The 6th Circuit Judicial Commission on Thursday submitted the names of Dennis Eckold, Thomas C. Fincham and Roseann Ketchmark to the governor’s office.

Eckold is an attorney and mediator. He is a former member of the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners.

Fincham is an attorney with Fincham & Salmon in Gladstone. He also serves as the municipal judge for several cities in the Kansas City area.

Ketchmark is an assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri. She was among the prosecutors in the trial of Lisa Montgomery, who received the death penalty in 2007 for killing a northwestern Missouri woman and kidnapping her unborn baby.

Gov. Jay Nixon will have 60 days to select one of the three for the position. He or she will replace Associate Circuit Judge Gary Witt, who was recently appointed to the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District.

According to the judicial commission, six women and 10 men applied for the vacancy.

The St. Louis firm’s chairman, Tom Minogue, said some of the eight new hires will start in January, with the rest delayed until the following January. The breakdown of start dates wasn’t immediately available.

Minogue said the “bifurcated” approach reflects the state of the market for lawyers.

“It’s just purely a function of the economy and when we have the openings,” he said.

Minogue said last year’s class of hires was also bifurcated, although less drastically. Of the 12 hires from the class of 2009, seven began in January and five will start in the last half of this year.

Minogue said with fewer positions available at law firms - and with jobs opening 21 months from now already filled - more law students are likely to spend their first few years out of school in clerkships or in public service work.

“It’s sort of the new paradigm,” he said.

Thompson Coburn isn’t the only firm to have taken such a step. Bryan Cave said last month that, of the 23 associates it hired in Missouri in 2008, nine were to start in January 2011.

Graham, partner at Gray, Ritter & Graham, was chosen Tuesday night to be the 2010 award recipient.

“First and foremost, Marcy is a gentleman, a lawyer that acts as we think all lawyers should act,” said Lawyers Association president, Matthew Devoti, of Casey & Devoti. “He is up-front, honest, and a zealous advocate for his client. He doesn’t cross the line into meanness and vindictiveness.”

Graham’s practices focuses on plaintiff litigation, specifically product liability, business litigation, class actions and medical negligence

“It’s a real honor to be elected by colleagues to receive this recognition,” Graham said. “It’s particularly important when I see the names of all the people that have received the award throughout the years.”

Graham has been active in numerous areas of the bar serving on The Missouri Bar Board of Governors from 1980 through 1990 and President of the Missouri Bar in 1988-1989. He has also served on several bar and Missouri Supreme Court task forces and committees including the Supreme Court Advisory Committee. On the national level, he was a member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates from 1990-1994.

Graham will be honored at a 6:30 p.m. April 24 dinner at the Sheraton St. Louis City Center Hotel & Suites. Tickets to the event are $75 per person.

The governor named Saint Louis University Professor Barbara Gilchrist to the State Board of Senior Services.

Gilchrist, of St. Louis, is a clinical law professor at SLU, teaching elder law classes and supervising students in the elder law clinic. The board reviews and offers advice to the state Department of Health and Senior Services about rules and budget plans affecting seniors.

Nixon appointed Stephanie M. Grise, of St. Louis, to the Credit Union Commission. She is an attorney with Armstrong Teasdale whose focus is public law and finance.

The commission makes rules for credit unions; hears appeals of decisions related to credit union management; and advises the credit union division director.

Michael E. Warrick, of Columbia, was named to the Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan board of trustees. Warrick is general counsel for the state Department of Agriculture and has more than 20 years’ experience with state government.

The board oversees the plan that provides health coverage for state employees and retirees, including setting eligibility standards and operating rules. It also makes sure the trust is financially sound.

Nixon also named two people to the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission - St. Louis Police Chief Daniel Isom and Jefferson County Sheriff Oliver “Glenn” Boyer. The POST Commission establishes the curriculum and sets rules for running the law enforcement training program.

All the appointments announced today require confirmation by the Missouri Senate.

Bryan Cave announced that Jeffrey J. Kalinowski, Richard H. Kuhlman, Carrie J. Bechtold, Adam S. Hochschild, Jeffrey S. Jamieson and Eric D. Martin would be joining the firm on April 1, in a press release.  The attorneys will join the firm’s Securities Litigation & Enforcement and Commercial Litigation Client Service Groups.

Earlier this week, Kalinowski was contacted by a reporter inquiring about his move to Bryan Cave. He declined to comment. He represents Stifel, Nicolaus and Company and A.G. Edwards & Sons, according to Husch Blackwell’s Web site.

Kalinowski and Kuhlman will join the firm as partners, while Bechtold, Hochschild, Jamieson and Martin will serve as counsel. The attorneys focused on securities and commercial litigation while working at Husch Blackwell.

Jennifer Haigh sued  Brown, an outfielder for the Royals for three years, in the circuit court in 2008 and claimed he failed to pay her more than $75,000 in exchange for her silence about a January 2007 incident.

After playing for the Royals, Brown bounced from the Oakland A’s to the New York Mets’ minor league team before becoming a free agent last year, according to MLB.com.

Brown denied any wrongdoing and only tried to mediate the conflict because any “public exposure” would threaten his $3.45 million salary with the Royals, according to a motion filed by Brown. His baseball contract compelled him to mediate, the motion said. It also said Brown and Haigh agreed to mediation in 2007, but it was unsuccessful.

Jackson County Circuit Judge Peggy McGraw ruled today that the correspondence between Haigh’s lawyer and Brown’s lawyers indicates the parties failed to reach an agreement over the settlement.

“This court is mindful that the law encourages the settlement of disputes and discourages parties from reneging on an agreement by simply failing to agree on the exact language,” McGraw wrote in her judgment. “However, in this case, the parties never reached an agreement so there is none for this court to enforce.”

Brett Davis, a Kansas City attorney for Haigh, had left his office for the day and didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.

Gregory Leyh, the Gladstone defense attorney for Brown, said “Hopefully this judgment will put an end to Emil’s 3-year ordeal defending himself from false statements and phony contract claims.”

Haigh filed a similar lawsuit in the Kansas City-based federal court. A judge dismissed that suit in 2008 for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

“We’re always talking about a hiring freeze,” said St. Louis Circuit Judge Steven Ohmer, chair of the budget committee. “It’s something that is continuously addressed. We’ve been able to get through this year without one, but it is likely that we’ll have to implement one on July 1.”

The courts’ fiscal year is from July 1 to June 30. The budget committee is scheduled to meet at 10:30 a.m. at The Office of the State Courts Administrator in Jefferson City.

The state court system implemented a general hiring freeze on courthouse employees and postponed computer equipment upgrades in the first half of the 2009 to help balance the books.

Ohmer said the move to go to a hiring freeze is a proactive one.

“It minimizes the costs that we’ll have to cut,” he said. “While people will have a greater workload it’s a lot better than having to fire or lay people off. It’s a good way to get out front of the shortfall.”

A Cape Girardeau County jury in 2001 convicted Terrance Anderson of murder in the deaths of Debbie and Stephen Rainwater. He received a sentence of life without parole for one murder and a death sentence for the other.

The Supreme Court threw the death sentence out in 2006 and required a new penalty-phase trial, at which he again was ordered to face execution.

In the current review, four judges on the court upheld the sentence, while three dissented and would’ve required a new trial on Anderson’s punishment.

While Anderson raised several points in his appeal, the court focused on a couple. First, the majority, in a decision written by Judge Zel Fischer, held that while the trial court used an outdated verdict mechanics instruction, the mistake didn’t result in an unfair trial so it doesn’t have to be redone. The state high court also reviewed whether the death penalty in this case was excessive when compared to similar cases in which death was ordered. The court found it was not, noting it has upheld death sentences previously when the defendant killed multiple people.

The firms, Lathrop & Gage, Kutak Rock, and Armstrong Teasdale outlined the work and expense involved in attorneys’ fees submitted this week in the case, the fourth filed over convicted fraudster Charles Polk’s tenure at Lathrop & Gage.

U.S. District Court Judge Carol Jackson in February dismissed the lawsuit and ordered Helenthal’s attorney, James E. Hullverson Jr., of Hullverson & Hullverson, to pay for the defendants’ expenses and attorneys’ fees.

Jackson found that the lawsuit was “frivolous” because of Helenthal’s previous litigation.

Hullverson declined to comment.

Helenthal made claims against Polk, Lathrop and attorney Gilbert Boyce of Kutak Rock, who represented Polk in a former lawsuit. 

The following is a summary of the fee and expense requests:

• Rabbitt, Pitzer & Snodgrass attorneys for Boyce said they billed $51,573 for about 279 hours of work. The firm also claimed $902 in expenses.
• Armstrong Teasdale, which represented Lathrop & Gage, was paid $19,012 for about 66 hours of work.
• Two Lathrop & Gage lawyers, Peter F. Daniel and Michael S. Cessna, also defended the firm. Lathrop is asking to be reimbursed for about 146 hours of work totaling $46,789. It also submitted $4,508 in expenses.

The total amount Lathrop seeks for payment for its defense is $70,310.

Carbone wrote the book with Naomi Cahn, a law professor at George Washington University Law School. It explores how the Red-Blue divide seen in politics also applies to family law, with “blue families” typical in urban and coastal areas and “red families” in Bible Belt and rural areas. The authors show how red states have increasingly rejected blue state legal norms on family issues, leaving the law divided.

The discussion will take place at the UMKC Chancellor’s Residence, 5106 Cherry St. in Kansas City. The UMKC Women’s and Gender Studies Program, School of Law and Women’s Center are hosting the discussion, which will be followed by a book signing. RSVPs are requested. To RSVP, please call 816-235-6060.