Dan Monnat, of Monnat & Spurrier, Chartered, was inducted into the American Board of Criminal Lawyers at ABCL’s annual meeting in Atlanta last week. Monnat is the first Kansas attorney to be selected for the ABCL, whose members include lawyers in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Founded in 1978, the American Board of Criminal Lawyers is an exclusive legal society for outstanding criminal trial lawyers, with admission to fellowship by invitation only. Fellows must have at least 10 years of criminal trial experience, and have tried at least 50 trials, including at least 35 felony jury trials.
“The primary concern of the ABCL is the preservation and the free exercise of fundamental freedoms for all those accused of criminal conduct,” Monnat said. “Over the years, ABCL Fellows have become regularly involved in high profile criminal cases throughout the country. I am honored to be included among this group of distinguished legal practitioners, whose collective hard work and dedication to criminal defense have made such worthwhile contributions to our American system of justice.”
Monnat has practiced in Wichita for more than 36 years. A graduate of California State University, Monnat holds a Juris Doctorate from Creighton University School of Law and is a graduate of Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyer’s College.
A frequent national lecturer and editorial contributor on criminal defense topics, Monnat is the author of “Sentencing, Probation, and Collateral Consequences,” a chapter of the Kansas Bar Association’s Kansas Criminal Law Handbook, 4th edition. Appointed by then-Governor Kathleen Sebelius, Monnat served on the Kansas Sentencing Commission from 2007 – 2012.
Monnat currently sits on the Kansas Association of Justice’s Board of Editors and is the Criminal Law Chair. He has also been designated a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, Litigation Counsel of America and the Kansas Bar Foundation.
Monnat served as a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Board of Directors from 1996 – 2004, and is a two-term past president of the Kansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.