MoveMakers and NewsMakers for February 4, 2025

Kansas City | Across MO

Kansas City

Dysart Taylor recently achieved a historic milestone after becoming a majority women-owned law firm for the first time. Sydney Paquette earned election to shareholder/director on January 1, 2025, bringing the firm’s total to 11.

Paquette joins five other women as shareholders/directors at the firm: Katy Alsobrook, Leslie Boe, Amanda Pennington Ketchum, Meghan Litecky and Carol Smith.

Dysart Taylor became one of the first firms in the Kansas City area to have a female managing director, with Ketchum serving in the role from 2015 to 2021. The track record for progress on diversity continued when the firm became 50% women-owned in 2023.

Women remain an underrepresented group among firm partners nationwide according to the American Bar Association, with only 27.76% of firm partners being women, making this most recent superlative for Dysart Taylor a very important moment for both the national and local legal communities.

“I am grateful to be a part of a team that aims to uplift and support women in this industry,” Ketchum said. “We have a wonderful opportunity to serve as an example in understanding that diversity in leadership and talent enhances the value of a strong, successful law firm.”

Across MO

REAPPOINTMENT OF INCUMBENT U.S. MAGISTRATE JUDGE WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

The current term of office of United States Magistrate Judge Willie J. Epps, Jr., at Jefferson City, Missouri, is due to expire July 18, 2025. The United States District Court is required by law to establish a panel of citizens to consider the reappointment of the magistrate judge to a new eight-year term. 

The duties of a magistrate judge include the following: (1) conduct of most preliminary proceedings in criminal cases; (2) trial and disposition of misdemeanor cases; (3) conduct of various pretrial matters and evidentiary proceedings on delegation from the judges of the district court; and (4) trial and disposition of civil cases upon consent of the litigants. 

Comments from members of the bar and public are invited as to whether the incumbent magistrate judge should be recommended by the panel for reappointment. You may provide general remarks or comment on specific attributes of the incumbent, such as: character, judgment, legal ability, judicial demeanor or temperament, courtesy to litigants, judicial efficiency and timeliness, and commitment to equal justice under the law. 

Letters or email comments may be submitted to: Merit Selection Panel c/o Paige Wymore-Wynn, Court Executive U.S. District Court Charles Evans Whittaker United States Courthouse 400 E. 9th Street, Room 2710 Kansas City, Missouri 64106 (or) mow_magistrate@mow.uscourts.gov Comments must be received by February 23, 2025. Questions may be directed to 816-512-5010.