Judge named to American Law Institute

TOPEKA—Kansas Court of Appeals Judge Steve Leben has been elected to the American Law Institute (ALI), a prestigious legal organization whose members are elected through a rigorous selection process, it was announced in Topeka today.

Leben is among 68 newly elected members of the now 4,234-member council. He is the only member of the Kansas judiciary who presently serves as an elected member of ALI.

“The process of being selected into the ALI is rigorous,” ALI President Roberta Cooper Ramo said in announcing the new members. “Membership is a significant honor, as well as a promise to contribute to the health of the legal system in the U.S. and, increasingly, that of legal systems around the world. With the formidable challenges facing our world, these additions to our ranks will enhance our ability to take on the major legal problems of the times and develop solutions,” she said.

The Institute is the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly works to clarify, modernize, and otherwise improve the law. The Institute publishes Restatements of the Law, model statutes, and principles of law that are enormously influential in the courts and the legislatures, as well as in legal scholarship and education.

Judge Leben joined the Kansas Court of Appeals in June 2007 after serving nearly 14 years as a district judge in Johnson County. In addition to his work as a judge, Leben also regularly teaches a course on legislation and statutory interpretation at the University of Kansas School of Law. He has served since 1998 as editor of Court Review, a national journal for judges, and he was president of the American Judges Association in 2006-2007. Before becoming a judge, Leben practiced law for 11 years in the Kansas City area—six years with the firm of Stinson, Mag & Fizzell (now Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP) and five years in solo practice.