KU Law Lecture Series
Diplomat's Forum
"Animal Law: The Connection Between Domestic Violence and Animal Cruelty - A New Zealand Perspective"
Anita Killeen; Barrister at the Independent Bar of New Zealand; Former Chief Prosecutor of New Zealand's Serious Fraud Office
March 5, 2018
Anita Killeen is a Barrister at Quay Chambers, specializing in financial crime and fraud, civil and criminal litigation, and governance and decision-making. She is the former chief prosecutor in New Zealand's Serious Fraud Office.
Killeen is founder and chair of the internationally recognized Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Auckland Pro Bono Panel of Prosecutors, a group of senior New Zealand lawyers who prosecute animal cruelty cases for free. She will discuss significant case law and empirical research linking domestic violence and animal cruelty and will recommend legislative changes to help curb abuse.
Killeen regularly publishes and speaks nationally and internationally. She is a faculty member of the New Zealand Law Society Litigation Skills Programme, an international member of the American Bar Association Animal Law Committee and a member of the International Association of Prosecutors. A former criminal law tutor at the Auckland University School of Law, Killeen also has served in New Zealand’s Government Chief Legal Advisors’ Forum and the Organised and Financial Crime Policy Action Group.
Killeen is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and both the Institute of Directors and the Institute for Strategic Leadership (New Zealand).
The Diplomat’s Forum is the law school’s most prestigious annual international and comparative law event. Its aim is to provide a platform for an open sharing of thoughts on international law and relations and the United States through the perspective of a professional with notable diplomatic experience in the service of a foreign government.
“International Legal Accountability and the Right to Development: An African Perspective”
Professor Obiora Chinedu Okafor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
March 7, 2016
“The Middle East: Winds of Change and Quicksand – The Arab Awakening, Israel and the Region”
Avi Melamed, Rosenzwog Fellow of Intelligence and Middle East Affairs, Eisenhower Institute
March 27, 2014
Sean Hagan, general counsel and director, Legal Department, International Monetary Fund
Fall 2012
Anthony Amunategui Abad, managing director, TA Trade Advisory Group, The Philippines
Spring 2011
Ambassador Liu Zhenmin, deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, People’s Republic of China
Fall 2008
Fawaz Al Alamy, deputy minister of commerce and industry and Chief World Trade Organization technical negotiator, Saudi Arabia
Fall 2007
Takao Shibata, consul general, Japan
Spring 2007
Robert Zischg, consul general, Austria
Spring 2006
Margriet Vonno, economic counselor, Royal Dutch Embassy, The Netherlands
Fall 2003
Robert C. Casad Comparative Law Lecture
“Comparing Constitutions in the Global Era: Opportunities, Purposes and Challenges”
Professor Roberto Toniatti, University of Trento
February 8, 2019
Roberto Toniatti is a Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law and former Dean of the Law School at the University of Trento. He is an expert in comparative constitutional law and has written widely on the judiciary, legal pluralism, European integration, minority and indigenous peoples’ rights and cultural citizenship. Professor Toniatti was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Virginia and has since taught and lectured at leading institutions around the world, including the Universität Innsbruck, Hong Kong University, the National University of Singapore, and Haifa University. In addition to his scholarly contributions, he has also advised the European Union and the Venice Commission. Professor Toniatti is a member of the International Academy of Comparative Law.
The Casad lecture series is named in honor of Professor Emeritus Robert C. Casad, who has been on the faculty at the KU School of Law since 1959 and is internationally known for his scholarship in comparative civil procedure. In 1997 he retired from classroom teaching but continues to conduct research and publish books and articles.
“Twentieth-Century Sovereign Debtors: From Germany to Greece”
Richard M. Buxbaum, University of California Berkeley School of Law
October 8, 2015
“The Cosmopolitan State”
H. Patrick Glenn, McGill University
September 14, 2012
“U.S. Class Actions and the ‘Global’ Class”
George A. Bermann, Columbia Law School
December 1, 2008
Martin Dickinson Tax Policy Lecture
“Progressive Taxation: Historical Context and Contemporary Examples”
Myron Frans, L'83, State of Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner
October 13, 2016
In 1936 Franklin Roosevelt said, “Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay.” Today experts still regard progressive taxation as the most equitable and economically effective tax structure. A progressive tax system is one in which those with the greatest capacity to pay, pay more tax than those with a lesser capacity to pay. In a progressive tax system, average tax rates rise with income. A progressive tax system has many advantages, including reducing tax burdens on people who can least afford to pay them and leaving more money to stimulate the economy. Additionally, by indexing tax rates to increase as income climbs, the people with the greatest amount of resources fund a greater portion of the services we all rely on, such as education, roads, first responders, and social services.
Recently we have seen some states increase progressivity while others have become more regressive. The State of Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Myron Frans, L'83, will describe the historical case for progressive taxes and recent examples of successful implementation.
Myron Frans was appointed Commissioner of Minnesota Management & Budget in 2015. He previously served as Commissioner of Revenue from 2011 to 2015. Frans has three decades of private practice tax law expertise and served as president of Leeds Precision Instruments, a company in Golden Valley, Minnesota, that designs, manufactures and sells forensic microscopes around the world.
The Dean Martin Dickinson Tax Policy Lecture pays tribute to Dickinson’s 48-year legacy of teaching KU Law students and providing excellent analysis of tax policy and changes in tax laws in Kansas and beyond.
