TOPEKA—Overland Park Attorney Dan Biles will be sworn in as the 74th justice of the Kansas Supreme Court during a special session of the Court Friday, March 6, 2009. The session will be at 2 p.m. in the Supreme Court Courtroom in the Kansas Judicial Center, 301 W. 10th, in Topeka.
Biles will be presented to the Court by Dr. Diane Bannerman Juracek, Ph.D., a senior director at Community Living Opportunities, Inc., a non-profit Kansas corporation serving more than 370 children and adults with severe developmental disabilities in community-based residential and day programs. It was founded 32 years ago as an alternative to state-operated institutions. Biles served on the CLO Board Directors for 20 years, but let his term expire after being appointed to the Supreme Court.
Biles, 56-year-old native of El Dorado, served as a partner in the law firm of Gates, Biles, Shields & Ryan, P.A., Overland Park, immediately preceding his appointment. He joined the firm (formerly known as Gates & Clyde, Chartered) in 1985. His practice emphasized administrative, trial, and appellate work on behalf of individuals, corporations, and various state and local government agencies. Biles represented the Kansas State Board of Education as its attorney from 1985 until his appointment to the Supreme Court. He also served as general counsel for the Kansas Turnpike Authority.
Admitted to the Kansas Bar in April 1978, he is a graduate of the Washburn University School of Law and Kansas State University, where he received a BS in Journalism in 1974. Beginning in 1980, Biles served five years as an Assistant Attorney General, Litigation Division. Previously, he was a writer for the Associated Press in Topeka, reporting on legislative hearings and sessions, the Kansas Supreme Court, Governor’s office, various state agencies, and political and campaign activities. He also has been an adjunct professor of law at the Washburn law school.
Biles and his wife, Amy McCart, Ph.D., who is an assistant research professor at the University of Kansas, Beach Center on Disability, are parents to three daughters.