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Judge Dale L. Somers appointed Chief Judge

Friday, May 25, 2018

We are pleased to announce the appointment of the Honorable Judge Dale L. Somers as Chief Judge of the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas effective June 1, 2018.
 
A native of Norton, Kansas, the Honorable Dale L. Somers earned his undergraduate degree from Kansas State University and his juris doctor degree from the University of Kansas School of Law.   Admitted to the Kansas Bar in 1971, he was in private practice in Topeka, Kansas, for 32 years and a partner in the law firms of Eidson, Lewis, Porter & Haynes and Wright, Henson, Somers, Sebelius, Clark & Baker before his appointment as a Federal Bankruptcy Court Judge in 2003.   Judge Somers served as president of the Kansas Bar Association.   He is a Fellow of the American Bar Association and a member of the American College of Bankruptcy.   He has been a Judge on the U.S. Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Tenth Circuit since 2010.   Judge Somers hears cases in Topeka, Wichita, and Kansas City, Kansas. 
 
Judge Somers succeeds Judge Janice Miller Karlin who served with distinction as Chief Bankruptcy Judge since July 1, 2016.  Judge Karlin is retiring on September 1, 2018.