Steve Leben

Steve Leben is the Douglas M. Stripp Distinguished Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Faculty at UMKC Law School. He joined the UMKC faculty in 2020 after 27 years as a state trial and appellate judge in Kansas and 11 years practicing law in Kansas City.

Leben works nationally to promote procedural justice in court proceedings, which the National Center for State Courts recognized in 2014 with its highest award for a judge, the William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a past officer of the American Bar Association Judicial Division and its Appellate Judges Conference, and past president of the American Judges Association.

At UMKC Law, Leben teaches courses on appellate advocacy, criminal law, evidence, statutory interpretation, and professional responsibility. His most recent law-review articles have been in the Arkansas Law Review (2024, on how to reduce politicization of the courts) and the Kansas Law Review (2025, on considerations of precedent in state intermediate appellate courts).