed legislation for upcoming special session on the Kansas Hard-50 sentencing proposal).
Submitted testimony before the Kansas Senate Judiciary Committee, February 2, 2012 (in opposition to 2012 SB 307, relating to amendments to statute governing lesser included offenses in felony murder cases in state court).
Certificate of Teaching and Learning 2020-2021