Board of Governors meets for launch 2022-23 bar year
On Wednesday, Sept. 14, The Missouri Bar Board of Governors gathered for their first meeting of the 2022-23 bar year.
During the session, held in Springfield during The Missouri Bar’s Annual Meeting, the board elected new officers and members. Lauren Tucker McCubbin of Kansas City is the 2022-23 president of The Missouri Bar, with Megan E. Phillips of St. Louis is serving as president-elect, and Shelly Dreyer of Joplin is serving as vice president.
In addition, appellate caucuses elected three representatives to the 2022-23 executive committee. Kate E. Noland as representative for the Western District, Hon. Jason M. Sengheiser as representative for the Eastern District, and Michael L. Miller as representative for the Southern District join the president, president-elect, vice president, and Immediate Past President John Grimm on the executive committee. The board also appointed Lauren C. Collins to fill the vacancy in St. Louis County (Board District 9), for a term of two years.
Before the 2022-23 Board of Governors convened for the first time, the 2021-22 Board of Governors met in its final business meeting. The business meeting included a presentation by the 2021-22 Leadership Academy on its project to create relevant resources and content to communicate with lawyers in their first three years of practice. Members of the class also announced the focus of each of their two-year service commitments to The Missouri Bar.
The board also considered and adopted new program proposals from the board’s Strategic Planning Committee based on recommendations from the Lawyers Living Well Special Committee and the Special Committee on Lawyers of Color. Of note, the board passed a resolution creating a new Standing Committee on Well-being in the Profession to build upon the previous special committee’s efforts to increase awareness, improve education and policies, and reduce stigma related to lawyer substance use and mental health. The board approved recommendations to create a diversity and inclusion award and a diversity and inclusion toolkit for law firms and legal employers stemming from the work of the Special Committee on Lawyers of Color.
During the 2021-22 business meeting, those members who were concluding their board service were recognized. They included Hon. Michael Colona of St. Louis, Hon. Julia Pusateri Lasater of St. Louis County, James McConnell of Shelbina, and 2021-22 Immediate Past President John Gunn of St. Louis County.
The board, which is comprised of Missouri lawyers elected by their peers, meet at least five times per bar year to discuss a range of matters, including financial updates and new committee and commission appointments.
The board will next meet Nov. 18 in Jefferson City. To see past board minutes and future agendas, visit MoBar.org.