Welcome to the Judge Hugh Means American Inn of Court, located in the beautiful and historic college town of Lawrence, KS.
We strive to foster excellence in professionalism, ethics, civility, and legal skills as part of the American Inns of Court community.
To contact the Judge Hugh Means American Inn of Court, email innofcourtlawrenceks@gmail.com or reach out to one of our Executive Committee members on the menu bar at left.
Meetings for 2025-2026 Inn year will be at Maceli's, 1031 New Hampshire St., from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. RSVPs are due a week in advance!
2025-2026 meeting schedule:
- Wednesday, September 24, 2025
- Wednesday, October 22, 2025
- Wednesday, November 19, 2025
- Wednesday, January 28, 2026
- Wednesday, February 25, 2026
- Wednesday, March 25, 2026
- Wednesday, April 22, 2026
"Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me!" Ethics skit, spring 2024
Inn member Hon. John W. Lungstrum of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas accepts the "Honorary Bencher" award from the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, London, June 2024. The Judge Hugh Means Inn of Court sent Judge Lungstrum with a framed print of the Douglas County Courthouse as a gift to the Middle Temple.
Executive Committee Members meeting with Chapter Liaison Caryn Worcester, fall 2023
Former Chief Justice of KS Supreme Court Lawton Nuss leading skit on historic role of veterans' courts, fall 2023
About Judge Means:
Judge Hugh Means was an active member of the legal community in Lawrence in the early twentieth century.
Judge Means was born on July 27, 1871 on the family farm southeast of Lawrence in the Wakarusa township. After receiving his law degree from the University of Kansas in 1895, he practiced in Lawrence until 1925 when he was elected Probate Judge. Judge Means went on to become District Court Judge for Douglas, Franklin, and Anderson Counties in 1929 and served until his retirement in 1953.
Even in retirement he continued to practice law and served as a reserve judge until his death in 1964. In the biography from the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Judge Hugh Means was known for "his high standards and impartiality". The biography quotes Judge Means regarding the requirements of serving in the judiciary:
"A judge lives in an atmosphere of semi-ostracism. He should be friendly with all members of the bar, but there should not be any intimacy with any one member of the bar. I have tried to preserve that attitude."
Biographical information about Judge Means from the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.
