Newsroom The Missouri Bar

The Constitution Team at Joplin High School tied for second place with Nixa High School at the Missouri Bar’s Show Me the Constitution competition last month in one of the closest races in state history, according to officials.

A Jefferson City lawmaker was honored this week for his work to help the causes of the state's judiciary.

Missouri Bar President John Grimm was sworn in at the Bar’s annual meeting Sept. 24. The bar’s new vice president Megan Phillips and president-elect Lauren Tucker McCubbin also began their terms.

Cape Girardeau attorney and former Circuit Court Judge John Grimm has been elected to a one-year term as president of The Missouri Bar, an organization that represents approximately 30,000 lawyers throughout the state.

The Missouri Bar’s Board of Governors will gain two new members, following elections that ended Aug. 16. Judge Tracey A. Mason-White, an associate judge in Sullivan County, won an uncontested election in District 1, which covers 19 counties in northwestern Missouri. She succeeds Judge W. Douglas Thomson, who didn’t seek re-election. LaceShionna Cline of Littler Mendelson in Kansas City won an uncontested election for the board’s Western District diversity seat. She succeeds Alexandra E. Wilson, who was term-limited.

There may be a some future attorneys, judges, members or congress or even a Supreme Court justice walking the halls at Nixa High School.

Nixa High School is the home of state champion Constitutional scholars.

Welcome to the practice of law, social distancing style. As precautions against COVID-19 have ramped up during the past week, nearly every aspect of daily life — including the rhythms of the legal community — have changed.

For the first time in its 76-year history, The Missouri Bar soon will have an African American lawyer as its executive director. On April 1, Mischa Buford Epps will formally join the bar as executive director. Epps will be the organization’s fifth-ever executive director and the first African American person in that role.

The third annual Mid-Missouri Festival of Faiths will focus on the connections between religion in schools.

The Missouri Bar’s Board of Governors on March 5 unanimously approved Mischa Buford Epps as the bar’s next executive director.

In his year-end report on the federal judiciary, United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts notes that over the years “we have come to take democracy for granted, and civic education has fallen by the wayside.”

When it comes to understanding our nation’s foundational document, Joplin High School students shine. Joplin High School is state champion in Missouri Bar’s annual Show Me the Constitution competition — again.

A group of ten students at Nixa High School know their Constitution better than almost anyone else in the state. The team of Nixa Eagles finished second in the Missouri Bar’s Show Me Constitution Competition held in Columbia.

Civil rights legal history will come alive at the second Dred Scott Reconciliation Conference, to be held 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday October 12 at the Mahler Ballroom, 4915 Washington Blvd. in St. Louis.

Out of the past: Oct. 12 Saturday, October 12, 2019

30 Years – 1989 ■ Farmington attorney Dennis E. McIntosh was reappointed vice-chairman of the Legal Education Committee by W.H. “Bert” Bates, president of the Missouri Bar.

Greene County Prosecutor Dan Patterson has been named the 2019 Prosecutor of the Year and one of his top assistants has also been honored for her work.

Free legal assistance is available to Missourians who need help with disaster-related issues such as home repair contracts and contractors; life, medical and property insurance claims; FEMA applications and appealing FEMA decisions.

The toll-free disaster hotline is a partnership between the Missouri Bar Association, the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, and FEMA.

Ray Williams, president of The Missouri Bar, urges lawyers to have a disaster plan — and know how to put it in action. “If you put it in the file cabinet and don’t actually use it, it doesn’t have much function,” he said. Williams knows from experience...

Here's a summary of resources to assist tornado and flood victims in the Jefferson City area.

The Missouri Bar has opened up a hotline to provide free legal advice, including assistance with insurance claims, reviewing repair contracts, and replacing legal documents lost in the storm. Call 800-829-4128.