Speaker Bios

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October 5   
 Professor Sidney D. Watson, St. Louis University School of Law 

Professor of Law

Professor Watson is a specialist in health law and health care access for the poor. She has spent her legal career advocating on behalf of low-income people, both as a legal services lawyer and as a law professor.

From 1977 to 1981, Professor Watson was director of clinical education at Tulane University School of Law. She founded both Tulane’s Law Clinic and its Trial Advocacy program.

From 1980 to 1987, Watson was a legal services lawyer in Louisiana and Alaska. In Louisiana, she served as managing and senior attorney in the health, welfare and elderly units of the New Orleans Legal Assistance Corporation. She was also director of the Farmworkers Legal Assistance Project, a statewide legal services program representing migrant and seasonal farm workers. She spent three years in Dillingham, Alaska, as the supervising attorney of the Alaska Legal Services Corporation Bristol Bay office, a circuit riding through 32 native villages throughout southwest Alaska.

Currently, Professor Watson is advocating for improved access to Medicaid services for people with disabilities and others. She received a grant from the Missouri Protection and Advocacy Service, the Missouri Planning Council on Development Disabilities and the Southern Disability Law Center to write An Advocate’s Guide to Missouri MC+/ Medicaid for People with Disabilities, a reference guide for lawyers and other advocates.

Professor Watson joined the School of Law in 2001 as a full professor. Previously, she was on the faculty at Mercer University School of Law, where she taught for 14 years. Watson has been a visiting scholar and professor at Seton Hall University School of Law and Saint Louis University School of Law. She is on the faculty of the School’s Center for Health Law Studies.

Professor Watson is a frequent speaker to consumer, disabilities rights and children’s groups about Medicaid and access to care. She has written extensively on racial and ethnic disparities in health care, health reform, physicians and charity care, and health care for those who are homeless. She is editor of the book, Representing the Poor and Homeless: Innovations in Advocacy. She also authored three editions of the book, A Georgia Advocate’s Guide to Health Care.

Professor Watson is a former member of the ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty. She also served on the National Health Law Program Task Force on Civil Rights and Health Care Reform during the Clinton Health Reform Initiative.


October 12 

Christine A. Alsop, owner of The Elder and Disability Law Firm of Christine A. Alsop, LLC has extensive elder law experience as well as significant litigation and advocacy experience. She has provided advice for both institutional and individual fiduciaries. She regularly represents fiduciaries and family members in contested probate, trust and guardianship matters as well as fiduciary litigation. She is also experienced in helping families with long term care issues, including Medicaid, Veteran’s Benefits, estate planning, asset protection and Special Needs Trusts. She is a member of both the Missouri and Illinois Bars and is also admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. She is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and served as Chair of the Advocacy and Litigation Section of that organization. She has served as a member of the Board of Directors and as an Officer of the local chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and she is a member of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys. She is a member of the National Alliance of Medicare Set-Aside Professionals (NAMSAP) and has been retained as an expert to give advice in matters involving Medicare Set Aside Arrangements and Lien Resolution issues. She currently serves as the Chair of the Elder Law Committee for the Missouri Bar. She is a member of The Academy of Special Needs Planners. She graduated from Valparaiso University School of Law, where she was honored for her outstanding work in trial advocacy.

Julie Berkowitz is an Attorney who focuses her practice on Medicaid Eligibility and Estate Recovery Issues, Estate Planning, Special Needs Trusts, Probate Administration, Guardianships and Conservatorships.  She is the principal Attorney of the Law Office of Julie A. Berkowitz.                
Julie received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the University of Nebraska in 1986.  She received her law degree in 1989 from Washington University Law School in St. Louis.  She has practiced law for the past 22 years.  She started her current law practice in 1998.                
Julie was the Chairman of the Elder Law Committee for the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis for the years 2003, 2004, and 2005.  She is also a member of the Elder Law Committee of the Missouri Bar, Missouri Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, and of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.  Julie is a volunteer attorney for the Volunteer Lawyers Program for the Legal Services of Eastern Missouri.
Julie has written extensively on Medicaid eligibility issues in Missouri.  She is the author of the chapter “Medicaid Eligibility in Missouri” of the Missouri Bar’s Elder Law desk reference book for attorneys.  She is a co-author of the chapter “Estate Planning for Minors, Elderly and Disabled Individuals” of the Missouri Bar’s Estate Planning desk reference book for attorneys.  She is also the author of the Medicaid section of the Senior Citizen’s Handbook which is published annually by the Missouri Bar.  Julie is a frequent speaker on Medicaid and other Elder Law issues.


October 19
James C. Delworth, Asst. U.S. Attorney.

James Delworth, a St. Louis University School of Law graduate, has been an Assistant United States Attorney for the past 19 years.  He is currently lead attorney in the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force involved in prosecuting large scale drug trafficking networks.  Prior to this, he worked as an Assistant Federal Public Defender for 8 years and was a law clerk for the Honorable Robert Kingsland, United States Magistrate Judge.  Mr. Delworth has tried over 100 jury trials both as a prosecutor and a public defender and has argued more than 50 cases before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.  He is the recipient of numerous awards including the DEA Director’s Award, United States Postal Inspection Service Director’s Award and personal letter of recognition from the Director of the FBI.    

October  26 

Lynn Whaley Vogel --  President of The Missouri Bar

Ms. Vogel is a solo practitioner whose practice includes a focus on mediation as well as estates and trusts. She also serves as general counsel for a family business. Ms. Vogel has practiced as a lawyer or in business settings for the past 25 years.  She received her legal education at Mississippi College School of Law.

Ms. Vogel has an extensive background serving the legal community and civic groups.   She has been a member of the Board of Governors of The Missouri Bar since 2004. In that role she chaired a special committee to assist lawyers in a changing economy.  Ms. Vogel was also an elected member of the Young Lawyers Section from 1988-1996 and has served as chair of two additional committees.  She has been a member of the St. Louis Bar Foundation since 1998, President of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis and on the executive committee of the Lawyers Association of St. Louis. 

She is currently vice-chair of the St. Louis Internship Program celebrating its 20th anniversary.  As a  Rotarian, Ms. Vogel served as president of the Des Peres Rotary Club, and, she has raised funds for many civic organizations including Friends of Character plus, Reparatory Theatre of St. Louis, the Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Friends of Children’s Hospital.

Art Martin is a partner in the St. Louis labor firm of Schuchat, Cook & Werner. Art served as an Organizer, Business Agent and District Manager for the International Ladies Garment Workers' Union, AFL-CIO from 1972-1981. During Law School he worked as an Intern for United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Judge Theodore McMillian and afterwards as a Clerk for United States District Court Judge William Hungate. He received his law degree froim St. Louis University in 1984. Art served as chair of the Labor Law Section of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (1994-1995), and has been an Adjunct Professor at the St. Louis University School of Law since 1994. In his practice he represents labor unions and individual employees in their dealings iwth employers primarily in Missouri and Illinois.

November 2 Faculty

Chad W. Flanders - Assistant Professor of Law

Professor Chad Flanders joins SLU LAW after clerking for Judge Michael McConnell on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (2008-2009) and Justice Warren Matthews of the Alaska Supreme Court (2007-2008). Flanders has a B.A. in Classics and Philosophy from Hillsdale College, MI, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Chicago.

His J.D. is from Yale Law School, where he served as an editor and senior editor of the Yale Law Journal, and submissions chair for the Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics. Flanders has published articles and reviews in the areas of election law, punishment, religion, and the philosophy of Adam Smith.

He has written opinion-editorials in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Hartford Courant, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. His work on Bush v. Gore has been cited in federal and state court cases and in the New York Times. Flanders is a member of the Alaska Bar.

Professor Roger L. Goldman, both of the St. Louis University School of Law

Roger L. Goldman, the Callis Family Professor of Law at Saint Louis University School of Law, is the nation’s foremost expert on police licensing and license revocation laws. For more than two decades he has been helping states write and adopt laws that provide for removing the license or certificate of an officer who engages in serious misconduct, such as sexual assault and brutality.

When Professor Goldman began to address the problem of unfit police officers’ moving from one department to another within a state, 15 states were without decertification/revocation laws. Today, only six states remain without revocation authority; he is now working with individuals in those states to enact such laws to keep bad officers off their streets. Professor Goldman’s ultimate goal is to help create a federally mandated national data bank of decertified police officers to prevent them from moving and being employed in a different state.

Educated at Harvard College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Professor Goldman is also a leading expert on the U.S. Supreme Court and constitutional law. In addition to his many articles on police licensing, he is an author of three books on the U.S. Supreme Court: The Role of the Supreme Court in Protecting Civil Rights and Liberties; Justice William J. Brennan, Jr.: Freedom First; and Thurgood Marshall: Justice for All, which was a finalist for the 1992 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work. Both national and local media frequently seek Professor Goldman’s professional commentary.

Wednesday, Nov 9  Family Law  
MARIE KENYON is the managing attorney for the Catholic Legal Assistance Ministry,  CLAM) which offers representation for impoverished families who do not have the means to afford an attorney. CLAM handles mostly domestic issues, focusing on families in need.  CLAM handles many cases involving paternity, orders of protection, guardianship, and abuse.  

Ms. Kenyon is  a field instructor for the Saint Louis University School of Law. She  has been active in The Missouri Bar, serving as a member of its Board of Governors since 2009.   Other leadership roles include, work on the Young Lawyers Council and the St. Louis County Judicial Evaluation Committee, and the Pro Se Task Force. In 1994, the American Bar Association awarded her the Child Advocacy Award, the only lawyer in St. Louis ever to receive that award.

Ms. Kenyon earned her law degree from St. Louis University School of Law and her undergraduate degree from Bradley University. She served in the Peace Corps in Western Africa from 1981-83.

Judge Robin Vannoy, 22nd Judicial Circuit
Robin Ransom Vannoy is a graduate of Douglass College-Rutgers University in the State of New Jersey.  She received her law degree from the University of Missouri - Columbia.  She has served as an Assistant Public Defender and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in St. Louis County.  From 1996 - 2002, she was a Staff Attorney with the St. Louis County Family Court.  In December of 2002, she was appointed to serve as a Family Court Commissioner for the Twenty-Second Judicial Circuit.  After serving in that position for six years, she was appointed Circuit Judge in September of 2008 by Governor Matt Blunt.  For the first two years as a Circuit Judge, Judge Vannoy presided over Division 15, the Family Court Division of the City of St.
Louis.  She now handles a general criminal and civil trial docket in Division 3.


The MO Bar Mini-Law School Committee
Co chairs: Judge Joe Simeone and Nancy Mogab
                      Prof John Ammann
                      Bill Bay
                      Dr. Anne Craver PhD, JD
                      Pete Dunne
                      Lisa Herder
                      Tom Magee
                      Ken Vuylsteke
                      Judge Jim Steitz