Dennis R. Dow

Hon. Dennis R. Dow is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Missouri in Kansas City, appointed on Nov. 10, 2003, by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Prior to taking the bench, he was a partner with the firm of Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP, where he represented trustees in chapter 7 cases involving significant assets, individual and corporate debtors in proceedings under chapters 7 and 11, and secured, unsecured and priority creditors and lessors in chapter 7, 11, 12 and 13 cases, and had been listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the area of bankruptcy law every year since 1995. He also tried numerous adversary proceedings and contested matters, including preference actions, objections to discharge, dischargeability complaints and objections to confirmation of chapter 11 plans. Judge Dow is a member of ABI, the Missouri Bar and the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association. He is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, inducted in March 2013, and was selected in November 2014 to become a conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference. He also is a member of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges. Judge Dow is Chief Judge of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel. He also served a term as chair of the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules Judge Dow has authored and co-authored several articles, including “ERISA-Related Claims in Bankruptcy,” Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Nov/Dec 1993), “Rent to Own Agreements in Bankruptcy: Sales or Leases?,” ABI Law Review, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Spring 1994), and “Gramm-Leach-Bliley and the Bankruptcy/Collection Attorney,” Norton Bankruptcy Law Advisor (Feb 2002). He received his B.A. with honors from the University of Wyoming and his J.D. from Washburn University School of Law, where he was notes editor of the Washburn Law Journal.