A Topeka attorney, Bill Ossmann, has been hired to serve as the Chief Litigation Attorney for the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, John Badger, chief legal council for the agency, announced today.

His new responsibilities will include representing the agency in administrative and legal matters; coordinating, planning and directing legal activities in complex litigation; supervising staff attorneys and advising agency administrators.

Ossmann attended Topeka public schools and graduated from Topeka High. He received a B.S. degree in mathematics from Kansas State University, a law degree from Washburn University's School of Law and a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Kansas.

Ossmann served as an Assistant District Attorney in Shawnee County for fifteen years and was First Assistant D.A. until January 1993. He has been a staff attorney for the Kansas Department of Agriculture since April 1993.

A graduate of Leadership Greater Topeka, Ossmann serves as vice-president of the Downtown Kiwanis Club and Chairman of the Management Assistance Subcommittee of the Agency Relations Committee of the Greater Topeka United Way.

Ossmann serves as a volunteer fire chief and emergency medical technician for Shawnee County Fire District # 4 (Dover). He is President of the State Capital Area Fire Fighters Association and chairs the Shawnee County Local Emergency Planning Committee. He is a Master in the Sam A. Crow Inn of the American Inns of Court and the Law Day Chairman for the Topeka Bar Association. He teaches trial advocacy as an adjunct professor at the Washburn University School of Law.

He lives with his wife, Catherine, on a ranch west of Topeka.

Page Last Updated: May 29, 2001