2023-24 Missouri Bar leaders elected

Megan Phillips, a solo practitioner from St. Louis, was elected as 2023-24 Missouri Bar president during the Sept. 13 Board of Governors meeting.

Phillips was sworn in as president on Sept. 14 at the Annual Meeting of The Missouri Bar, held at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City. 

Phillips succeeds Lauren Tucker McCubbin, who practices at Polsinelli in Kansas City, as president of the 30,750-member organization. Tucker McCubbin transitioned into the role of immediate past president of The Missouri Bar at the conclusion of the annual meeting.

“The bar strives to be a place of inclusion and belonging, where your lived experience is valued and celebrated, your well-being matters, and where you can find help without judgment,” Phillips said. “Like siblings in a family, we may have our internal differences, but we are united in our common goal to improve the profession, the law, and the administration of justice on behalf of all Missourians.”  

Phillips is a career law clerk with more than 15 years of public service in state appellate and federal trial courts. She is also an adjunct instructor at Saint Louis University School of Law. She graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1997. She served on the Board of Governors from 2008-2010 and again since 2017. She is also past co-chair of the Joint Commission on Women in the Profession.

Shelly Dreyer was elected president-elect of The Missouri Bar. An accomplished trial lawyer and partner at Dreyer & Tinney Law Firm in Joplin, she handles litigation involving personal injury, automobile accidents, workers' compensation, medical malpractice, and more. She also served as Dardenne Prairie's first judge. A Springfield native, Dreyer graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law and was admitted to The Missouri Bar in 1997.

Athena Dickson was elected to serve as vice president of the bar. Dickson is a partner at Siro Smith Dickson PC in Kansas City where she focuses her practice on the areas of personal injury and employment discrimination. In addition to her time on The Missouri Bar Board of Governors, Dickson has served as chair of the Standing Committee on Well-being in the Profession as well as a co-chair of the board’s Appointments Committee.

District representatives elected to serve on the bar’s executive committee for the 2023-24 bar year are Jennifer Matthew Crompton, Eastern District; Syd Tippie, Southern District; and Scott Bethune, Western District.  

The Missouri Bar Board of Governors will next meet Nov. 17, 2023. More information about the board, including minutes and agenda items, is available at MoBar.org. 

The Missouri Bar is a statewide organization that is dedicated to improving the legal profession, the law, and the administration of justice for all Missourians. Created in 1944 by order of the Supreme Court of Missouri, it serves all 30,000 of Missouri’s practicing lawyers. To achieve its mission, The Missouri Bar provides a wide range of services and resources to its members, as well as the media, educators, and citizens of Missouri. To learn more about The Missouri Bar, visit MoBar.org and MissouriLawyersHelp.org.