Republican Secretary of State Scott Schwab has named a private-sector lawyer who specializes in international trade litigation to the state ethics commission.
Schwab named Beau Jackson – not the famous running back – to the ethics commission. He replaces Kyle Krull who has served on the panel since 2011. His term expired Jan. 31.
“I am thankful for Kyle’s many years of service on the commission,” Schwab said in a statement. “He provided continuity for the commission, and I appreciate his commitment to serving in this role.”
Jackson is a partner at Husch Blackwell, where he leads the firm’s international trade litigation practice, with an emphasis on helping U.S. manufacturers combat imported products that infringe on intellectual property rights.
Jackson also advises clients on a variety of international business issues and serves as outside general counsel.
Before entering private practice, Jackson served as a congressional law clerk for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade and as a legal intern in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
His work has included successfully representing a Kansas educational company before the Department of Commerce and U.S. trade representative with respect to trade remedies on solar panels.
He won orders exempting the client’s imports from all antidumping and countervailing duties, as well as from ancillary safeguard measures.
He also helped a South Africa-based engineering and construction firm with its entry into the U.S. market.
He has a law degree from the University of Kansas. He also has a bachelor’s in political science and history from KU.
Between college and law school, Jackson spent more than two years serving in the Peace Corps in Cape Verde, a small island nation in western Africa.
Since last year, Jackson is the fifth new member named to the state ethics commission, which had come under scrutiny in the Capitol as it undertook a broad investigation that focused on the Republican Party apparatus in Kansas.
Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach recently named former Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Keen Umbehr to the commission. He replaced Jane Deterding.
Last year, Senate President Ty Masterson named Wichita lawyer Mark Schoenhofer to the commission, and House Speaker Dan Hawkins appointed Lawrence trial attorney Christopher Burger.
House Minority Leader Vic Miller named law student Andrew Harrison to the commission.
Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes reappointed John Solbach, who represented Lawrence and rural Douglas County in the Kansas House from 1979 to 1992.
