Kansas City bar honors judges, attorneys at annual meeting

The Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association held its 141^st annual meeting Dec. 12 at the Sheraton Hotel at Crown Center. 

The yearly meeting includes awarding several honorees as well as the elections of new officers for the upcoming year.

John M. Edgar was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes outstanding servicing resulting in the growth and development of the law, improvement in the administration of justice and increased recognition of the contributions by the legal profession to the welfare of society. Edgar’s 55-year legal career includes working at Stinson, Mag & Fizzell and Bryan, Cave, McPheeters & McRoberts before founding the Edgar Law Firm with his sons in 2002. He also previously served as KCMBA president in 2000.

The Hon. Joseph E. Stevens, Jr. Aspire to Excellence Award was presented to Judge Constance M. Alvey. This award is given to individuals who have made significant improvements to the quality of the administration of justice in the Kansas City area. Alvey has been a Wyandotte County, Kansas, district court judge since 2009 and prior to that, served as an assistant court trustee, assistant district attorney and assistant juvenile officer in Jackson and Wyandotte counties.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton D. Lucas and University of Missouri – Kansas City law school Dean Lumen N. Mulligan received the KCMBA Presidents Award. These awards recognize service to the profession that reflect the mission and objectives of the association. Lucas was elected as mayor in 2019 and reelected in 2013. He received his law degree from Cornell. Mulligan took on the decanal role at UMKC in 2023. His legal career includes co-founding Stowell & Mulligan and serving as a judicial clerk on the United States 10^th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The the Outstanding Continuing Legal Education Contributor Award was presented to Danielle M. Atchison for her role in suggesting, implementing, organizing and supporting KCMBA CLE programs. Atchison practices corporate immigration law at the Mdivani Corporate Immigration Law Firm, and regularly gives CLE updates on business immigration law, ethics and the advancement and retention of women in the legal field.

Eli W. Dodge was the recipient of The Young Lawyers Section President’s Award, recognizing his outstanding service to the Young Lawyers Section. Dodge is an assistant public defender and has worked in the public defender’s office since graduating from the University of Missouri law school in 2021. He also co-chairs KCMBA’s Young Lawyer Section’s Public Service Committee and is a District 3 representative of the Missouri Bar’s YLS Council.

In addition to the awards, the association installed and elected its new officers and members at large, including a new president for 2026, Stacey J. Janssen. The former president was Scott C. Gyllenborg of Gyllenborg & Brown.

Janssen practices estate and probate law and is the owner and attorney of Janssen Estate Probate & Elder Law. She praised the KCMBA for creating a community in which lawyers and attorneys can come together.

“This is not a job I ever aspired to … As a little girl on a farm I never thought I could be in a room life this with people like you,” she said. “There are bridges that join us together, and KCMBA is an organization that, as professionals, joins us together … This is a place where we can … really learn from each other. KCMBA is a place where … you will make lifelong friends … (and) a bridge to the community.”

The event also featured keynote speaker Mitch Holthus, the Kansas City Chief’s radio play-by-play announcer since 1994.

Holtus spoke about leadership, accountability and professional culture, drawing parallels between the Chiefs’ success and the habits required to build strong law firms, courts and legal organizations. He urged attorneys to focus on strategic listening, curiosity over judgment and treating colleagues with respect at every level.

“It’s not just rings and runs… Most of the time now, it’s what’s real. Listen to absorb … and then you’ll act … Train yourself to ask three more questions. How you treat people above you, beside you and below you matters … You handle milestones, but you don’t stay there. You also handle flash points, but you don’t stay there either.”