I love a good sticky note. The power of a sticky note exists in the way you choose to use it. A note’s use ranges from a task list to a reminder of why you are in law school to begin with. A sticky note can be the little smile you need at the end of a long reading, or the grocery list that keeps your mind and body fueled.
As a law student, I find sticky notes provide more than just a visual cue for remaining tasks or a house for lists — sticky notes are my motivators. I have a few sticky notes that get me through my 1L workload:
A pink sticky note says, “Done with Torts today!”
“Done with X for today!”
Admittedly, this is probably my favorite sticky note. I put one of these in each of my casebooks and move it to mark the last page of the day’s reading assignment. The note allows me to focus on the material, rather than the number of pages I have left in my reading. I know as soon as I have reached this sticky note that I have finished the reading for that class. I can then move onto the next reading or wrap up my work for the day. It is the little things that get you through hundreds (often thousands) of pages of reading in a semester.
A purple sticky note says, “How do you eat an elephant?”
“How do you eat an elephant?”
I promise I am not eating elephants in my leisure time, but if I were, I would do it one bite at a time. Law school can sometimes feel as if you are drinking water from a fire hydrant. Try breaking up larger assignments and readings into smaller, manageable pieces. Doing so will greatly improve the quality of your work and your mental health. If you think of every assignment, milestone, and activity in law school as a bite, you want to make sure you don’t get too full the first time you sit down. This note reminds me to slow down, pace myself, and plan ahead. Trust me, you’ll need to remind yourself at some point too.
A purple sticky note says, “Squeeze the juice!”
“Squeeze the juice!”
Squeeze the juice? You might ask what this means or what it has to do with sticky notes. You probably have your own version of this saying such as “seize the day” or “if life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” I feel that squeezing the juice is a bit more powerful than just making lemonade. Waking up every day in the middle of a global pandemic to an exhaustive reading list, pending writing assignments, and various extracurriculars can challenge even the most well-adjusted student. I never want to lose sight of the joy I find in being a law student in all the noise. When I see this sticky note, I am reminded to fill a moment with gratitude before squeezing the juice out of my next task.
We are all trying to find little reminders to hold meaning in our lives during this time. Sticky notes are my own little reminders to seek joy, feel gratitude and plan ahead. I hope you find some words worth putting on your own sticky note — may they bring you a smile and inspire you to squeeze some juice.
Jan Sheldon, L’77, has advocated for people with disabilities and at-risk youth for more than four decades through research, teaching and service. Sheldon retired in December after a 44-year tenure at the University of Kansas.
“It’s been a wonderful career,” Sheldon said. “I couldn’t have asked for anything better than being able to teach. I’ve had so many incredible students over the years. It’s really nice to be able to get to know them, watch them grow and seeing the impact they make in the field.”
Sheldon taught in KU’s Department of Applied Behavioral Science for 44 years and at the University of Kansas School of Law as a courtesy professor for 40 years. At the law school, she taught Alternative Dispute Resolution and Juvenile Law.
“Once I started teaching, I just fell in love with it,” Sheldon said. “I always looked forward to learning, presenting new material and interacting with the students. I don’t think I could have asked for a better job.”
Sheldon, who grew up in Independence, is a four-time alumna of the University of Kansas. She holds undergraduate degrees in psychology as well as human development and family life from KU. Sheldon also earned an M.A., Ph.D. and J.D. at KU.
During law school, Sheldon served as articles editor of the Kansas Law Review and was a member of Order of the Coif.
She has published three books, 21 book chapters and more than 50 articles, which have influenced policy and practices. Her scholarship sought to advance the quality of life for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Jan Sheldon retired in December 2020 after a 44-year tenure at the University of Kansas. Photo courtesy of Jenna Sheldon-Sherman.
Sheldon has received numerous teaching and advising awards including the W.T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence in 1998, the Steeples Service to Kansas Award in 2002 and the J. Michael Young Academic Advising Award in 2009. She was inducted into the KU Women’s Hall of Fame in 2017.
In addition to teaching, Sheldon has served as director of the Truancy Prevention and Diversion Program since 1978. The program aims at improving at-risk youth’s attendance in school. It is a joint initiative of KU’s Department of Applied Behavioral Science and the Douglas County Youth Services.
“It feels good knowing that I’ve made a difference with the kids,” Sheldon said.
In the Lawrence community, Sheldon helped found Community Living Opportunities (CLO). The organization provides support and resources to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Sheldon said that CLO serves about 500 people residentially. She also has served as the director of the Edna A. Hill Child Development Center.
Though she will miss her students, Sheldon is looking forward to spending more time with her family during retirement.
“My daughter lives right across the street with her two little boys, so we get to see them every day,” Sheldon said. “It’s really nice.”
The KU Law community responds to a pandemic through work, service and community leadership
Mayors who have helped lead their city’s response. A legislative analyst who was deployed to share information about the virus in the early days of its U.S. impact. A legal aid attorney who managed a hotline answering questions about stimulus payments. These are just a few examples of the KU Law graduates who have devoted their time and work in recent months responding to COVID-19.
The coronavirus has brought about tragic loss and hardship as it has turned the world upside down. The KU Law community – students, faculty, staff and alumni – has responded to the to the virus through its work, service and community involvement.
The alumni stories highlighted in the following pages show some of the many way KU Law graduates have responded to a global event. KU lawyers working for access to justice organizations have seen an increase in the need for legal assistance in the communities they serve, as citizens navigate a web of new policies and financial challenges. Alumni serving as mayors have guided local government responses and kept residents of their cities informed. In the public health sector, government workers and a health care industry CEO have worked around the clock to guide agency responses, distribute information and support potential treatments.
This section also details how the School of Law has adapted over the past several months. From finishing the spring 2020 semester remotely, to launching new summer projects to meet community need, to preparing for the fall term, KU Law has shifted its operations to address the current challenges.
Alumni mayors apply legal training to public service
Jennifer Ananda, L’10, started her one-year term as mayor of Lawrence in December 2019. Ananda said her legal education and social work training have helped her work through the city’s coronavirus response. Photo by Margaret Hair.
From the early days of the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Jennifer Ananda knew everyone in Lawrence, Kansas would need to work together.
The coordinated response started with a unified command of city, county, health department, education and other officials, Ananda said. It soon spread to residents coming together to ensure one another’s safety, she said.
“We had residents sewing masks, businesses making free lunches, non-profits offering rental assistance, the city offering services for those who need access to facilities and showers,” Ananda said. “These are no small feats, and our community showed up to do, and continue doing, what needs to be done.”
Ananda, L’10, is one of several KU Law alumni whose title of mayor has taken on new meaning in the past several months. Among the other KU lawyers serving as heads of local governments Sandra Kent, L’90, mayor pro tem of Richland, Washington; Eric Mikkelson, L’94, mayor of Prairie Village; David Waters, L’02, mayor of Westwood, Kansas; and Mike Kelly, L’11, mayor of Roeland Park, Kansas.
As the situation surrounding COVID-19 developed through the spring, Ananda said she found herself more frequently called on to act as a figurehead for the community. While the city government looked to health care professionals to drive research-based decision making, “people needed to hear from the mayor,” Ananda said.
“I quickly discovered that my job encompassed sharing information widely so that our community was informed,” she said.
Ananda was elected to the Lawrence City Commission in 2017 and started her one-year term as mayor in December 2019. Originally from Girard, Kansas, Ananda completed her undergraduate degree at KU and earned a joint J.D.-M.S.W. degree. In addition to her role as mayor, Ananda is the Title IX Coordinator for Emporia State University.
After years of being involved in activism and politics, Ananda said she knew she wanted to run for City Commission for several years before running. She took motivation from watching local leaders in action, as well as from a family history of public service.
“My father was a city employee of my hometown for most of my life. His work ethic and commitment to keeping our community safe as a fire chief sparked in me a sense of responsibility to give back to my community in a way that reflects my strengths,” Ananda said.
She said her legal training combined with her social work education have helped her navigate the situation by assessing information, identifying goals, planning accordingly, and keeping communication as an essential part of the process.
“To be able to balance information and the health-based needs of the community and offer grace and compassion has allowed me to effectively serve our community during a pandemic and a time of racial reckoning for our entire country,” she said.
Eric Mikkelson, L’94, front center, serves as mayor of Prairie Village, Kansas. He is pictured with city staff at Prairie Village‘s city hall building. Photo courtesy of Eric Mikkelson.
Pulling together to weather the storm
In Prairie Village, the city’s initial response involved declaring a local emergency and invoking local powers to enforce health orders, Mikkelson said. Eric Mikkelson has served on the Prairie Village city council since 2014 and was elected mayor in 2018.
“During those first weeks, we had to make multiple daily judgment calls to re-invent local government based on changing conditions, incomplete information, and mixed guidance from other sources,” Mikkelson said. As the weeks stretched on, some non-essential city services were suspended, portions of parks were closed, and essential city staffing went into rotations. Each decision came with necessary coordination with neighboring governments, as well as messaging to residents, Mikkelson said.
“We always cooperate with area agencies, but this pandemic required coordination on a level not seen before for health issues. We forged new relationships across the Kansas City metropolitan area to combat this virus together,” he said.
Originally from Lawrence, Mikkelson earned his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and returned to his home state for law school. He got involved in local government after advocating for more parkland, pedestrian and bicycle routes in Prairie Village, he said. He also served as a municipal judge for the City of Leavenworth from 1996-1997.
Mikkelson said his law background – along with an undergraduate degree in human biology – made it possible to process decisions that were “fraught with legal, health and other peril.” Legal training was helpful in “determining the facts, analyzing the relevant ones, consulting experts, researching legal precedent where it existed, and distilling all of that to create viable new laws and policy to meet the unique challenges,” he said.
“It helped us navigate to get to the best solution more quickly,” Mikkelson said.
Mikkelson is a partner in the corporate finance division of Stinson LLP’s Kansas City office. He also is a lecturer at KU Law. As the demands of his government work have increased, Mikkelson said he has become “a more efficient supervising team leader at the law firm.” When the Mergers & Acquisitions course he teaches at KU Law went online last spring, he adapted the course to teach live via Zoom.
In his law practice, teaching and government service, Mikkelson has found having a strong team has been essential to navigating crisis. That has held true in Prairie Village, where the staff, Council and community are pulling together to weather the storm, Mikkelson said.
“We drew on deep civic wells of resilience, compassion and community amongst our residents to confidently reaffirm who we are,” he said. “Those re-affirmed character traits will continue to guide us through these challenges to a brighter future together.”
As the fall 2020 semester comes to a close, we’d like to take a moment to wish you a happy holiday season.
We hope you enjoy the inaugural – and perhaps only – edition of the Kansas Journal of Confections & Winter Pastries. This new (fictional) publication features a lead article by Stephen W. Mazza, University of Kansas School of Law, titled, The Pecan Pie: Responding to Issues of Crust Burn and Filling Ooze.
From all of us at the KU School of Law, have a wonderful, safe and joyful holiday season.
KU Law alumni address increased legal needs of low-income Americans
Kansas Legal Services’ Executive Director Marilyn Harp, L’79, is pictured at Green Hall. Photo by Ashley Golledge.
Legal aid organizations across the nation provided legal assistance to low-income individuals and promoted equal access to justice throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The organizations continued to provide legal aid services after stay-at-home orders went into effect, courts were closed to non-emergency proceedings and laws were adapted to address the pandemic.
KU Law alumni who work at access to justice organizations assisted clients with a wide range of legal concerns related matters including child support, evictions, IRS/stimulus checks, housing issues and unemployment compensation.
Matthew Keenan, L’84
Funding legal aid organizations
Matthew Keenan, L’84, serves on the board of directors of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), which is based in Washington, D.C. LSC is the single largest provider of civil legal assistance for low-income Americans. Keenan was nominated to his position in May 2019 by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate three months later.
“Nothing brings happiness to an attorney more than helping someone who needs a helping hand,” Keenan said. “Legal Services Corporation, and their grantees like Kansas Legal Services, are the change agent for literally millions of our fellow residents.”
Keenan is also a partner at Shook, Hardy & Bacon, where he has practiced for 35 years primarily focusing on the defense of pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers.
When the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed in March, LSC received $50 million in emergency funding to address the increased legal needs of low-income Americans because of the pandemic. The funds were distributed among 132 organizations across the nation for COVID-related services and technology upgrades to allow for remote work.
“Local LSC-funded legal aid organizations have reported a significant uptick in COVID-related issues ranging from evictions, foreclosures, unemployment assistance and appeals, consumer debt and income maintenance,” Keenan said.
LSC requested another $50 million from Congress in April and it was included in the Heroes Act passed by the House.
Serving Kansans in need
Kansas Legal Services (KLS) Executive Director Marilyn Harp, L’79, said KLS has seen a 10% increase in the number of applications for legal assistance due to the pandemic. Harp has worked at KLS for 41 years and has served as its executive director for the past 14 years.
“I am crisis management-oriented. So, trying to figure out how to move employees home; meet client needs; and close and reopen offices perfectly suited me,” Harp said.
KLS is a non-profit organization with 12 offices statewide that provide legal services to low income Kansans. Harp and her staff broaden access to justice to 30,000 Kansans each year. This year’s increase translates to about 3,000 additional Kansans who sought legal assistance.
KLS hired eight law students to help with the increased volume of clients. Katie DeVito Erhart, L’20; 3L Harrison Baker; and 2L Natasha Richartz assisted applicants on various legal matters this past summer.
Harp thinks access to lawyers and the court will change permanently due to COVID-19.
“I believe lawyers who are in court regularly have learned how to use their camera and computer. I think it’s going to change things remarkably,” Harp said. “After we get through this, I see the world changing.”
Katy Kettler, L’19
Providing legal assistance through hotline
Katy Kettler, L’19, has helped manage a hotline for people to call with questions related to the Internal Revenue Service’s Economic Impact Payment. The one-time payment, which is also referred to as the stimulus check, provided up to $1,200 to eligible recipients.
“It is clear that people who are struggling are really depending on this check to help them get through the pandemic and not receiving it in a timely manner or at all has created more stress for people,” Kettler said.
Kettler is a staff attorney at the Legal Aid of Western Missouri’s (LAWMO) central Kansas City office. LAWMO has five offices, which serve residents in 40 Missouri counties.
Kettler works within LAWMO’s Consumer Protection Unit, which runs the hotline. More than 1,100 individuals nationwide have used LAWMO’s hotline since its creation in May.
“We are able to answer people’s questions on the stimulus check and can give guidance on what someone needs to do to claim their check or why we think they haven’t received it yet,” Kettler said.
Alison Paul, L’91
Offering assistance remotely
Montana Legal Services Association (MLSA) Executive Director Alison Paul, L’91, transitioned the MLSA to work remotely within three days of the onset of the pandemic in March. Paul has worked at MLSA for 21 years and has served as its executive director for nine years.
MLSA is headquartered in Helena, Montana. Because the MLSA’s three public offices serve a large and mostly rural state, the staff had prior experience at delivering legal services remotely.
“After a few bumps, we created a fully functioning remotely accessed phone system so that we could continue to answer our helpline and provide legal information and advice to the many Montanans who need our help,” Paul said.
In recent months, MLSA focused on increasing its social media presence and the amount of information available on its website to address emerging legal issues related to COVID-19. MLSA’s website saw a 62% increase in web traffic.
Paul also created policies to take better care of her staff during a stressful time, which includes a wellness leave option and a reduced work week of 32 hours.
“While it has been extra challenging to address a pandemic and required many long hours, it has been rewarding to be able to have a career that allows me to give back to people in need,” Paul said.
