Hon. Dale L. Somers

Hon. Dale L. Somers is Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Kansas in Topeka, initially appointed in September 2003. He hears cases in Topeka, Kansas City and Wichita. Previously, he was in private practice for 32 years and a partner in the law firms of Eidson, Lewis, Porter & Haynes and Wright, Henson, Somers, Sebelius, Clark & Baker. Judge Somers was appointed to the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in March 2010. He served as a member of the Judicial Resources Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Judge Somers served on the Board of Governors for the Kansas Bar Association from 1988-98 and as president from 1995-96. He is a Fellow of the of the American College of Bankruptcy and of the American Bar Association. Judge Somers received his undergraduate degree from Kansas State University in 1968 and his J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1971.