Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar.

Most days, you will find me at The Missouri Bar Center in Jefferson City. In the rhythm of daily work, it is easy to move through a city without pausing to consider whose name it carries. But, as July 4, 2026, approaches, marking 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, I’ve found myself thinking more deliberately about Thomas Jefferson, for whom this city is named.

Jefferson was 33 years old, a Virginia lawyer, when he took up his pen and drafted one of the most consequential pieces of political writing in history. The Declaration of Independence did not emerge from a military commander or a monarch. It came from a lawyer. It required a legal argument. And the argument he made, that all men are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, has been echoing through courtrooms, legislatures, and the conscience of our nation ever since. 

The legal profession’s fingerprints are all over the American founding. Of the declaration’s 56 signers, roughly 25 were lawyers or had legal training. John Adams, the declaration’s most tireless advocate in the Second Continental Congress, built his reputation in courtrooms before he built it in crafting the new republic. James Wilson, one of only six men to sign both the declaration and the U.S. Constitution, was among the most sophisticated legal theorists of his generation. The founding generation from the bar understood that lasting liberty required not just revolution, but architecture: institutions, processes, and enforceable rules that would outlive any individual leader. They understood, in short, the rule of law. 

That principle — that no person stands above the law, that rights are not gifts from rulers but inherent in persons, that law should be consistently and fairly applied — is the connective tissue of everything that 250 years and the City of Jefferson followed. It is why we have an independent judiciary. It is why we have due process. It is why our U.S. Constitution, even with its imperfections, has endured. 

For those of us who have devoted our professional lives to the law, the rule of law is not an abstraction. It is the ground beneath everything we do. 

And yet Jefferson himself embodies one of the most searing paradoxes in American history. The man who wrote that all men are created equal enslaved hundreds of people over the course of his lifetime. The soaring ideals in the declaration coexisted with a lived reality he was never willing to fully surrender. 

Jefferson was not alone in this contradiction. The Constitution that followed protected slavery, counting enslaved persons as three-fifths of a human being for purposes of political representation. It said nothing of women’s rights. Indigenous people, whose nations and legal systems predated the arrival of colonists by centuries, were treated as obstacles rather than as rights-bearing persons. 

The founding vision was radical for its time but also grievously incomplete. 

This is not a reason to diminish the declaration’s 250th anniversary, but to understand it fully. The story of American law is the story of that original promise being slowly and imperfectly extended through constitutional amendments, civil rights legislation, landmark court decisions, and the lifelong labor of advocates who believed the words meant what they said.

We stand on the shoulders of lawyers who pushed our country toward its own ideals, understanding that the law is the arena where the distance between a nation’s promises and its practices gets contested and, sometimes, closed. That arena best functions when judges presiding over it are free to follow the law without being subject to undue political pressures, usurpation of authority, and diminishing rhetoric. 

As I drive through Jefferson City and pass the statue of that complicated, brilliant, contradictory man, I am reminded that the declaration was a beginning, not a conclusion. The ideals Jefferson articulated at 33 were larger than he was. 

As we mark 250 years, this anniversary calls us not to nostalgia, but to stewardship: stewardship of the rule of law, of the courts that uphold it, and of the ongoing work of helping our country fulfill its founding promise. That work has always belonged to lawyers. Let’s continue the work.

Mischa Buford Epps is Missouri Bar executive director.

The law has never stood still. Today’s pace of change confronting practitioners eclipses that seen by prior generations of lawyers. New legislation and administrative actions at the federal and state level reshape practice areas at blistering speed. Courts issue rulings that redefine long-settled principles. Technology tools are transforming legal research, drafting, and client communications. 

Against this backdrop, one truth remains clear: Mastery is not a destination but a discipline. Competence is not a credential earned once and stored on a shelf. It is a living, breathing standard that must be actively maintained and continuously built upon. 

This is precisely why lawyer education and professional development are essential to The Missouri Bar’s mission. We exist not only to help regulate the profession, but to elevate it, helping Missouri lawyers even better serve their clients and communities. 

Over the years, this commitment to lawyer education has manifested itself in numerous ways. From lecture courses for lawyer veterans returning from World War II, to the 1980’s and 1990’s traveling circuit of videotaped replays of CLE presentations across the state, to 2020’s pivot to online CLEs via Zoom and WebEx in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Missouri Bar has adapted and expanded its CLE programs and offerings to assist Missouri lawyers in staying abreast of the changes reshaping their fields of practice. 

Education at the bar extends beyond formal CLE programming. We provide members a comprehensive suite of member benefits and resources designed to support every stage of your legal career. Be sure to explore our member library of practice guides, model forms, research tools and other member benefits programs that you can draw on anytime you need them at MoBar.org/LPM. 

Last year, the bar helped administer the minimum continuing legal education (MCLE) requirements under Supreme Court of Missouri Rule 15 for more than 24,940 Missouri lawyers subject to the MCLE requirements. The Missouri Bar is here to help lawyers achieve their yearly MCLE requirement by offering hundreds of timely and relevant CLEs in person and online at MoBarCLE.org, delivering real, actionable insights that lawyers can put to work immediately. 

The intensified demands of practice place new pressure on lawyer well-being, mental health, and sustainable careers. The bar also offers programs to address these realities and more. Whether you are a solo practitioner looking to sharpen your understanding of family law changes, a law firm partner exploring how to responsibly integrate AI into your practice, or a prosecutor or public defender seeking better strategies for managing stress and avoiding burnout, there is something for every lawyer. 

Many lawyers often choose to earn all their MCLE hours by attending the bar’s conferences. In 2025, there were more than 2,650 registrants for the bar’s multi-day conferences, bringing together Missouri lawyers across practice areas, settings, and career stages, creating opportunities for new connections, mentorship, and peer learning that is hard to replicate. Remember to mark your calendars for these upcoming conferences:

• 30th anniversary of the MOSOLO Small Firm Conference, June 11-13 in Osage Beach
• Bernard Edelman DWI Law & Science Seminar, July 23-24 in Lake Ozark
• Family Law Conference, Aug. 20-22 in Branson
• Annual Meeting of The Missouri Bar, Sept. 16-18 in Kansas City
• Estate, Trust & Elder Law Institute, Nov. 5-6 in St. Louis

Lawyers can also find unique opportunities to earn CLE credit at no cost through Spring and Fall Committee Meetings. Last year’s Spring and Fall Committee Meetings saw more than 12,700 attendees. This year, members can look forward to the virtual Spring Committee Meetings April 27-30, providing an opportunity to collaborate with other lawyers in your practice area and learn the latest updates in your field. 

Whether you choose to earn your CLE in person, remotely, or doing self-study, you are carrying on an important legacy of life-long learning that comes with being a lawyer. The Missouri Bar is here with programs, resources, and an unwavering commitment to helping you better serve your clients and communities. I hope to see you at a future program soon!

Nicholas Jain is Dunklin County prosecuting attorney and 2025-2026 Young Lawyers’ Section Council chair.

Note from Missouri Bar Executive Director Mischa Buford Epps: The mission of the Young Lawyers’ Section is to enhance the professional growth and public service of new and recently admitted Missouri lawyers. No matter where you are in your career, it is important to encourage and support others. With this in mind, I have invited YLS Council Chair Nicholas Jain to share about YLS and its latest initiatives. 

I’m proud to serve as chair of YLS Council and carry on the legacy of young lawyers before me. YLS is a community within The Missouri Bar comprised of lawyers who are 36 years old or younger, or who have been admitted to any state bar for 10 years or less.

My time on YLS began in 2016 while working as a prosecutor in southwest Missouri just a year out of law school. While I was surrounded by a strong network of lawyers there, YLS gave me an additional community of fellow young lawyers to learn from and grow with. I quickly learned that even though Missouri lawyers have a worldwide reach, being a Missouri lawyer and YLS member is a small group. 

During last year’s Annual Meeting of The Missouri Bar, I sat next to David Macoubrie, a lawyer from Chillicothe, at the Opening Lunch and Chief Justice’s Address. I learned that Macoubrie was on the inaugural YLS Council in 1967. 

Another member of the inaugural YLS Council was the late Maurice “Marcy” Graham, whom I was fortunate enough to meet when I was a law student with very little clue of what my future practice would look like. Simply based on the virtue of me wanting to be a lawyer and him being one, Graham generously shared his time to help me decide what type of lawyer I wanted to be. Graham’s legacy of guiding young lawyers continues to this day.

Knowing these inaugural members sparked an interest in learning more about the history of the YLS Council’s founding and its connection to today. 

YLS was created to solve what the bar identified at the time as its greatest challenge: obtaining “more and better participation by the lawyer in Bar activities,” according to a 1967 article in the Journal of The Missouri Bar.¹ Bar leaders recognized that educating new lawyers about the bar’s responsibilities early on would promote continued service throughout the lawyers’ careers. 

At its first meeting, the YLS Council adopted the following projects for its first year of creation: 

– Welcome new lawyers at the bar admission ceremonies 
– Educate students of the future dangers of a felony conviction 
– Undertake a study to locate areas in the state that had the largest need for lawyers 
– Share with high school and college students about the practice of law 
– Recognize outstanding contributions to the overall field of law²

Now, nearly 60 years later, I can report that YLS continues to carry that mission and passion. YLS members welcome new lawyers at enrollment ceremonies every year. YLS Council members continue to present to students about civic education throughout the year and even saw a massive success for last year’s Constitution Day when lawyers spoke to more than 2,000 students at more than 60 schools.³ The council continues to partner with law schools around the state to connect students to The Missouri Bar and YLS. The YLS Council also highlights lawyers and non-lawyers who are making a difference in their communities by presenting the annual Liberty Bell Award and Tom Cochran Community Service Award. 

YLS has expanded its mission greatly since its founding in 1967. YLS organizes and provides continuing legal education programs both around the state and virtually. YLS Council educates the public through ShowMeRights.org and publications about the courts. We help our communities through service projects and by answering Missouri residents’ questions on Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org. 

I am proud of the work The Missouri Bar Young Lawyers’ Section does for lawyers of all ages and for the individual communities we serve. I am certain YLS will continue to serve Missourians long into the future.

Endnotes 
1 Thomas D. Cochran, “Missouri Young Lawyers Section,” 23 J. MoBar 528 (1967). 
2 Id. at 529-31. 
3 “Former Missouri chief justice, 2025-26 Missouri Bar vice president present to students,” The Missouri Bar (2025), https://news.mobar.org/former-missouri-chief-justice-2025-26-missouri-bar-vice-president-present-to-students.

Mischa Buford Epps, Missouri Bar executive director

As I reflect on the past year, one word continues to come to mind: resiliency. In times of uncertainty, people look to lawyers for guidance. And, in Missouri, you deliver. 

In 2025, lawyers across the state came together to help those affected by this spring’s tornadoes and severe weather that hit the St. Louis metro area and southeastern Missouri. Scores of volunteer lawyers mobilized to assist those who lost homes and businesses. As of Nov. 19, volunteer lawyers in Missouri have answered over 1,900 questions and assisted more than 1,650 clients through Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org this year, our virtual “clinic” where members of the public can ask up to three non-criminal legal questions a year and hear from a lawyer, sometimes within hours. Missouri lawyer volunteers also responded to provide legal help to affected citizens who contacted the bar’s disaster legal assistance hotline. These efforts do not go unseen — thank you for the direct impact you’ve made on those going through challenging times. 

This year also tested our profession with expansive, rapid changes to federal and state laws and agencies. We’ve seen and navigated challenges to separation of powers, the ability to represent clients without repercussions, and the importance of judges being able to render decisions without attack or undue political influence. In celebration of Constitution Day, dozens of lawyers and judges volunteered their time to speak to classes — impacting more than 2,000 students from Branson to Cardwell. These young people saw firsthand that lawyers and judges are real people who care about justice, democracy, and their communities. That investment in civic education is itself an act of resilience. 

We’re also adapting to the increasing influence of artificial intelligence on legal practice. Rather than resist change, Missouri lawyers are engaging thoughtfully with these tools, asking critical questions about ethics, competence, and access to justice while embracing innovation that serves our clients better. 

In 2025, we also welcomed more than 543 new lawyers to the profession who demonstrated resilience during law school. I, along with Missouri Bar officers, Supreme Court of Missouri judges, and other leaders, had the chance to congratulate them and hear about some of their plans, and I’m excited to see the ways they make our profession even stronger. A full list of individuals who passed the July bar exam and met all other requirements for admittance is on page 290.

The legal profession is ripe with caring colleagues who offer support and mentorship to their peers. I’ve enjoyed meeting and learning about your experiences during this year’s Missouri Bar CLE programs, conferences, and Spring and Fall Committee Meetings, which provided spaces for Missouri lawyers to collaborate, learn from one another, and make new connections. 

Conferences and meetings like MOSOLO and Annual Meeting brought together over 1,300 lawyers from across the state to collaborate and make new connections, while Spring and Fall Committee Meetings saw over 12,000 attendees participate in CLEs and committee discussions. The recent Estate, Trust & Elder Law Institute sold out at maximum capacity. These offerings help lawyers gain valuable new knowledge and skills to take back to their practices.

In June, we further expanded our member benefits program by providing all Missouri lawyers access to free billing and trust accounting software through Smokeball Bill. To date, 276 firms have signed up for this practical tool that helps them serve clients more effectively while managing their practices compliantly. 

The 2024-2025 Leadership Academy class planned and implemented new content and innovative activities for this year’s Well-being Week in Law, significantly increasing engagement. The Standing Committee on Well-Being in the Profession and MOLAP provided QPR training and no-cost CLEs this year to help Missouri lawyers learn new strategies to improve their wellbeing so they can even better serve their clients and communities. 

No matter what your efforts looked like this year, whether mentoring a young lawyer, taking a pro bono case, serving on a committee, speaking at a school, or simply treating everyone in your practice with dignity, thank you for taking the time to help others. The work you do makes our profession more resilient. Your professionalism and compassion reinforce the importance of lawyers and judges in our communities. 

Let’s head into the new year with a renewed sense of purpose and strength. 

With appreciation, 
Mischa

Mischa Buford Epps, Missouri Bar executive director

With its brisk days, chilly air, and crunching leaves, fall ushers in a sense of renewal and possibility. I’m feeling especially invigorated after connecting with so many of you at our Annual Meeting and Judicial Conference in Branson. It was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate, learn, and collaborate with lawyers and judges from across the state. Thank you to all the attendees, presenters, sponsors, exhibitors, volunteers, and staff who made this year’s Annual Meeting a success. 

At this yearly gathering, lawyers and judges network and strengthen relationships, hold essential business meetings, and the bar transitions into new leadership. With that, I want to give a sincere thank you to Shelly Dreyer for her time, leadership, and commitment during her term as 2024-2025 Missouri Bar president, helping us navigate 2025’s rapid changes and challenges to better serve our members, clients, and communities.

As we look to the year ahead, I also want to extend a warm welcome to Athena Dickson as she steps into the role of 2025-2026 president of The Missouri Bar. Athena’s 20-plus years of experience, past leadership roles, and passion for the profession will no doubt enhance the work she does as president. Be sure to read her first “President’s Page” column and her profile feature.

At Annual Meeting, I was also excited to see several deserving lawyers recognized with awards applauding their work and dedication to trial and appellate advocacy, professionalism, community service, administration of justice, and more. Visit MoBar.org/Awards to read about the commendable work your fellow lawyers are doing, and remember to nominate someone in your circle for consideration next year. 

If you are feeling inspired by these lawyers like I am, the new bar year is a perfect time to renew your passion for helping others and get involved. Whether you are among our newest lawyers sworn in at the Fall Enrollment Ceremonies, our recently recognized Senior Counselors, or somewhere in between, The Missouri Bar offers countless ways lawyers can give back to their Missouri communities and the legal profession.

Volunteer with the Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org clinic to answer questions from low-income Missourians on a specific civil legal issue. Visit the bar’s website to connect with pro bono opportunities throughout the state and help improve access to legal services. Volunteer to share your knowledge and insights with other legal professionals by presenting a CLE or writing an article for the Journal of The Missouri Bar. Join one of the bar’s 40-plus committees and help develop legal education programs and advocate for relevant legislative matters that impact practitioners and Missourians. 

In celebration of the Sept. 17 Constitution Day during Annual Meeting, Chief Justice Brent Powell and President Dickson spoke to more than 75 high school juniors at Branson High School. They were among dozens of lawyers across the state helping to increase understanding of our legal system. You can follow their lead. Contact the bar at CitizenshipEducation@mobar.org to volunteer to present to students or adults in your community about the role of lawyers, judges, and the courts in our governmental system of constitutional checks and balances. 

In recognition of the importance of access to legal services throughout the state, the bar recently launched a new special committee to examine the current state of legal practice in rural Missouri. With an 18-month timeframe, the committee has commenced its work led by Lewis County Judge Corey Moon, chair, and Immediate Past President Shelly Dreyer, co-chair. 

There is much to look forward to in the 2025-2026 Missouri Bar year. I hope you too feel renewed this fall to embrace the opportunities this new year brings to build a brighter future for our profession, the rule of law, and legal services available to our fellow Missourians. 

Best regards,
Mischa

Mischa Buford Epps, Missouri Bar executive director

This summer, as I have walked into The Missouri Bar Center in Jefferson City, I’ve been reminded of the powerful way Missouri lawyers can — and do — come together for the greater good.

Over 60 years ago, lawyers across Missouri came together by donating more than $450,000 to build the main building of The Missouri Bar Center. The Bar Center building, a concrete manifestation of the collaboration and generosity of our state’s legal community, was dedicated on Law Day, May 1, 1965. 

As Flavius B. Freeman, then-chair of the Trustees of The Missouri Bar, said of the center in 1965:

The things we do for ourselves die with us, while the things we do for others live on forever. If our new Bar Center will help lawyers to better serve our clients – if it will cause the lawyer of tomorrow to think more highly of the profession and do a better job than those of us who have gone before, the reward for all of us should be more than adequate.

Guests attending the building’s dedication were able to hear from lawyer Lewis F. Powell Jr., then-American Bar Association president and future justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, who offered words of inspiration:

The dedication of The Missouri Bar Center is much more than the ceremonial opening of the splendid new home of your organization. It reflects the progressive leadership which has brought The Missouri Bar to high rank among the state bar organizations of the country. The Center is both a symbol of past achievements and of hopes for the future.

Missouri lawyers will have the opportunity to hear from another ABA president, St. Louis lawyer Bill Bay, at The Missouri Bar Annual Meeting and Judicial Conference, Sept. 17-19 in Branson. It’s always enjoyable to connect with familiar faces and build new professional relationships throughout the bar’s summer conference season, and I look forward to connecting with more of you and celebrating the beginning of another bar year during Annual Meeting.

The three-day event will include opportunities to network with fellow lawyers and judges, earn CLE, and take part in the business of the bar while also recognizing the extraordinary contributions of our colleagues. You can learn more and register at MoBar.org/AM25. 

This year’s plenary sessions are not to be missed. This first plenary will explore the intricacies, strengths, and weaknesses of our legal system as we hear the story of Darryl Burton, an innocent man, who was wrongfully convicted of a murder that he did not commit and spent 24 years in a Missouri prison before being exonerated. 

With perspectives from the bench, bar, academia, legislature, and private practice, a separate plenary panel will speak to the current moment, addressing the impact on Missouri lawyers’ practices of 2025’s expansive, rapid changes in federal and state laws and agencies and the challenges to the independent judiciary and the ability of lawyers and law firms to represent clients without repercussions. 

The recent tornados in St. Louis and greater Missouri have served as another reminder to me that we, as lawyers, have unique opportunities to come together and help others in our community, regardless of our practice areas, geographic locations, or political affiliations. I have been inspired by the numerous lawyers who have volunteered and assisted on-site, answered questions from impacted individuals via Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org, or responded to callers through our Missouri Bar Disaster Hotline. Thank you. Your efforts are appreciated and are making a difference. 

By working together as lawyers, we can continue to improve the legal profession, the administration of justice, and the law on behalf of the public, and, as suggested by Trustee Freeman, watch those efforts live on. 

Best regards, 
Mischa

Heidi Doerhoff Vollet is president of The Missouri Bar Foundation and partner at Cook Vetter Doerhoff & Landwehr PC in Jefferson City.

A note from Mischa Buford Epps, Missouri Bar executive director: I have the great fortune of witnessing the impact Missouri lawyers make on the world around us. One of the ways you do so is through your contributions to and support of The Missouri Bar Foundation. To help drive home this point, I extended an invitation to Heidi Doerhoff Vollet, current president of The Missouri Bar Foundation, to share about the great work the foundation has done over its 75-year history to assist citizens across our state and recognize the remarkable contributions of Missouri lawyers.

The Missouri Bar Foundation is a statewide, nonpartisan, charitable organization. It was created on May 11, 1950, by pillars of Missouri’s legal community:
– Charles M. Blackmar, a prominent Kansas City lawyer and an initiator of Missouri’s Non-Partisan Court Plan (whose son, Hon. Charles B. Blackmar, served with distinction on the Supreme Court of Missouri from 1982-1992), led the charge as its first president.
– Allen L. Oliver, a Cape Girardeau lawyer and past president of The Missouri Bar, served as its first vice president. 
– Irene L. Dulin, a St. Louis lawyer and graduate of Saint Louis University School of Law, served as its first secretary.
– Paul Van Osdol, a Kansas City lawyer who was a member of the American Law Institute and an original founder of the Legal Aid Society, was its first treasurer.

In its early days, the foundation’s mission included providing direct support to ill and incapacitated lawyers and their survivors, advancing the science of jurisprudence, promoting improvements in the administration of justice, and granting scholarships to law students. 

As the foundation matured, its activities included elevating and celebrating excellence through a handful of annual awards recognizing the best of our legal profession after rigorous vetting. Three distinguished young trial lawyers receive the Lon O. Hocker Award annually. Three young appellate advocates receive the annual David J. Dixon Appellate Advocacy Award. An outstanding Journal of The Missouri Bar author is bestowed the annual W. Oliver Rasch Award. The annual Purcell Professionalism Award honors two lawyers for their professionalism. And one scholar, one lawyer, and one judge are recognized each year for their outstanding lifetime service toward the increase and diffusion of justice through the Spurgeon Smithson Award. 

Seventy-five years after its founding, the foundation’s charitable grant programs are no longer focused on individual needs, but on effective partnerships with The Missouri Bar, law schools, local and specialty bar organizations, legal aid organizations, and other charitable organizations with law-related programming. The foundation annually awards competitive grants, typically ranging from $5,000-$25,000, to projects that best assist the foundation’s mission of advancing the administration of justice, fostering public appreciation of the rule of law, and furthering our constitutional form of government. 

In 2026, the foundation is particularly interested in providing impact funding for innovative projects that:
– address unmet legal needs in rural Missouri;¹ 
– build student and public appreciation and support for the rule of law, due process, judicial review, and other legal guarantees within our constitutional form of government; or 
– enhance lawmakers’ understanding of the role of the judicial branch of government.

The foundation welcomes grant applications in these priority areas and others that can demonstrate a measurable impact furthering the foundation’s mission. Grant application information is available through MoBarFoundation.org. Other inquiries may be made to FoundationAwards@mobar.org. Applications are due not later than March 15 of the grant year cycle in which they are awarded. 

Of course, the foundation’s charitable activities would not be possible without the dedication of its trustees and officers and the generosity of donors. The foundation’s bylaws require many well-regarded judges and lawyers serve as trustees, as well as participation of the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri and the president and executive director of The Missouri Bar. 

Special gifts and bequests have made much of the foundation’s work possible, but foundation fellows form the core of our donors. 
– A fellow of The Missouri Bar Foundation is a member of The Missouri Bar in good standing who has contributed $1,000 in one payment to the foundation or made a pledge to pay a minimum of $200 per year for five consecutive years and contributes as pledged.
– Life fellows have contributed or pledged a lifetime aggregate of $3,400-$4,999.
– Advocate fellows have contributed or pledged a lifetime aggregate of $5,000-$9,999.
– Champion fellows have contributed or pledged an aggregate of $10,000-$24,999.
– Pillar fellows have contributed or pledged $25,000 or more. In 2024, the foundation added similar levels for firm donations: firm advocate, firm champion, and firm pillar. 

Tax deductible donations may be made online at MoBarFoundation.org or by mailing a donation to The Missouri Bar Foundation, P.O. Box 119, Jefferson City, Missouri 65102-0119.

In honor of the foundation’s 75th year, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to be an active part of its important mission of advancing the administration of justice, elevating the legal profession, fostering public appreciation of the rule of law, and furthering our constitutional form of government.

Endnotes

1 Erin Achenbach, “Legal deserts: Rural Missouri counties struggle with attorney shortages,” MISSOURI LAWYERS WEEKLY, Dec. 11, 2024, https://molawyersmedia.com/2024/12/11/legal-deserts-rural-missouri-counties-struggle-with-attorney-shortages.

Mischa Buford Epps, Missouri Bar executive director

As spring arrives, I find myself reflecting on the new group of lawyers who will join our profession in April. Many of these new lawyers will convene in Jefferson City for a swearing-in ceremony at the Supreme Court of Missouri. It’s an exciting day filled with smiles, hope, and celebration. It concludes with enrollees taking the oath of admission, just as so many of us did before them: 

I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Missouri;

That I will maintain the respect due courts of justice, judicial officers and members of my profession and will at all times conduct myself with dignity becoming of an officer of the court in which I appear; 

That I will never seek to mislead the judge or jury by any artifice or false statement of fact or law;

That I will at all times conduct myself in accordance with the Rules of Professional Conduct; and, 

That I will practice law to the best of my knowledge and ability and with consideration for the defenseless and oppressed. 

So help me God.¹

What can our new colleagues expect as they enter the practice of law? How does this oath of admission apply in our present time of rapid change in our laws, government institutions, technology, and economy? 

For decades, when feelings of uncertainty and unpredictability have run rampant, people frequently have looked to lawyers for more than just legal advice. They also come to us for information, leadership, and even comfort. 

As lawyers, we play an important role in making the rule of law work and preserving society. The preamble to our Missouri Rules of Professional Conduct directs us to “further the public’s understanding of and confidence in the rule of law and the justice system because the legal institutions in a constitutional democracy depend on popular participation and support to maintain their authority.”² This can take place in many forms. 

This might look like volunteering to answer legal questions for those affected by the tornadoes that swept across our state in March or devoting professional hours to ensure all Missourians, regardless of income level, have access to legal services. Some lawyers may choose to serve in a public office and impact policy, while others might educate students and community groups about the Constitution and The Missouri Plan for Law Day. 

As advocates and advisors, we help guide individuals, businesses, and institutions through complex times. 

Assisting in this manner can be fulfilling and rewarding, but it can also feel challenging. As the old adage goes, you can’t pour from an empty cup. Please remember that the Missouri Lawyers’ Assistance Program is here to help with no-cost, confidential counseling services to address concerns that adversely affect personal or professional well-being.

This spring, The Missouri Bar is partnering with the University of Utah to distribute a well-being in the profession survey, which will help us have a better understanding of concerns affecting the well-being of Missouri lawyers and judges and how we can help you even better serve your clients and communities. Be on the lookout for an email with a link to the questionnaire. Your voice matters. 

Also, several special activities are planned for this year’s Well-Being Week in Law, May 5-9, providing an opportunity to invest further in your well-being. 

Seasonal transitions are a chance to reflect and reset. I encourage you to take a cue from nature this spring: Revisit the oath of admission to be reminded of your role as a lawyer, and approach your work with a renewed energy and balance in your professional and personal life. 

Best regards,
Mischa

Endnotes

1 Mo. S. Ct Rule 8.15(b)

2 Mo. S. Ct. Rule 4 Preamble [6], [15]

Mischa Buford Epps, Missouri Bar executive director

I hope the beginning weeks of the new year have treated you well. As your bar, we are always looking for strategic relationships that will benefit you, our members. One such relationship is with The Bar Plan. 

In December, I had the pleasure of joining the bar’s Board of Governors’ Executive Committee for a meeting with The Bar Plan’s board members and senior leadership at their holiday festivities. This annual event is an opportunity for Missouri Bar and Bar Plan leaders to connect and celebrate the strong partnership between our organizations. 

We appreciate The Bar Plan’s longstanding support of The Missouri Bar and our members in numerous ways, big and small. 

The Bar Plan actually has its origins in The Missouri Bar. In the early 1980s, a nationwide crisis arose in the lawyers’ professional liability insurance market. Many commercial carriers exited the market or enforced significant rate increases (100-plus percent) on their policyholders. 

Understanding the negative impact this would have on its members, The Missouri Bar, along with other state bar associations, researched ways to ensure lawyers could find professional liability insurance coverage and started a program in 1983 facilitating such coverage. The company now known as The Bar Plan Mutual Insurance Company grew out of this program and has existed in its current form since 1986. 

Focused on serving Missouri’s legal community for the long term, The Bar Plan shares the bar’s commitment of helping lawyers. 

We are fortunate that, more than 40 years ago, Missouri Bar leaders and volunteers took bold steps to meet the needs of Missouri lawyers and build a company like The Bar Plan. The challenges they faced were similar to those we encounter today: doubt, resistance to change, and uncertainty in the face of new technologies and an evolving legal marketplace. 

Stories like that of The Bar Plan remind us that progress is rarely achieved in isolation. Instead, it is a collective effort, built on the courage and collaboration of those who dare to envision and take action. 

Current Missouri Bar leaders and staff continue to take action in pursuit of improving the quality of legal services, the administration of justice, and the support and regulation of lawyers in our state. As we move forward in 2025, we remain focused on member value, improving delivery of services and program offerings to meet the current and emerging needs of Missouri lawyers. 

I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as the bar’s executive director and to work alongside so many dedicated professionals committed to building a more promising future for our profession and communities. Please let us know how we can best assist you and your work. 

Best regards,
Mischa

Mischa Buford Epps, Missouri Bar executive director

This year, we also celebrated the 80th anniversary of the creation of The Missouri Bar. 

As a unified bar, we have the unique opportunity to foster collaboration and professional relationships among lawyers from all walks of life across the state. This collaboration has been instrumental in shaping our legal landscape and increasing access to legal services for all Missourians. 

Amid the challenges and constant change, The Missouri Bar remains steadfast in its commitment to fostering an inclusive profession and equipping you, Missouri lawyers, with the resources you need to stay up to date on the law, meet your ethical obligations, and support your professional and personal growth. Among other resources, this includes a robust offering of CLE programs and conferences, access to discounted practice management tools, and a free, confidential counseling service in the Missouri Lawyers’ Assistance Program (MOLAP) to assist with substance use, mental health, or other concerns. 

In 2025, you will see some exciting changes to your member benefits. Many of you have identified your no-cost access to Fastcase as an invaluable resource. In 2023, Fastcase merged with vLex, a global leader in legal intelligence, expanding its capabilities and adding substantial upgrades. A key feature of the enhanced service is the new Cert citator, which flags negative treatment and other citations to cases. Also included are alerts for developments in your chosen legal areas and advanced capabilities from Vincent AI, the award-winning research assistant from vLex, among other tools. For more details, please see page 248 of this Journal or visit MoBar.org.

Beyond vLex Fastcase, there’s a world of benefits waiting to be explored. Whether you require cybersecurity solutions, a virtual receptionist, health insurance for your team, or other practice necessities, The Missouri Bar offers a multitude of services through over 30 providers. Visit MoBar.org/MemberBenefits to discover the full breadth of these resources. 

As the spirit of giving takes hold, I want to remind you of the impactful work of The Missouri Bar Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to advance the administration of justice, elevate the legal profession, foster public appreciation of the rule of law, and strengthen our democracy through law-related community projects, scholarships, jurisprudential research, and recognition of exceptional public and legal service. To learn more and explore ways to contribute, please visit MoBarFoundation.org.

Speaking of giving back, National Celebrate Pro Bono Week in October provided an opportunity to acknowledge lawyers who demonstrate an outstanding commitment to pro bono service to low-income individuals and expanding equal access to legal services. The Missouri Bar’s 2024 Pro Bono Awards recognized Rina K. Edge, Jennifer Kornblum, Paul T. Krispin Jr., Onalee Yousey, and the Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner team handling child abduction cases under the Hague Convention (led by Jennifer L. Berhorst, Grace Colato Martinez, and Courtney Stout). Please join me in congratulating them! 

If you are inspired by these individuals like I am, The Missouri Bar offers numerous opportunities for lawyers to give back to their communities through initiatives like Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org. This platform helps Missourians facing legal challenges receive free answers to a wide range of questions. From your remote location, you can scroll through the questions raised and volunteer to answer one or more in areas with which you are comfortable. It is an easy way to give back, and it is so valuable to those who need guidance. 

As we look ahead to a new year filled with promise, let’s carry this spirit of giving and collaboration into 2025. 

Amidst the celebratory hustle and bustle of the year’s end, I hope that you are able to take a moment to pause, reflect, recharge, and celebrate all that we have accomplished and experienced – together. 

Best regards,
Mischa

Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar.

It was great to connect with so many lawyers and judges to learn, collaborate, and celebrate. It was particularly fitting to host in the Gateway to the West – the same city where we held our first meeting of The Missouri Bar 80 years ago. So much has changed since the bar’s creation in 1944, but the collegiality and commitment to the rule of law that you demonstrate has certainly not. 

I want to take a moment to thank Megan Phillips, 2023-2024 Missouri Bar president, for the time, energy, and drive she poured into the bar during her term. In addition, I want to extend a warm welcome to Shelly Dreyer as she steps into the role as 2024-2025 president of The Missouri Bar. Shelly brings a wealth of knowledge as a small firm practitioner, and her passion for the profession will no doubt enhance the work she does as president. Don’t miss the profile of Shelly on page 202 of this Journal or at this link. 

It was such a delight to welcome Bill Bay to this year’s Annual Meeting. His leadership as president of the American Bar Association exemplifies his dedication to the continued improvement of the profession. His leadership here in Missouri – as a former Missouri Bar governor, Missouri Bar Foundation fellow and awardee, and co-chair of statewide commissions focused on increasing opportunities in the profession and procedural fairness in our courts – reminds us of the profound impact we can each have by offering our time and talents. 

If you’re interested in getting more involved in The Missouri Bar during the 2024-2025 year, we have a spot for you! Whether it’s joining a committee, speaking to students about the law, presenting a CLE, supporting MOLAP, networking at conferences, or participating in Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org, there are countless ways to engage and make a meaningful difference. This is your bar, and your involvement is essential to our continued success. 

As we’re all aware, this fall brings an important election. No matter your politics, I encourage you to vote in November and carry out one of the most important rights we have in our democracy. Please also take the time to share with your family and friends about The Missouri Plan – out state’s nonpartisan judicial selection process. The non-lawyer, lawyer, and retired judge volunteers of the Judicial Performance Review Committee have completed their anonymous reviews, taking into consideration the opinions, lawyer surveys, and juror surveys of all judges up for retention in Missouri. The Missouri Plan has served as a model across our country, with more than 30 states adopting it in some form. You can learn more at YourMissouriJudges.org. 

I look forward to working with each of you in the year ahead as we uphold the values that make our profession and The Missouri Bar strong. Let’s embrace the opportunities this season brings and continue building a brighter future for our profession, the rule of law, and legal services available to our fellow Missourians. 

Best, 
Mischa

Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar.

The long, warm days provide ample opportunity to enjoy outdoor activities, connect with loved ones, and participate in community fun. It’s no wonder that it’s a favorite season for many.

In June, hundreds of Missouri lawyers headed to Lake Ozark for the ever-popular MOSOLO Small Firm Conference. This annual event is a highlight for many across the state. It was great to see so many members collaborating, learning, and enjoying time together in a beautiful setting. The conference offered a variety of sessions tailored to the unique needs of solo and small firm practitioners. Additionally, in-person attendees had a chance to relax and unwind during evening activities, including a delicious lakeside dinner that provided a perfect backdrop for networking and camaraderie. We also had the honor of hosting 
law students from both the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Saint Louis University Schools of Law. It was inspiring to hear about their professional aspirations and connect at various activities. If you weren’t able to attend, mark your calendars for next year’s conference, June 5-7, and see photos from the 2024 event on our Facebook page. 

Of course, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to celebrate The Missouri Bar’s 80th anniversary in June. As I mentioned in my last column, this milestone is an opportunity to reflect on the value of a unified bar organization – a single group of lawyers working together to improve the legal profession, the administration of justice, and the law on behalf of the public. This anniversary is a time to honor our collective achievements and the spirit of collaboration that defines our organization. The work you do truly impacts others. 

August ushers in another exciting milestone – the swearing-in of Missouri lawyer Bill Bay as president of the American Bar Association during the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago. He is the eighth ABA president to hail from Missouri, and we are proud of him and his many contributions to our state’s legal community. Bill’s ascension to this prestigious role is a testament to his dedication, expertise, and leadership within the profession. As lawyers, it is so important that we celebrate and cheer on one another. If you have a moment, reach out and congratulate Bill on this significant appointment. Supporting one another is a key aspect of what makes our profession so fulfilling. 

You also have an opportunity to cheer on your fellow lawyers and judges by nominating them for one of many Missouri Bar awards and attending an awards luncheon during this year’s Missouri Judicial Conference and Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Sept. 18-20. There, we’ll also be congratulating our newest class of senior counselors – those who have reached the age of 75 or have been admitted to The Missouri Bar for 50 years. You can learn more at MoBar.org/AM24. There is something for everyone at Annual Meeting. Meet us in St. Louis for a chance to come together, learn and share expertise, conduct the courts’ and bar’s business, and celebrate lawyers who make a difference. 

Before we look to fall, I hope you’ll take some time this summer to relax and recharge in a way that is meaningful to you. There’s no question that the legal profession is rewarding – but it can also be stressful. If you need support prioritizing your wellness, I encourage you to reach out to the Missouri Lawyers’ Assistance Program. MOLAP is free and confidential, and it offers a range of resources designed to help legal professionals manage stress, maintain balance, and prioritize mental health. 

Whether you’re spending time with family, traveling, or simply enjoying some quiet moments, I wish you well as you celebrate this summer.

Best,
Mischa

Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar.

It was 1944. World War II was raging. Hundreds of Missouri lawyers were serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Segregation and Jim Crow laws were commonplace, and the U.S. Supreme Court issued its watershed decision in Smith v. Allwright, overturning all-white primary elections in Texas. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was running for reelection to a historic fourth term. 

In Missouri, following the urgings of various bar associations and individual lawyers across the state, and the careful study and recommendations of the Supreme Court of Missouri’s Committee on Integration of the Bar, a referendum vote of Missouri’s lawyers was held. The votes cast were 6-1 in favor of integration of the bar. 

With this result, the Court adopted a court rule on June 16, 1944, that organized the entire bar of Missouri into a fully integrated, all-inclusive unit known as The Missouri Bar. 

Supreme Court of Missouri judges and bar leaders at that time understood the value of working together to improve the legal profession and give the people of Missouri a better judicial system. In September 1944, as Hon. Forrest M. Hemker, of St. Louis, addressed the final annual meeting of the old Missouri Bar Association, he stated:

“Today, for the first time, we stand united as a single group. Every Missouri lawyer will henceforth contribute in his own way to the work of our profession, and share the rewards that go with those experiences … The ‘integrity and efficiency’ of the judicial system requires constant attention. It is self-evident that if half the lawyers of this state have been able to accomplish so much, there is no limit to what all of us can do working together.”

Hemker’s sentiment is true now, 80 years later, just as it was then – there is no limit to what we can accomplish working together. As members of our unified bar, Missouri lawyers from across the state and of all backgrounds and practice areas work together to fulfill our public duty to seek improvement of the law, access to the legal system, the administration of justice, and the quality of service rendered by our legal profession. 

There are myriad ways that you can contribute to the bar’s work. You may:

• help to provide high-quality, timely continuing legal education programs; 
• speak to citizens in your community to demystify our justice system and stress the importance of the rule of law;
• encourage a high school student to consider the law in their career plans; 
• answer a resident’s legal question through Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org; 
• serve as a resource or expert for elected officials; or 
• provide peer support to a fellow lawyer through a personal challenge.

Without the input and work of its members, The Missouri Bar couldn’t do what it does. From seasoned veterans to young legal minds, each member brings a unique perspective and expertise that enriches the bar’s collective work. The Missouri Bar is YOU! 

As we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the establishment of The Missouri Bar, we honor the pioneers who laid the foundation for the bar’s work and recognize the invaluable contributions made by members past and present. With a renewed sense of purpose and determination, we embark on the next chapter of The Missouri Bar’s journey, confident in our ability to adapt and thrive in our ever-changing world. 

I and Missouri Bar leaders welcome and encourage your constructive feedback and suggestions as we work together to improve the law, enhance access to justice, and help Missouri lawyers even better serve their clients and communities. 

Best regards,
Mischa

Read more articles about The Missouri Bar's 80th anniversary:

80 years stronger together

80 years of lawyers working together

Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar.

Our newly released 2023 Annual Report highlights the work of volunteer leaders, members, and bar staff to better the lives of all Missourians by improving the law, the legal profession, and the administration of justice. I encourage you to take a few minutes to scroll through the 2023 Annual Report at MoBar.org to review all our offerings and efforts. 

One such effort is the work of our government relations department, which helps carry out the bar’s goal of ensuring Missouri laws are uniform, clear, and precise, and our justice system, which interprets and applies them, is supported with adequate resources. Missouri Bar officers recently visited with legislators at the capitol, sharing about the many public resources the bar provides – and how those resources can serve their constituents. 

We also had the opportunity to hear Supreme Court of Missouri Chief Justice Mary R. Russell deliver her 2024 State of the Judiciary address to a joint legislative session. (Read her speech here.) 

While this was only one day, our government relations team continues to keep up with the many happenings at the bustling capitol. From tracking bills of interest to educating elected officials about the justice system and legal profession, the department works hard to keep you informed of state law changes. In 2023, staff reviewed 2,330 bills and resolutions. 

Throughout the Annual Report, you’ll also see the impact of your work through Missouri Bar committees and sections. These groups provide an opportunity to collaborate with like-minded lawyers, learn through continuing legal education, build relationships, and stay abreast of matters impacting relevant areas of law. 

With Spring Committee Meetings taking place April 29-May 3, I would be remiss not to encourage you to join one or more that tie to your practice or interests. Many of these virtual committee gatherings offer free CLE in furtherance of our goal of providing CLE to support and improve professionalism, competence, and ethics. You can browse all the open committees on our website and collaborate with fellow members on connect.MOBAR. 

Spring also brings Well-Being Week in Law, taking place May 6-10. This national observation week aims to raise awareness about mental health and encourage action and innovation across our legal profession to improve well-being. Our Standing Committee on Well-Being in the Profession is coordinating with the Missouri Lawyers’ Assistance Program to host programming throughout the week. This includes helpful resources and no-cost CLE. As we all know, our health impacts our ability to do our jobs, and I encourage you to invest in your own well-being to thrive and be your best for your clients, colleagues, organizations, families, and communities. As always, if you need support for a personal concern, MOLAP is here to help you. 

The above are just a few of the exciting things we’re up to here at your Missouri Bar this spring. We hope you will join us. If you want to learn even more, please reach out about having a board governor or officer visit your local organization or community.

Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar.

As I got older and expanded my worldview, I learned about several real-life heroes who were pioneers in the legal profession – Thurgood Marshall, William Henry Hastie, and Constance Baker Motley to name a few. These legal pioneers’ work and sacrifice fighting for civil rights opened doors of opportunity and helped bring about historic change to make our profession more inclusive and more representative of our population as a whole – and their commitment to the law provides a lesson we can all use to help us better serve our clients and communities. 

Heroes serve as symbols, demonstrating qualities we would like to possess and the ambitions we would like to satisfy. They inspire us by exemplifying values and overcoming challenges. Yet, it’s important to remember that heroes are human, just like us. As lawyers, we can nourish our own inner hero – and the inner heroes of those around us – by aiming to live up to our ideals and making an effort to tell the stories of those we look up to. 

As I reflect on Black History Month, I am reminded of a hero of mine, Charles Hamilton Houston. The first special counsel of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Houston was the primary architect of the legal strategy aimed at toppling segregation, earning him the moniker “The Man Who Killed Jim Crow.” 

After serving in the segregated U.S. Army during World War I, Houston returned to the U.S. in 1919 and entered Harvard Law School, where he became the first Black student elected to the editorial board of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating and completing a fellowship at the University of Madrid, he was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar and joined forces with his father to practice law.¹ 

Houston joined the law faculty at Howard University School of Law in 1924, eventually becoming vice-dean. He transformed Howard’s curriculum, leading to accreditation by the American Bar Association in 1930. Houston’s vision for Howard Law School was to train a generation of Black lawyers who would lead the fight against racial oppression, exclusion, and discrimination.² 

In 1935, he joined the NAACP on a full-time basis and led the organization’s litigation strategy to overturn the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson “separate but equal” doctrine. Houston was the visionary in the development of the NAACP’s long range, carefully coordinated litigation campaign that challenged the laws that enforced segregation. He played a pivotal role in nearly every U.S. Supreme Court civil rights case in the two decades before the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954.³

Notably, he assisted 1935 Lincoln University graduate Lloyd Gaines in his quest for admission into the University of Missouri School of Law, at the time, an all-white university and the state’s only public law school. In Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada,⁴ Houston argued that though the state had offered to pay Gaines’ tuition to attend a law school out of state, Missouri had a duty to provide him a qualified “equal” legal education within the state and there was no “separate but equal” facility within Missouri. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed. 

Houston died in 1950 before the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, but his legacy lives on through his famous arguments and the generations of lawyers whose lives he has touched, including mine. Aptly stated by one of his most famous students, the late Justice Thurgood Marshall, “[w]e wouldn’t have been any place if Charlie hadn’t laid the groundwork for it.”⁵ 

We may never have the legacy that Houston holds, but his story proves that heroes are often ordinary people doing extraordinary things to make a difference in the lives of others. You are heroes when you help your clients overcome overwhelming situations. You are heroes when you provide pro bono services to those in need and share your knowledge educating students on the role of our courts and the importance of the rule of law. You are heroes when you volunteer and work to improve the law and access to our legal system. It never hurts to consider our heroes and ask ourselves whether we are doing all we can to emulate and carry on their efforts. Perhaps what is possible for them, is possible for us.

Endnotes

1 Genna Rae McNeil, Groundwork: Charles Hamilton Houston and the Struggle for Civil Rights 117 (1983); https://legacyofslavery.harvard.edu/alumni/charles-hamilton-houston. 

2 McNeil, at 53-54. [136-136] 

3 347 U.S. 483 (1954). 

4 Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, 305 U.S. 337 (1938). 

5 McNeil, at 34 citing “College Honors Charles Houston ’15,” Amherst Magazine, Spring 1978, p. 12, 14.

Mischa Buford-Epps, Executive Director of The Missouri Bar

This season is always a reminder to pause and reflect on all we have to be thankful for. For me and The Missouri Bar staff, that includes you – Missouri’s lawyers.

In 2023, you have demonstrated on multiple occasions the passion you have for the profession and your commitment to helping your colleagues and others in your community.

This year, we convened at meetings and CLEs – both virtually and in person – to exchange ideas and build connection. We welcomed hundreds of new lawyers into our fold and continued outreach to law students in our state. We shared valuable resources with Missouri’s teachers, students, and adult citizens and schools, including lesson plans, Juror Appreciation Week materials, and free legal guides and forms. We launched new public service announcements that highlight the valuable contributions of lawyers. And, together, we navigated the practical effects of implementing expanded remote access to Case.net filings.

All of these accomplishments help fulfill our charge to improve the legal profession, the administration of justice, and the law on behalf of the public. Yet none of this could have happened without the contributions of so many.

Behind our numerous activities are lawyers contributing their time and talent to present to peers, teach students, edit content, develop programming, serve as mentors, and so much more. The bar has a storied history of lawyers stepping up to serve and lead our board, sections, and committee, do pro bono work, and share information. Today, that group of volunteering lawyers is more diverse and representative of the population than ever before. See the chart below highlighting a handful of key stats from this year.

By volunteering your time, you define how the bar functions, you impact your fellow lawyers, and you shape how the public perceives our legal profession. Just flip through this issue or follow us on social media and you’ll see examples of how this is being done in real time. I encourage you to consider being more involved in The Missouri Bar in 2024. Take a look at the many opportunities listed on MoBar.org.

In a world punctuated by chaos, it sometimes might feel easier to focus on the bad. I challenge you to instead focus on the good around you, this season and every day.

Thank you for all you do!

With appreciation, Mischa

Mischa Buford Epps

Happy New Year! 

No, that is not a typo. Annual Meeting culminates a Missouri Bar year and launches another anew. During this gathering, we celebrate colleagues, collaborate with peers, and transition leadership. Special thanks to the attendees, speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, volunteers, and staff who made the 2023 Missouri Judicial Conference and The Missouri Bar Annual Meeting a success. Be sure to flip through the list of award recipients recognized during Annual Meeting by the bar, foundation, and Young Lawyers’ Section. These lawyers uphold some of the highest standards in our profession and have been recognized accordingly. If someone in your circle is doing great work, I implore you to nominate them for consideration next year.  

I want to take a moment to thank Lauren Tucker McCubbin, 2022-23 Missouri Bar president, for her service to the profession during her term.  I also want to welcome Megan Phillips to the role as 2023-24 president of The Missouri Bar. Please take a few minutes to read her first President’s Page and profile piece in this issue. 

At The Missouri Bar, leadership takes place at all levels. A new bar year ushers in new committee appointments and board members, selected to represent you –Missouri lawyers. We are  fortunate  to have an impressive slate of volunteer leaders. Some are new to the profession; others are seasoned in their careers. Some operate solo or in small firms; others work in-house or at large firms. Some represent large cities; still others come from rural areas of our state. All are valuable and appreciated. And they make an impact. 

As we welcome our newest lawyers during the Fall Enrollment ceremonies, we pause to consider how we can best help them better serve their clients and communities. The lawyers and judges who graciously contribute their time and expertise as leaders are guiding figures for these incoming cohorts, serving as the very embodiment of The Missouri Bar and its myriad benefits. They set a tremendous example. I also hope that those transitioning into their well-deserved retirements feel proud when they cross paths with our current leaders, knowing they are passing on the baton of the profession into capable hands. 

If you’re ready to dive in and be more involved this bar year, a possible first step is to sign up for one or more of The Missouri Bar’s 40+ committees and sections. Many of them will be meeting this November, offering the perfect opportunity to participate and connect. Committees are the life blood behind the work and activities of The Missouri Bar, from developing legal education offerings, keeping pace with issues impacting the practice,  to advocating for relevant legislative matters. You’ve probably noticed the recent work of the Standing Committee on Well-being in the Profession, which has created a range of resources and events in observation of Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. No matter which groups you choose to join or where you provide volunteer service in bar efforts, I’m confident you’ll build professional relationships and grow even more excited about law as your chosen career.  

Please join us in this new year, as we work together across the state to improve the quality of legal services available to our fellow Missourians.   

Best regards, 

Mischa

As the days of August dwindle, I hope this summer has brought you fond memories, fun travels, and a chance to relax with family and friends. As I reflect on my summer months, I have enjoyed my opportunities to learn from and connect with many of you.

That learning and connection kicked off at the 2023 SOLO Small Firm Conference in June. Solo and small firm lawyers from across the state gathered in person or tuned in virtually to learn from speakers and connect with colleagues. Members’ families joined in the fun with bowling, a Boathouse Bash, and The Big Game Show to test their wits. Kudos to this year’s Solo and Small Firm Committee chair, Maureen Brady, the conference planning committee, speakers, and our sponsors and exhibitors. The conference is only possible with your valuable contributions of time, talent, and treasure.

Students from our state’s law schools were also present, taking part in the camaraderie and hearing real-world examples of what it’s like to own and grow a solo or small firm. They interacted with Missouri lawyers and judges, including Supreme Court of Missouri’s Paul Wilson, who shared sage advice on building relationships and lawyers’ leadership roles in our communities. My hope is that these interactions will encourage law students to have continued involvement in the bar, just as many of you have chosen to do.

Attendees also had an opportunity to get questions answered regarding expanded remote public access to Case.net before the rule change July 1 effective date from our esteemed panel of Hon. Jeffrey W. Bates, Catherine N. Zacharias, David W. Ransin, and Melinda J. Bentley, who have dedicated hundreds of hours helping lawyers learn about and navigate effects of the rule change. Don’t forget to take advantage of the resources available at MoBar.org/RemotePublicAccess.

I also had the privilege of seeing the final performance of the original cast of “The Milly Project,” hosted in Kansas City by the Young Lawyers’ Section Council, and benefitted from the panel discussion of enslaved woman Milly Sawyer’s quest for freedom in Missouri’s legal system and the legacy of these and similar events as we navigate today’s concerns as lawyers.

I am looking forward to even more fellowship and collaboration during this year’s Annual Meeting in Kansas City, Sept. 13-15. As Missouri Bar President Lauren Tucker McCubbin noted in her President’s Page, there will be meaningful and pertinent plenary sessions focused on exploring wellness and the future of the profession, a plethora of valuable legal education programs, and fantastic social events. 

Now is the time to register for Annual Meeting and mark your calendar to meet that lawyer from across the state who referred you a client, to get together with your law school friend who you haven’t seen since before the pandemic, or to help your younger colleague connect with lawyers from every corner of our state. I’m excited to learn and connect with you in September!

- Mischa

A note from Missouri Bar Executive Director Mischa Buford Epps: I have the great fortune of witnessing the impact Missouri lawyers make on the world around us. One of the ways you do so is through your contributions to and support of The Missouri Bar Foundation. To help drive home this point, I extended an invitation to Lynn Ann Vogel, past Missouri Bar president and current president of The Missouri Bar Foundation, to share about the great work the foundation continues to do for citizens across our state.   
 

Most of us went to law school to help people, and the foundation allows us to do just that.

The pioneers of philanthropy who created “foundations” were Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. After experimenting with several ways to form charities, they formatted their endeavors similarly to a corporation by allowing a board of “trusted people” to decide how to donate their money to best serve the needs of others.

I am fascinated with the perfection of determining that these boards of “trusted” people would be called “foundations.” There are myriad other words they could have used, but “foundation” is the perfect one. It is simple and says everything these principled people were creating. Synonyms for “foundation” are base, bedrock, justification, heart, footing, support, and groundwork.  Money is the support and groundwork of the needs of all charities. It is the “foundation” upon which all good works and deeds can be accomplished.

I am honored to serve as one of The Missouri Bar Foundation Trustees, which helps maintain, grow, and distribute funds generously donated to the foundation. Contributing to the foundation supports the principles of the rule of law and assists the public by granting funds to organizations that help people.

Because of the generosity of Missouri lawyers over the years, The Missouri Bar Foundation has been the bedrock and the footing for many new and existing programs. Among such programs have been legal services to indigents and low-income Missourians, Missouri Girls and Boys State, law-related education for teachers and students in Missouri schools, and initiatives to help lawyers address mental health and substance use issues.

We are proud to lend a helping hand to these admirable causes and organizations, but we wouldn’t be able to if it wasn’t for you – Missouri lawyers – and your generous contributions. You can continue to help us assist these deserving programs by contributing to The Missouri Bar Foundation. Visit MoBarFoundation.org to learn how you can give back.  

We know lawyers want to even better serve their clients and communities, and The Missouri Bar Foundation is here to help you do just that – through charity and generosity. 

Here at The Missouri Bar, we work to stay on top of local and national changes, so we can identify or develop tools and resources to help you even better serve your clients and communities.

July 1 will mark the start of expanded remote access to court documents through Case.net. In a June 28, 2022, order, the Supreme Court of Missouri issued a rule change paving the way for all Missourians to view public case documents from their personal electronic devices. With expanded access comes a heightened awareness of the responsibilities of lawyers and legal staff to protect clients’ confidential information.

Redaction requirements are not new; those filing documents in Missouri courts have been obligated to redact confidential information. The increased access to court documents only underscores the existing need for care in completing redactions in a responsible manner.

As you review best practices for redacting documents, we’ve created a Remote Public Access and Redaction Resource Center at MoBar.org/RemotePublicAccess to assist you. There, you can find the specific Supreme Court rules and orders related to the expansion, an on-demand program which outlines the rule change and ethical considerations for self-study credit, as well as options for redaction software and step-by-step videos tutorials to walk you through the redaction process. In addition, you can request a continuing legal education speaker to visit your firm or local or specialty bar to present on redaction updates. You can also tune in to a pre-recorded discussion of remote public access matters.

I would be remiss if I did not extend a heartfelt “thank you” to the clerks and court staff across our state who are helping us navigate these recent changes and the ones that have come before. Special thanks are also due to Office of State Court Administrators staff. As Chief Justice Paul C. Wilson noted during his recent State of the Judiciary address, the work clerks, court staff, and local judges do “is difficult, often taxing, and it requires them to handle a high volume of work without ever losing the compassion needed to serve their communities one case at a time.” 

Your Missouri Bar staff is committed to keeping you prepared for whatever changes come our way. This is reflected in our work keeping members up to date on legislative proposals that impact the legal practice; developing timely and relevant CLE content to keep you informed; offering practice management resources and discounts to help remove stress from your day; and so much more.

If you have questions about changes in the practice or suggestions about how we can best help you adapt to them, we want to hear about it. We look forward to hearing from you.

- Mischa

Hearing stories of their experiences reinforces that Missouri lawyers are a talented bunch, making differences in peoples’ lives – whether they are helping a grandparent obtain guardianship for a grandchild who lost a parent to COVID-19; prosecuting individuals who were trafficking young teens; securing financing for a local manufacturer to expand operations; or defending a corporate client in high-stakes litigation. 

It is not always easy being a lawyer. In addition to needing to stay abreast of rapid changes in the law, rules, and regulations, lawyers must navigate economic uncertainties, increased time demands, misinformation, and efforts to undermine public trust in important government and civic institutions. We have all heard our fair share of lawyer jokes and jabs. But, as 2023 gets into full swing, there is still much to celebrate about the practice of law.

I reached out to some of our colleagues to see what they love most about our chosen career. So, here is a valentine of sorts to our profession, reminding us in the words of a few bar members across the state why it is an honor and privilege to be called to practice law.    

“What I love about being a lawyer is ‘the creation of possibility’ and constant education. Sometimes people come to the office, and they have no hope or feel as though they are at a dead end. The challenge becomes digging into the legal problem, finding a way, and learning something I didn't know myself. That's satisfying work.” – Celestine Dotson, St. Louis

“I love being in a profession that makes a difference in people’s lives and communities. Lawyers have the training, skills, and opportunities to address the access to justice gap and other disparities in our system, which gives me hope and makes me glad to be a part of this profession.” – Kirsten Dunham, Columbia

“In a country that aspires to have no man as King, but rather the law as King, the legal profession plays a key role. I love the legal profession because its role is fulfilled every day as lawyers solve the problems presented in every situation and case brought to them.” – Judge Gary Lynch, Bolivar

“I think the most significant thing lawyers can do is ‘share.’ Whether it is sharing our knowledge, leadership skills, time, advice, counsel, or however we may choose to do it. When we ‘share,’ it is the greatest gift a lawyer can give back to society.”— Joseph P. Rice III, Cape Girardeau

“As a personal injury lawyer, I love being able to assist my clients in finding a just and reasonable resolution under the law. In addition, I find great satisfaction in being a problem solver and finding ways to help clients on many different legal issues they face.” – Keegan Tinney, Joplin

“So often, I deal with marginalized communities who feel abandoned by those in power, so it is truly gratifying to be able to work with individuals and make them feel like someone has some power, believes them, and is going to fight hard for them.” – Stephanie Wan, Springfield

“I love practicing law as a municipal lawyer because I am able to give back to my community. I have lived in the KC metro my entire life, so having the ability to serve as an assistant city attorney is truly meaningful for me.” – Alexandra Wilson, Kansas City

At your Missouri Bar, we want to hear what you love about the work you do each day and how we can help you better serve your clients and communities. Feel free to reach out via ListenNow@mobar.org, or tag us on social media.

Best regards,

Mischa

Whether baking cookies, decorating the house, or watching a holiday movie, being surrounded by your favorite people makes everything better. I hope that your seasonal celebrations, whatever they look like, are filled with fun, relaxation, and gratitude.

Holidays are also a great opportunity to pause and reflect. How can we stay grounded amid constant change? Are we taking time to focus on what makes us feel truly whole? How can we better take care of ourselves while we work to benefit others? I challenge you to take time to renew your energy as we move into 2023. Put down your phone. Take a nap. Read a book. Start a journal. Make time to invest in yourself.

You’ve probably noticed that lately The Missouri Bar has placed greater attention on lawyer well-being. Missouri lawyers actively participated in key events this year, such as Well-Being Week in Law and Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and we have shared even more wellness resources and tools on a more frequent basis. Special thanks to the dedicated volunteers who’ve served on the Lawyers Living Well Special Committee over the last 19 months. These efforts, and the conversations they spur, are not going away. And, judging by your responses, lawyers are thankful for these opportunities. Many of you have reached out with notes of appreciation and suggestions. Even more have attended learning sessions on sleeping better, supporting peers during a suicide crisis, and strategies for juggling work and personal life demands.

If you’d like to take better control of your own wellbeing, I encourage you to visit MoBar.org/Well-Being and keep an eye out for upcoming continuing legal education sessions focused on the matter, many of which qualify for ethics credit.

As you look to the new year, I also encourage you to think about ways to discuss our Constitution, our government, and the rule of law in your peer groups and community. As Supreme Court of Missouri Chief Justice Paul Wilson noted during his address at Annual Meeting: “The society we serve is more divided, more distrustful, more fearful, and more angry than it has been for a long, long time.” This provides us — lawyers — a unique opportunity and responsibility to help ease the divisions among us.

As members of the legal profession, we are well equipped to educate and foster a greater knowledge of and appreciation for our Constitution, governmental institutions, and how they work. By sharing about the many ways lawyers, judges, and the legal system as a whole help improve the lives of the people in our nation, we can plant more seeds of understanding and have a more informed society — one with a reestablished trust in our proven democratic structure.

The Missouri Bar provides spaces for these conversations, as well as ways for lawyers and judges to play a role in them. You can volunteer to be a speaker at your local school or civic group, discussing the importance of the Constitution and our legal system. You can serve as a leader or active participant in your community, supporting your city council, local commissions, school board, or myriad nonprofit organizations helping our fellow citizens. Renewing our focus on civic education, civility, and collaboration can help build relationships, dispel misinformation, and rebuild respect and trust of one another and confidence in our institutions. You, as a lawyer, can share your voice and play a critical role. We need you.

Best wishes as you pause and reflect on this year and prepare for 2023.

Mischa

This yearly gathering is always a special opportunity to network and strengthen relationships with fellow lawyers and judges, earn continuing legal education credit, conduct business of the bar, and celebrate our profession. It also marks the start of a new bar year – and a chance to recognize and reflect on all that has taken place over the last 12 months.

I want to offer a special thank you to 2021-22 Missouri Bar President John Grimm, who led our organization with dedication and a passion for celebrating the many outstanding lawyers that we have all across the state. From Maryville to St. Louis, Brookfield to Holcomb, and many places in between, John has traversed Missouri, connecting with members and sharing ways the bar can help members even better serve their clients and communities. We are all better for his work.

We are excited to welcome Lauren Tucker McCubbin as 2022-23 bar president. She is not unfamiliar with the position, as her father, Laurence Tucker, held it from 1995-96, but Lauren is certainly bringing her own flair as a leader with deep experience serving at local, state, and national bar levels. Read her profile piece and first President’s Message to Missouri lawyers in this issue.

You’ll also want to take a look at our 2022 Annual Meeting award recipients. A deserving slate of lawyers accepted recognitions this year for their work to share knowledge, lead specialty groups, and provide pro bono services. This includes five awards presented by The Missouri Bar Foundation.

Founded in 1950 as the philanthropic partner of The Missouri Bar, The Missouri Bar Foundation has a mission to promote improvement in the administration of justice by encouraging and funding law-related endeavors, recognizing exemplary legal and public service, and supporting scholarships and community projects. Over the past few years, the foundation has presented funding to offices that provide legal services to indigent and low-income Missourians, the American Legion Missouri Boys and Girls State, Missouri Lawyers’ Assistance programs, civics education efforts, and so much more. In addition, the foundation provides:

• Assistance for women lawyers in need, or their dependents, via the Eunice Cutter Cox Memorial Fund;
• Scholarships for deserving law students from Northwest Missouri via the Henry C. McDougal Northwest Missouri Legal Scholarship Fund; and
• Funding in support of special projects of the Supreme Court of Missouri’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Fairness.

The foundation seeks to grow and benefit even more Missourians. Under the charge of this year’s Missouri Bar Foundation President Lynn Ann Vogel, the foundation is offering lawyers new ways to get involved, including joining as a foundation fellow or providing monetary donations independently or as a way to honor a colleague or family member. As the calendar year draws to a close, contributing to The Missouri Bar Foundation is an ideal way to give back while also completing end-of-year giving, and donors can select to which project or initiative they want to contribute. Learn more at MoBarFoundation.org.

There is much to look forward to in the 2022-23 Missouri Bar year. I hope you all will take on the challenge to support the profession, however that may look to you.

Best regards,
Mischa

It reminds us of the brave enslaved plaintiffs who, decades ago, fought for their freedom. 

It reminds us of the role our courts have in applying law and maintaining justice for all. 

And it reminds us that we, as lawyers and judges, play an essential role in our legal system and the defense of the rule of law. We have the responsibility to continue learning how we can even better serve our clients and communities. As Hon. David C. Mason noted during the unveiling ceremony, “We have to do better every day.”

As executive director of The Missouri Bar, I see first hand how lawyers across our state are working hard to do better by volunteering in their communities, participating in bar committees, and improving access to the legal system and the quality of legal services. Missouri lawyers are always eager to learn – and always eager to help.

That was clear during the 2022 Solo & Small Firm Conference in June. It was fantastic to interact with so many of you, and it was the first time I’d spoken face- to-face with some attendees – though I’d chatted with them via Zoom. The comradery and enthusiasm that solo and small firm practitioners bring to the conference was readily apparent during the many learning sessions and networking opportunities. Special thanks to conference chair Maureen Brady and all who served on the planning committee.

I hope to see many of you Sept. 14-16 as we gather in Springfield for the 2022 Annual Meeting and Judicial Conference. Annual Meeting will feature multiple educational offerings, networking, and opportunities to celebrate and commemorate our proud profession. In one of our plenary sessions, Judge Mason and Prof. Anne Twitty will discuss the history of the freedom suits and their impact on law and society. Attendees will also hear the story of Milly Sawyers and her quest for justice in Missouri. 

In addition, Lucinda H. Luetkemeyer, Stephen S. Davis, and Charles W. Hatfield will take to the main stage to speak on laws and litigation surrounding free and fair elections, a particularly timely topic as we continue to peel back the layers of the Jan. 6 events and head into the full swing of the 2022 election cycle.

These meeting plenaries are an opportunity to grow our knowledge – of both current legal matters and the history that surrounds them. In turn, we can share that information with our colleagues and fellow Missourians. If you’re like me, you’re hearing comments from those around you regarding recent court decisions, elections, the judicial process, and day-to-day challenges facing Missourians of all walks of life. Many people are anxious, upset, or simply confused.

As lawyers, we can use our voices to offer some clarity. We can share our knowledge – about the legal system and our courts – with those we encounter. Doing so helps create a more informed society that better understands our legal system and its work.

Best regards,
Mischa

And in my professional life, this season marks the start of several exciting events and changes.

The 2022 Solo & Small Firm Conference is just around the corner, with learning sessions taking place June 9-11, both virtually and in person. As usual, the meeting will be filled with quality, timely programming, including more than 60 breakout sessions highlighting technology trends, litigation or GAL issues, practice growth, and much more.

Perhaps most significantly, this year marks the return of an in-person attendance option for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic turned the world upside down and shifted meetings to digital spaces. For those who have joined us at a MOSOLO Small Firm Conference in the past, this should be a welcome return to building in-person connections with colleagues from across the state. Here at the bar, we routinely hear from lawyers who appreciate the chance to collaborate in a casual setting and practice solo, together. Learn more at MoBar.org/SOLO.

It’s also time to begin thinking about elections for The Missouri Bar Board of Governors. With roughly half of board members’ terms expiring each year, currently, there are 19 board seats up for election this year. While it’s always difficult to say goodbye to a departing governor, there’s a certain excitement that comes with welcoming new faces to the group, and with them fresh voices and ideas. Serving on the Board of Governors is a unique way to contribute to the policy-making decisions of the bar. Our board members have a variety of practice areas and settings and represent the bar’s 15 geographic districts.

If you’re interested in filling one of these vacancies, you have until June 21 to submit your nomination petition.

Finally, I’ve been keeping a close eye on the Freedom Suits Memorial that’s going up in St. Louis. This monument, set to be unveiled on June 20, will commemorate and honor the hundreds of enslaved plaintiffs who took great personal risk to sue for their freedom in the decades leading up to the Civil War. It will also serve to honor the lawyers and judges who helped them.

While I’ve only seen sketches of the 14 foot-tall, cast bronze sculpture, I’m already inspired by the idea of it standing tall on the east plaza of the Civic Courts Building downtown, a short walk from the Old Courthouse, where so many monumental suits were tried. I know many individuals, legal organizations, and firms from across the state have donated funding and energy to bring this concept to life. That work will be well worth it. Special congratulations to St. Louis Circuit Judge David C. Mason, who first conceived the memorial.

Whatever summer means to you, I hope you’ll make The Missouri Bar and our resources a part of it, whether that means attending a CLE, saving on travel costs through your Member Benefits, or simply signing the petition of a lawyer seeking election to the board.

Best regards,

Mischa

That’s especially true as we’ve entered our third year of the COVID-19 pandemic; been horrified by the needless death and destruction from Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine; and seen many Americans struggle with the day-to-day realities of economic insecurity. Yet, spring is the season of hope. It compels us to focus on the beauty and the good around us. There are things to celebrate. 

One cause for celebration is the privilege that we have living in the United States of America and the freedoms we enjoy here. As Ukrainian residents endure unimaginable losses and fight for their democracy, we are reminded not to take our privileges for granted. In his State of the Judiciary address last month to a joint session of the Missouri General Assembly, Chief Justice Paul Wilson emphasized that government is people – well-meaning, hard-working people who may do different jobs and serve in different ways but who “are united in the spirit and goal of service.” He also stressed the importance of continued communication and collaboration among our three branches of government to best serve Missourians. I encourage you to read the full text of the State of the Judiciary address included in this issue. 

For me, another cause for celebration is the historic nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court to fill the upcoming vacancy due to the retirement of Associate Justice Stephen Breyer. I am inspired that for the first time in my life and the Court’s 232-year history, a working mom who looks like me may serve on the highest court of our land. 

This spring at The Missouri Bar, we continue to strive daily to help you even better serve your clients. If you haven’t visited The Missouri Bar’s 2021 Annual Report on MoBar.org, take a look when you have a few minutes. You will gain a better understanding of the range of services provided to lawyers at no additional cost and the ways our bar is serving the public. We think you’ll see things to celebrate and even more to help us look ahead to the challenges yet to be met.

In May, as part of Juror Appreciation Week, The Missouri Bar will join with judges, court personnel, and legal professionals across our state to celebrate and thank all Missourians who reported for jury duty in state courts in 2021 and 2022. Each year, thousands of Missourians perform one of the most significant civic duties granted to citizens – they serve as fair and impartial jurors in communities. Missouri is one of only a few states that hold a statewide Juror Appreciation Week, with more than 50 courts participating annually. This year’s statewide Juror Appreciation Week will be May 1-7. Contact us or your local court if you are interested in joining as we thank jurors. 

We also look forward to seeing you at the virtual Missouri Bar Spring Committee meetings to be held May 2-6. Thirty committees are holding business meetings and/or offering CLE programs at no charge that week. Check MoBar.org for the schedule. 

Noticing and celebrating what is happening with the weather, temperature, plants and flora, and general vibe can help us be more centered and connected. The rapid changes in our personal and professional lives over the last year have laid bare the importance of lawyer well-being. Members of the bar’s Lawyers Living Well Special Committee have worked tirelessly to identify and recommend programs and initiatives aimed at improving lawyer well-being. Several special activities are planned for national Well-Being Week in Law (WWIL), also May 2-6. WWIL seeks to raise awareness about mental health and encourage action and innovation across the profession to improve lawyer well-being. 

Your well-being has many dimensions – your physical, mental, and social wellness are critical to the health of your practice. Diet, exercise, and mindfulness improve your physical and mental health and support your social well-being. With spring’s arrival, open those windows, get outside, plant something, ride a bike, have a picnic, or cook with family or friends. When engaging in activities, try to be mindful and fully in the moment. If you enjoy the time without worrying about your to-do list or deadlines, you will be more refreshed, fulfilled, and optimistic. Who wouldn’t want that?

Let’s spring forward together with appreciation and optimism. 

Best regards, 
Mischa

As we press forward in a new year of the new normal, we are over a quarter of the way through this year’s regular session of the Missouri General Assembly. As you might imagine, this is a busy time for our Government Relations staff.

As lawyers, we know how important the legislative process is to our state, Missouri residents, and our democracy as a whole. By working with elected officials, The Missouri Bar constantly seeks to improve the law, the administration of justice, and the quality of legal services available to the public. We actively track bills of interest to the legal profession and justice system, and lawyers can access regular updates on these matters through our Legislative Engagement Center under the Government Relations tab at MoBar.org. There, lawyers can use the Bills of Interest feed to locate bills related to specific practice areas. In the weekly ESQ. newsletter, lawyers will find a link to a Legislative Update, published each week the General Assembly is in session, and all legislative updates are published at News.MoBar.org. A yearly Legislative Digest is available at the end of each summer, providing comprehensive summaries for all legislation enacted during the year, as well as tools to aid in navigating the new laws and access to other online resources. 

We also make it a point to routinely connect with elected officials in the executive branch, the House, and Senate to ensure they are aware of our public resources for those they represent, including LawyerSearch; Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org; a variety of helpful resource guides and handbooks related to common legal matters; and other tools. Beyond that, your Board of Governors approves law improvement measures, drafted by committees of The Missouri Bar, for introduction in the Missouri General Assembly. The board and executive committee regularly review legislative proposals filed each session, which are limited to matters concerning the administration of justice, the integrity of the judiciary, improvement of the law, or the dignity of the profession of law.

If you have questions about pending legislation, you are welcome to contact our Government Relations staff at 573-659-2280 or govrel@mobar.org. We also encourage Missouri lawyers to directly reach out to their elected officials or connect with their Missouri Bar Board of Governors representatives on legislation within the scope previously outlined.

It’s also important that we take time to recognize the 26 Missouri lawyers – including one admitted to the bar just this past fall while serving – who are currently in the House and Senate, traveling to Jefferson City for weeks on end, sometimes while maintaining a law practice back at home. The work they do on behalf of the citizens they represent makes an impact in our communities and beyond, and their background in the law is an invaluable resource to both constituents and fellow lawmakers.

Of course, understanding the importance of our legislature and its decisions shouldn’t stop with us lawyers. Our Citizenship Education and Public Information staff are hard at work to help teachers, students, and everyday citizens even better understand government processes. Our learning resources range from fun coloring books explaining how laws are made to advanced training workshops for educators from across the state. You can find out more about these efforts here.

As professionals who are officers of the Court, it’s essential that we stay connected to and informed of the work being done in the other two branches of state government. I encourage you to get involved by sharing your thoughts or joining a Missouri Bar committee. Your ideas and contributions help improve the lives of Missouri citizens and help us better understand your professional priorities.

Best regards,  
Mischa

Mischa Buford Epps

Our standing, open-enrollment, and special committees are hard at work. Just one example of this are the efforts of the Lawyers Living Well Special Committee, which spearheaded the bar’s involvement in Suicide Prevention Awareness Month activities. In September, Missouri lawyers, law students, and their families and friends participated in the Out of Darkness Walk in St. Louis and raised more than $5,000 to support suicide awareness and prevention outreach. Lawyers also stepped forward to increase awareness of suicide in the profession by recording videos that share how they have been impacted by suicide – and how there is hope for anyone in need.

Throughout the year, dozens of Missouri lawyers shared their time and talent to plan and pull off successful bar events, such as the Annual Meeting and the Solo & Small Firm Conference. Insights shared at these conferences help lawyers across our state even better serve their clients, and we value your support to make them happen. Lawyers have also helped educate the public about the legal system and how it applies to daily life by appearing as guests on our “Is it Legal To?” podcast; updated our Media Law Handbook to assist reporters; wrote timely, thought-provoking articles for the Journal of The Missouri Bar; and so much more.

Even better, these efforts come from lawyers at all stages of their careers. This fall, I heard a presentation by our 2020-21 Leadership Academy class of lawyers with less than 10 years of practice experience. As part of their program participation, these 12 lawyers chose to create a series of curriculum for middle school and high school classroom teachers to educate students on their First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, and Civil Rights. These resources were also designed so that Missouri lawyers or judges can readily use the curriculum to speak in classrooms. In October, I attended the 9th Judicial Circuit Bar’s annual meeting, where I met a 95-year-old retired judge who was there to connect with lawyers from his part of the state. He has been attending the circuit’s annual meeting for 65 years, actively contributing to its mission and the legal profession at large. That dedication is something we can all aspire to.

If you’re looking for ways to share your time and talent to ensure fair and impartial justice for all, visit MoBar.org. You might also consider contributing your treasure by supporting The Missouri Bar Foundation with an end-of-year gift on MoBarFoundation.org. On an annual basis, the foundation provides funding to a variety of legal-focused efforts, including citizenship education, legal assistance for veterans, the Missouri Lawyers’ Assistance Program, and our state’s four legal aid offices.

In addition, the foundation honors the good deeds of lawyers by presenting a variety of special awards. You can learn more about this year’s award recipients starting on page 284. All this would not happen without the generosity of lawyers who are passionate about paying it forward.

I’m sure we can all agree that 2021 has been, to say the least, unpredictable. But what remains steadfast is the work of our members to help improve the profession, the law, and the administration of justice for all Missourians. For that, I thank you.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy holiday season!

Mischa

Mischa Buford Epps

In October, The Missouri Bar observes National Celebrate Pro Bono Week, a chance to show volunteers how much their service and time spent assisting the vulnerable matters. Each year, Missouri lawyers provide thousands of hours of pro bono legal services, demonstrating the commitment you, our members, have to equal access to justice for all. Every minute makes a difference.

We have the exciting opportunity to celebrate some of the lawyers who are impacting their communities through pro bono work. This year, we honor Will Goldstein, Tamar E. Hodges, Roland B. Miller III, Erica Mynarich, and Patricia D. Perkins with Pro Bono Publico Awards. I encourage you to visit MoBar.org and learn more about their inspiring efforts and accomplishments. More than that, I encourage you to emulate them.

In addition to positively impacting society, spending time helping someone in need – while expecting nothing in return – can improve our own well-being and lighten our mental load. In 2020, Cleveland Clinic shared that helping someone can lower our blood pressure, reduce depression, and lower stress levels, among other health benefits.²

Pro bono looks different for each of us. Some lawyers take time out of their weekends and evenings to work on cases for clients with little or no means to pay. Others have devoted their entire careers to assisting indigent individuals. In 2017, we partnered with the American Bar Association to launch Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org. Perhaps you’ve heard public service announcements about this program on the radio. Through the website, which functions like a virtual walk-in legal clinic, low-income Missourians can ask up to three non-criminal legal questions per year. Lawyer volunteers can then access the website and answer these pending questions. There’s no expectation for continued representation, and clients will only learn lawyers’ identities with permission. In the past 18 months, family law matters have made up more than 30% of the submitted concerns. The next most-common questions involved landlord/tenant matters. Since the website’s launch, about 200 lawyers have registered to assist in answering queries. This year alone, volunteers have helped more than 1,450 clients. And in total, more than 7,100 questions have been answered since Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org launched. Missouri boasts a 90% response rate for questions compared to the national average of 70%. Yet again, a testament to our members’ passion for pro bono.

In times of struggle and turmoil, the public often looks to lawyers. And Missouri lawyers help.

If you’re looking for more ways to give back through pro bono, you can find options and resources on our website. If you want to highlight pro bono work you or your law firm have provided, share it on social media with #MOLawyersHelp and your post may be featured on The Missouri Bar’s social media and blog.

Thank you to those who lend a supportive hand; your actions have more of a ripple effect than you will likely ever realize.

Best regards,
Mischa

Endnotes
1 Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar.

2 Why Giving Is Good for Your Health, Cleveland Clinic: Health Essentials (Oct. 28, 2020), https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-giving-is-good-for-your-health/.

Mischa Buford Epps

Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar.

As the brilliant lights burst in the night sky, I felt blessed to celebrate the 245th anniversary of our nation’s independence from the British. This year’s July 4th celebration was even more special as it followed on the heels of our nation’s first recognition of Juneteenth as a federal holiday. Both holidays, not that far apart on the calendar, provide us a moment to reflect on our ideals of freedom and independence and the complex manifestation of the same in our nation’s past and present.

Throughout 2021, Missourians from all 114 counties and  the City of St. Louis have joined together in the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to celebrate the bicentennial of Missouri’s entry into the Union as the 24th state. As part of the Louisiana Purchase Territory and the first state completely west of the Mississippi River, Missouri’s entry into statehood, pursuant to a hotly debated congressional compromise, changed the course of national history. Going back to the indigenous people who originally populated these lands, Missouri has always boasted a diverse array of people, voices, and perspectives. Aug. 10, 2021, is Missouri Statehood Day. Regardless of whether you say “Missouree” or “Missourah,” I encourage you to find ways to participate in the celebration of our state’s past, present, and future. A great place to start is the Struggle for Statehood digital and traveling exhibit put together by the Missouri Humanities Council and the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri, found at Missouri2021.org.

At The Missouri Bar, one of our best opportunities to celebrate the diversity of experience and perspectives of Missouri lawyers is at each year’s Annual Meeting. Special thanks to the members of our Annual Meeting Planning Committee and bar staff who have been hard at work putting together a tremendous Annual Meeting program. This year’s Annual Meeting will be held virtually in a “Lunch & Learn” format Sept. 20-24.

The meeting includes three engaging plenary sessions. The plenary session on Wednesday, Sept. 22, features lawyer Denise Robinson sharing perspectives on the nexus of lawyer well-being and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

On Thursday, Sept. 23, Saint Louis University Law School Professor Chad Flanders will lead an exploration of voting rights from a constitutional and historical perspective.

Finally, on Friday, Sept. 24, we will be privileged to hear from University of Missouri School of Law Dean Lyrissa Lidsky, Mizzou Law Professor Thom Lambert, and United States Naval Academy Professor Jeffrey Kosseff on regulating the internet, multi-billion-dollar companies, government power, and free speech. With more than 20 continuing legal education programs, a CLE Ethics Series, and YLS New Lawyer Series, the virtual Annual Meeting offers more than 14 MCLE hours, 10 hours of ethics, and 4.5 hours satisfying the diversity/inclusion/cultural competency/elimination of bias (DICE) requirement. We hope you will find this year’s meeting easily accessible, affordable, and beneficial to you and your practice.

We have so much to celebrate, and I look forward to doing so with you.

Best regards,
Mischa

Mischa Buford Epps

Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar.

With the increased availability of COVID-19 vaccines across the country, we are slowly emerging from our pandemic seclusion, even if still social distancing and mask wearing to continue to curb our infection rates.

In late April, I had the pleasure of watching approximately 70 new Missouri lawyers take their oaths to practice during the spring enrollment ceremony at the state capitol. COVID-19 precautions and inclement weather caused modifications to the ceremony, which is traditionally held at the Supreme Court of Missouri building. Nonetheless, with family and friends looking on in the balconies above, and others streaming the event on The Missouri Bar’s Facebook page, the excitement and sheer joy were palpable.

John Gunn, 2020-21 Missouri Bar president, welcomed these new lawyers to the legal profession and congratulated them on passing a grueling exam under historically stressful external circumstances. He shared insights from his journey as a lawyer and encouraged our newest members to bring their full selves to the profession. He assured them, as I remind you, that The Missouri Bar is here to help you even better serve your clients and our communities.

In this issue, you will read about a collection of Missouri lawyers who are using their law degrees in non-traditional ways. While they aren’t using their JDs in a practice setting, they are all quick to mention how much their legal education plays a role in their professional successes — and how Missouri Bar activity has contributed to them. I hope it does for you, too.

At The Missouri Bar, we work to help you thrive in your day-to-day activity by offering legal education and business services. Programs and publications produced by The Missouri Bar’s Continuing Legal Education department (MoBarCLE) are a great value any time, but even more so as many members face increased economic pressures as a result of the global health crisis. MoBarCLE offers a wide array of programs and materials relevant to both new lawyers entering the practice and established lawyers looking to expand their areas of practice or stay abreast of latest developments.

You can stay informed about legislation that may affect the legal profession, your practice, and your clients with The Missouri Bar’s Legislative Engagement Center and other Missouri Bar resources. The bar’s Legislative Digest provides comprehensive summaries for all legislation enacted during the year, as well as other tools to aid in navigating the new laws and access to other online resources.

We also offer law practice management resources that are helpful whether you’re just starting your career, getting ready to retire, or continuing to grow your knowledge as a legal professional. Through MoBar.org, you can access an expansive forms bank, view legal ethics opinions, and even complete free legal research using Fastcase. If you’re looking to chat with others about practice solutions in real time, you can collaborate with lawyers from across the state via the connect.MOBAR online platform, speak with an expert at Affinity Consulting Group, or share information using #MOLawyers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

The Missouri Bar strives to make lawyer well-being a priority. Earlier this year, President Gunn established the Lawyers Living Well Special Committee to identify factors impacting the well-being of Missouri lawyers, develop programing, and communicate the importance of mental health and wellness.

These efforts further the good work of the Missouri Lawyers’ Assistance Program (MOLAP), our confidential counseling program to assist lawyers, judges, law students, and their families with personal problems that adversely affect personal or professional well-being. There is no charge for MOLAP services, which can be accessed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at MoBar.org/MOLAP, or by calling 1-800-688-7859.

At all stages of your career, community is an important factor. We encourage all members, regardless of experience level, to be involved with one or more of the bar’s 45 open enrollment committees focusing on substantive law practice areas or issues pertinent to our profession, such as Access to Justice or the Committee on Diversity. We were ecstatic that more than 2,000 members participated in the Spring Committee Meetings held remotely the first week of May.

We also understand that your time and money are valuable. That’s why we collaborate with a range of providers to offer you exclusive access to savings on technology resources, marketing services, billing support, client intake tools, and more.

No matter where you are in your professional journey, you play a special role in the fabric of our Missouri Bar. Keep bringing your full selves to the table, and we’ll meet you there.

Best regards,
Mischa

Mischa Buford Epps

Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar.

There is much to celebrate in 2021, as we saw the inauguration of our first female vice president of the United States, who also is a woman lawyer of color. That significance is not lost on me as I’ve frequently overheard our 5-year-old daughter mention “our Vice President Kamala Harris” in FaceTime calls with her friends.

In addition to the vice-presidential milestone, we also celebrate female lawyers and judges serving in key positions across our state. Among our federal judiciary in Missouri, Hon. Beth Phillips serves as chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri; Hon. Shirley Padmore Mensah serves as chief magistrate judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri; and Hon. Kathy Surratt-States serves as chief judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. 

Three in ten of Missouri’s 415 state court judges are women.² With Hon. Cindy Reams Martin serving as the chief judge of the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District, and Hon. Mary Kathryn Hoff serving as the chief judge of the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District, two of our three Court of Appeals Districts are led by women. Hon. Mary R. Russell and Hon. Patricia Breckenridge serve on the Supreme Court of Missouri. In early March, the legal community recognized the retirement of the second female judge appointed to the highest court of our state, Judge Laura Denvir Stith. She retired after ably serving the people as a member of the Supreme Court of Missouri for the last 20 years and as a previous member of the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District.

In the Missouri General Assembly, 52 of our state’s 197 legislators are women (26.4%). Three of these women are lawyer-legislators, including Rep. Sarah Unsicker, Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, and Sen. Barbara Washington.

Of the 85% of Missouri’s active lawyers who reported their gender in the 2020 enrollment process, 36% identified as female. This is consistent with national figures from the ABA National Lawyer Population Survey, a tally of lawyers by every lawyer-licensing agency in every state, which reported that in 2020, 37% of the nation’s lawyers are women. 

More women than ever are also leading U.S. law schools. In 2000, only one in 10 law school deans were women. By 2009, that number doubled. And, as of June 1, 2020, 41% of all law school deans were women, according to Rosenblatt’s Deans Database at the Mississippi College School of Law. What’s more, three of our four law schools in Missouri are led by female deans – Deans Barbara Glesner-Fines (University of Missouri-Kansas City), Lyrissa Lidsky (University of Missouri), and Nancy Staudt (Washington University).

Of course, there is always room for improvement.

Roughly half of all law school graduates have been female since 2000, but despite slow improvements in recent years, the number of women in senior leadership roles at U.S. law firms is far less than half. About 21% of all equity partners and 31% of all non-equity partners were female in 2019, according to the National Association of Women Lawyers.  Women of color are also under-represented among law firm leaders. While 14% of law firm associates were women of color in 2019, they make up only 5% of non-equity partners and 3% of equity partners.³  Regardless of practice setting, female lawyers of color leave the legal profession at disproportionately higher rates as highlighted in the “Left Out and Left Behind” report published by the ABA in July 2020.⁴

Increasing numbers of experienced female lawyers are leaving law firms or the practice altogether. A 2019 survey of more than 1,200 senior lawyers at the nation’s biggest private law firms revealed that male and female lawyers strongly disagreed on how well their firms fostered long-term careers for women. Women surveyed were far more likely than men to report factors that blocked their “access to success,” including lacking access to business development opportunities, being perceived as less committed to career, and being denied promotion.⁵

In 2013, the Supreme Court of Missouri, in conjunction with The Missouri Bar, created the Joint Commission on Women in the Profession to eliminate barriers to the advancement of women in the law and combat bias in the justice system and the profession with the goal of securing full and equal protection of women in the law. Leadership of the Joint Commission on Women in the Profession recently changed hands with Amy Bender-Levy and Stephanie Wan becoming co-chairs.

Having served as the Supreme Court liaison to the Joint Commission from 2013-2020, Judge Stith was a fierce advocate for the revisions to Supreme Court Rule 6.06, making it easier for women to re-enter the profession after a hiatus –  a situation that  can  hinder women specifically in returning to work after caring for a child or elderly parent. 

Under the able leadership of past co-chairs Megan Phillips (2013-2020), Bill Bay (2013-2015), and Karen Glickstein (2016-2020), the Joint Commission’s past successful efforts also include:

• Hosting and participating in several symposiums and training events addressing issues like implicit bias and successful networking/mentorship for women in the profession.  
• Successfully advocating for lactation accommodation in state courthouses.  
• Revising the annual enrollment form to include a checkbox for gender, which will facilitate analysis of women’s representation in Missouri legal sectors moving forward. 

The new Joint Commission co-chairs hope to provide education and CLEs pertaining to gender issues in the law, address the pressing issues that are facing women lawyers in our state, connect with employers and allies to work toward better equity among genders, and collect critical information to help achieve these goals.

All allies, not just women, are encouraged to get involved with the bar’s Committee on Women in the Profession, mentor other lawyers and law students, collaborate through panels and programming, and create concrete action plans for your legal organization to develop and promote female attorneys.It will take all of us – male and female – to have real discussions and make a true impact.

Best regards,
Mischa

Endnotes
1  Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar.
2  Diversity and Inclusion in the Missouri Judiciary (2019), https://www.courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=151493.
3  National Association of Women Lawyers, 2020 Report on the Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms, https://www.nawl.org/p/cm/ld/fid=2019.
4  Destiny Peery, Paulette Brown & Eileen Letts,Left Out and Left Behind: The Hurdles, Hassles, and Heartaches of Achieving Long-Term Legal Careers for Women of Color (American Bar Association 2020).
5  Roberta D. Liebenberg & Stephanie A. Scharf,Walking Out the Door: The Facts, Figures and Future of Experienced Women Lawyers in Private Practice (American Bar Association 2019).

Mischa Buford Epps

Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar.

We welcomed 2021 and the new possibilities it brings. As the 117th U.S. Congress opened, little could we have imagined the Jan. 6 assault on our nation’s Capitol and attack on the rule of law. The tumultuous events of the first week of the year reminded us of the fragility of our democratic republic and of life itself as five people lost their lives in connection with these events. Unfortunately, the fragility of life is ever before us as we have had friends, family members, colleagues, and clients numbered among the more than 375,000 deaths in our country to date due to the coronavirus. To learn and rebuild from all that has been lost, we must look beyond our own experiences and recognize our common humanity.

The pandemic has caused changes in our society, our personal and professional lives, and our organizations. Your bar continues to adapt to best support you and your practice safely until a vaccine becomes readily available and the health risks associated with large events diminish. In late November 2020, the Board of Governors voted to continue with virtual formats for all Missouri Bar events, multi-day conferences, and programs through August 2021. This enables us to continue to provide the quality, law-specific programing you expect and deserve in the safest ways possible for you and our staff. We will continue to monitor developments related to the pandemic and the vaccine distribution to determine best offerings – whether virtual, onsite, or some combination – for the Annual Meeting of The Missouri Bar, set for Sept. 22-24.

Although the pandemic has brought significant change, it has not changed our resolve to protect and support the rule of law. The importance of this commitment was aptly described by retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in her farewell letter retiring from public life. She advised:

“I’ve seen first-hand how vital it is for all citizens to understand our Constitution and unique system of government, and participate actively in their communities. It is through this shared understanding of who we are that we can follow the approaches that have served us best over time – working collaboratively together in communities and in government to solve problems, putting country and the common good above party and self-interest, and holding our key governmental institutions accountable.”²

We know it takes work and engagement to maintain our democratic institutions. The Missouri Bar strives every day to do our part by promoting civic education and engagement through outreach efforts and programs such as the Show-Me the Constitution mock-Congressional hearing competition. Held online in mid-December, the 2020 program presented high school students with questions pertaining to Constitutional issues surrounding current events. We are thankful for the lawyers and judges who participated as judges in the competition. The importance of your involvement is underscored by one participating student’s comment that “… connecting with experienced individuals virtually and discussing the inner working of our courts and legislation reminded me that we will always find ways to solve problems and adapt to new circumstances.”  

The Show-Me the Constitution competition is just one example of ways you can be involved in helping to equip a knowledgeable and engaged citizenry to uphold our democratic principles and preserve our democracy. Learn more about this competition and other civics education opportunities at MissouriLawyersHelp.org.

The preamble to Missouri Supreme Court Rule 4 admonishes that we, as lawyers, play a vital role in the preservation of society. While divisions in our country garner greater attention, we are challenged to recognize our common humanity. The virulent adversaries of our time – coronavirus, poverty, violence, prejudice, and fear – remind us of our interconnected reality. We are challenged to move beyond the coarseness in our dealings with one another and to recognize that the person on the other side of the aisle or debate is not my enemy, rather, he or she is my fellow American. Please join in meeting this challenge.

Best regards,
Mischa

Endnotes

1 Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar

2 Letter from Sandra Day O’Connor (Oct. 23, 2018), https://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/press/Public_Letter_from_Sandra_Day_OConnor_102318.pdf

Mischa Buford Epps

Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar.

Since listening to that session, I have been filling the pages of my gratitude journal. 2020 has been a year of unprecedented events and change, but we are grateful for many silver linings, and we are grateful for you, our members.

I wanted to share with you a few of the silver-lining changes of this extraordinary year as we strive to provide helpful services and resources to our members and the public.

Even before the arrival of COVID-19, change was afoot at your bar as we launched new technologies to enable us to even better serve you. Among these new technologies was a redesigned website that is easier to navigate and more responsive across all devices for visitors to the site. We also launched a new MoBarCLE online catalog and learning management system. Using this new platform and working with our fantastic members who volunteer to speak, moderate, and plan, MoBar staff have adeptly transitioned our 2020 CLE programs and conferences to virtual formats, continuing to provide robust, relevant CLE to aid you in your practice.

Filing your minimum continuing legal education (MCLE) compliance report has never been easier than with our new MCLE reporting system. Many of you have contacted us about the benefits of the new system. We appreciate you sharing your user experience and suggestions.

As COVID-19 upended life as we knew it, then-President Tom Bender established a COVID-19 Response Task Force which has listened to the needs of members and made recommendations to bar leadership and the Supreme Court of Missouri on issues related to court operations and challenges faced by practitioners and their clients due to the pandemic. Led by Task Force members, we have also provided webinars at no charge on timely topics such as remote notarization and jury trials in a pandemic. We anticipate these efforts will continue as the challenges presented by the pandemic continue to evolve.

In the spring, to assist members in satisfying their MCLE requirements, we offered up to five free COVID-19 related CLE programs to members, including ethics and diversity/inclusion/elimination of bias programs. From May to the end of the 2020 compliance year in September, over 18,000 hours of CLE were provided through this program to our members.

Lawyers are here to help, as evidenced by the many members who have stepped up to assist those in need through our online legal clinic, Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org. Since the beginning of the year, many of you have helped over 1,500 Missourians of modest means with legal questions. Thank you to the members who are already involved. It is not too late. If you are able, please consider joining in and volunteering to answer questions at Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org.

We missed the opportunity to see you in person in Kansas City for the 2020 Annual Meeting and Judicial Conference. However, we were ecstatic that more than 2,280 of you joined us during the three-day lunchtime National Speaker Series. The leadership ceremony video, including Chief Justice George Draper III’s speech and special recognitions, is available to view at mobar.org.

Fall saw the launch of our new Special Committee on Lawyers of Color in the Profession, which is working to identify and recommend programs to help increase the retention, advancement, and promotion of lawyers of color in our state. In addition, Chief Justice Draper and President John Gunn convened a diverse cross-section of stakeholders for a Roundtable on Lawyer Well-Being in Missouri to jumpstart efforts to improve the well-being of our membership. The Board of Governors looks forward to considering these groups’ recommendations to address these important issues impacting the daily lives of our members and our profession as a whole.

We also are excited to offer a new law practice management benefit providing advice for opening, growing, managing, protecting, and winding down your practice. More than 150 white papers, articles, checklists, and other resources are available to members on the LPM page. Members can also take advantage of free 30-minute, one-on-one video/phone consultations with an expert, as well as unlimited email support. Questions can be about anything related to running a law firm: technology, management, leadership, software selection, process mapping – you name it. Learn more at mobar.org/LPM.

Lastly, a bittersweet silver lining worthy of recognition in this issue quickly approaches for our friend and colleague, Gary Toohey, as he prepares to retire at year’s end after 36 years of work at the bar. Gary’s primary role at the bar has been as editor of the Journal of The Missouri Bar, but he has worn a number of other hats as well, including writer for other bar publications like Dialogue and Precedent, staff liaison to the board’s Appointments Committee and the independent Judicial Performance Review Committee, photographer, bar historian, creator of resolutions and programs for numerous bar events, and a helpful hand at bar meetings big and small. We will miss Gary and are grateful for his longtime service and dedication.

Despite the uncertainties of this time, we remain focused on our goal to help you better serve your clients and to improve the law and the administration of justice for all Missourians. Whatever changes you have experienced in your life and practice this year, I hope there are at least a few silver linings that you can list in your gratitude journal to bring you renewed energy and joy. I wish you and your family health and happiness during the holidays and throughout 2021.

Best regards,
Mischa

Mischa Buford Epps

Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar.

Participating in elections is one of the key freedoms of American life. Many people in countries around the world do not have the same freedom, nor did many Americans in centuries past. At our country’s founding, the right to vote was limited to white male landowners. Over time, as a result of persistence, struggle, and sacrifice by innumerable forebearers, history has seen the franchise expand. This year marks major milestones in United States voting history. We celebrate the 150th anniversary of the passage of the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted African-American men the right to vote. We also celebrate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which federalized full and equal voting rights for women. But the fight for women’s suffrage did not end in 1920. Most women of color did not obtain the right to vote until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed and extended in 1970, eliminating literacy tests, poll taxes, and other tactics to disenfranchise voters. As Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote in 1964: “[t]he right to vote freely for the candidate of one’s choice is of the essence of a democratic society.”²

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented complicating factor in this year’s voting process. The U.S. intelligence community has reported foreign actors trying to disrupt and undermine our free and fair elections. However, in the face of today’s challenges, we cannot lose hope. No matter what you believe or whom you support, it is imperative to exercise your right to vote.

Missouri lawyers can assist in ensuring that the right to vote is honored and protected for all. We can serve as poll workers, volunteer to answer questions through a voter hotline, or otherwise assist in non-partisan election protection efforts. One election protection option is available at electionprotection.wetheaction.org. We can also help our friends and neighbors better understand voter ID requirements and the alternatives for voting safely in light of the pandemic.

Missouri voters are eligible to cast ballots by mail with notarization of the ballot envelope, and voters in at-risk categories for contracting or transmitting COVID-19 are eligible to vote by absentee ballot without obtaining notarization. If you are a notary public, you can volunteer to notarize absentee or mail-in ballot envelopes at no cost for Missouri voters by emailing laura.lewis@sos.mo.gov or visiting the Secretary of State’s website: sos.mo.gov/elections.

It is up to all of us to live up to the legacy left for us and honor the sacrifice, struggle, and tenacity of so many who have gone before. I plan to follow my parents’ example modeled for me and my siblings. Please join me by doing the same.

Best regards,
Mischa

Endnotes
1 Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar.

2  Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 555 (1964).

Mischa Buford Epps

Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar.

Without the genius of Charles Hamilton Houston or the tireless efforts of Thurgood Marshall, Constance Baker Motley, George L. Vaughn, Margaret Bush Wilson, and so many others, I would not have had the opportunity to live in the neighborhoods where I grew up, attend the University of Texas School of Law, practice law at a big firm in Kansas City, or serve in my current role at the bar. As advocates and advisers, lawyers have been essential in helping our country move closer to that more perfect union that values and empowers all its people.

The senseless killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and unnamed others have illuminated legacies of our country’s tortured racial past, allowing us to confront and better understand who we once were as a country, contextualize the present moment, and inspire hope for our future. This summer, thousands of Americans from all walks of life have taken to the streets to protest, calling for police reform, greater accountability, and an end to systemic injustice. As lawyers, we can assist in the healing process by actively listening to the perspectives being shared at this time and helping to reform the law and our justice system as needed. The preamble to Missouri Supreme Court Rule 4 admonishes that we, as lawyers, play a critical part in rebuilding the public trust and confidence in the legal institutions on which our constitutional democracy depends. 

Across the state, in our cities, small towns and rural communities, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused us to examine and evaluate how our everyday actions impact our friends and neighbors. We have become acutely aware of our interconnected reality, which affects our livelihood and well-being. That same interconnected reality exists in the necessity of addressing systemic inequities, seeking justice, and strengthening the rule of law.

Providing for, promoting, and protecting justice for all are at the heart of The Missouri Bar’s mission. Our state bar exists to improve the law and the administration of justice by working daily to protect the public and support Missouri lawyers. As lawyers, we are problem solvers and must use our unique legal training, talent, skill sets, and positions of leadership and influence for the betterment of society and to ensure that the rule of law is fairly and equitably applied.

This time is not just about adopting woke symbols or hosting feel-good webinars and returning to the pre-COVID status quo. We have to roll up our sleeves, sit down at the table, and do the hard work of having uncomfortable conversations and coming up with real-life solutions to address racial disparities, rethink how our police departments function and interact with the communities they serve, combat a virulent coronavirus adversary, and equip lawyers and others to navigate the economic challenges ahead. Individual and collective action is needed. The Missouri Bar remains committed to do our part to encourage, assist, and support lawyers in working towards the fair and impartial administration of justice. Here are ways you can help:

• Volunteer your legal services to those in need through the Missouri Free Legal Answers program at Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org
• Take part in ongoing efforts to address access to justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession by joining the bar’s Access to Justice Committee or Committee on Diversity
• Learn more or share information regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession at the bar’s new Diversity & Inclusion Resources page on mobar.org
• Share your suggestions and ideas about additional actions lawyers can take by emailing ListenNow@MoBar.org

There is much work to be done. Please join in the effort to engage, listen, learn, and then act to deliver on the promise of equal justice for all.

Best regards,

Mischa

Mischa Buford Epps

Mischa Buford Epps is executive director of The Missouri Bar.

As I write this message on Law Day 2020, most of us are hunkered down in our homes and adapting to rapid changes in our world that were unthinkable only a few months ago.

To say the least, the first weeks of my service as the executive director of The Missouri Bar have been personally and professionally challenging, but do not come close to the challenges of the 30 million Americans who are unemployed, the 1.1 million Americans who have battled the virus, or the more than 66,000 Americans who have lost their lives. I am honored and humbled that the Board of Governors chose me for this position and consider it a privilege to work with the Board, President Tom Bender, President-Elect John Gunn, Vice President John Grimm, our MoBar staff, and each of you to further The Missouri Bar’s mission.

My first exposure to The Missouri Bar came during the summer of 1993 when I was a summer associate at a St. Louis law firm. I accompanied Past President Doreen Dodson to a meeting on professionalism at The Missouri Bar Center. As I took notes and listened to the committee’s discussions, I was impressed that day by not only their substantive work but also the genuine friendships and amicable relationships among the lawyers I observed. I am sure that no one in attendance that day, including me, envisioned I would someday serve as The Missouri Bar’s executive director – and that such service would begin during a global pandemic. Without a doubt, the challenges before us are immense, but so too are our resilience and determination. I can assure you that The Missouri Bar will continue to deepen engagement with our members to address your concerns and emerge from these challenging times even stronger and better.

Our incredible team at The Missouri Bar has adapted nimbly to working virtually and continues to innovate to provide the best possible service to you. We launched an online Coronavirus Resource Center for Lawyers to provide members with helpful information and resources for your practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. To assist members in obtaining their continuing legal education credits, MoBarCLE is offering up to five free CLE programs related to COVID-19 concerns, including ethics and implicit bias programming. Visit mobarcle.mobar.org today to find more information on the free COVID-19 CLE programs that will be offered each week from now through Sept. 30.

Additionally, The Missouri Bar established a new online community, Lawyers Living Well, where lawyers can discuss self-care and mindfulness while providing each other helpful insights in a supportive environment. Right now, in-person contact is at a minimum. We are left with connecting by phone, email, text, or video, which, in turn, may exacerbate already-increased stress, loss, and isolation. I invite and encourage you to stay connected by participating in it or other online communities at connect.mobar.org.

We have also expanded our Free Legal Answers program to address legal questions posed by our fellow Missourians. Any citizen who is of modest means (temporarily increased to 400% of the poverty level) can obtain free answers to the multitude of legal questions that continue to arise. Lawyers are not alone in navigating the challenges of our ever-changing new normal. If you are able, please consider getting involved at Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org. From your remote location, you can scroll through the questions raised and volunteer to answer one or more in areas with which you are comfortable. It is an easy way to give back, and it is so valuable to those who need guidance.

The success of The Missouri Bar comes on the shoulders of our volunteers, including the Board, section and committee leaders, YLS Council members, CLE speakers, and countless others who donate their time and work tirelessly for the bar. Thank you all for the incredibly valuable work that you do.

In my new role as manager of The Missouri Bar’s day-to-day operations, I will work to make sure we are as efficient, transparent, and fiscally responsible as we can be. If you have questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you for continuing to diligently serve your clients and defend the rule of law during this crisis. Although the world is quickly evolving, The Missouri Bar remains here to help you even better serve your clients and the communities in which we live.

Best regards, 
Mischa

Theresa Levings

Theresa Levings, a former president of The Missouri Bar, is a member of the Kansas City law firm of Badger & Levings, LC.

But despite my youthful appearance, I have gained some wisdom with the years, and here is one of those gems: Things may be good, but they can be better. And we are the people to help make that happen.

“We” are Missouri’s lawyers and judges, to whom much has been given. That isn’t to say that our own hard work hasn’t factored into our successes, but each of us has received some grace along the way — maybe from a relative, a friend, a teacher, a mere acquaintance, or even a stranger. As a group, lawyers and judges are well-known as generous with their time and money for many worthy and universal causes. It is less likely for the general population to donate money to promote ideals near and dear to our profession, such as the rule of law, the improvement of and access to justice, and the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan for merit selection of judges. These are among the causes supported by the Foundation.

The Missouri Bar Foundation needs our lawyers and judges to step up so that it can continue to fund programs vital to justice and our profession. And if we won’t support these needs, why would anyone else?

Because of great generosity in the past, the Foundation oversees a corpus that generates income used to make annual grants. For the last three years the Foundation has awarded the following amounts:

2017 – $64,000.00
2018 – $59,692.00
2019 – $81,110.39

The need is always much greater than the available funds.

What more could we be doing to support justice and the profession? We could raise more money, grown our corpus, and then have more money to give away. Here are some possibilities for use of more funds:

Expanded civics education — Our public schools have little money to devote to new materials or continuing education and training of teachers. Every summer The Missouri Bar presents a multi-day conference on the U.S. Constitution and rule of law for a limited number of high school teachers. The topics and speakers are current and topflight. But the number of teachers who can attend is limited by the money available to fund this event. This is a program the Foundation has supported consistently and would love to fund more fully to reach and teach more teachers and students. The need for civics education is dire.

Scholarships — The debt students face to attend law school typically exceeds $125,000. For many, they have undergraduate debt as well. The long-term impact of this kind of debt on the profession and on access to justice is yet unknown, but to some degree predictable: even higher stress on young and aging lawyers, less time and inclination toward pro bono service, and a profession beyond reach to new faces and voices already underrepresented, including those who are the first in their family to hold a college degree. Is the cost of education transforming our profession in unhealthy ways? And are we willing to accept that?

Serving those in greater need — One recent program funded expanded legal services to our military veterans. Sadly, we have many in this segment who cannot afford the help they need to secure the basics of life. We are drawn to serve those who have served all of us, but we must not stop there. The Foundation has supported legal services for domestic abuse victims, children in poverty, and others in great need. But the need exceeds the dollars available.

If you have donated to The Missouri Bar Foundation, we have tried to stretch your dollars as far as possible. If you are not a Foundation donor, what programs and services would you support with your dollars?

The Foundation wants to grow and do even more good. Please tell me what it will take to get you on board. My email is tlevings@badgerlevings.com. You can make a gift to The Missouri Bar Foundation by visiting mobarfoundation.org or by sending a check to the Foundation at P.O. Box 119, Jefferson City, MO 65102. Either way, I hope to hear from you.

– The Cowardly Lion

As I reflect on nearly a decade of service to The Missouri Bar, I am reminded of a phrase often used by my predecessor, Keith Birkes. When faced with a difficult decision, he would urge bar leaders to “do the right thing, for the right reason.” I’ve yet to find a situation where this simple but wise litmus test didn’t apply. It has served me well throughout my time as executive director of The Missouri Bar, as I knew that our organization, its members, and staff would be best served by leadership that, in all things, based decisions on what was right and best for The Missouri Bar and the people of Missouri.

This guiding principle is shared by my good friend and past president of The Missouri Bar Lynn Ann Vogel, as well as my “Missouri girls” (as we call ourselves) – Zoe Linza, Crista Hogan, and Vickie Mauck. These ladies are passionate bar leaders with a selfless collaborative spirit. All our organizations have been well-served by their willingness to give their talents to Missouri’s legal profession. I have found their counsel invaluable over the past nine years and, in particular, this mantra we live by: “good, right, and true.” In everything, we seek to do what is good and right for the organization, staying true to ourselves and our mission, while encouraging those around us to do the same.

Unfortunately, doing what is right and good isn’t always easy. In fact, it can sometimes be quite difficult. This can be due to a variety of reasons. Doing what is right isn’t always what is popular or politically advantageous. Doing what is right can be lonely. At times, doing what is right may require one to stand up to colleagues or even friends. Doing what is right can be costly – you might lose friendships, financial gain, or positions of leadership. But that’s what leadership is – having the courage to do the right thing, not just when it is easy, but especially when it’s hard. Throughout the past 75 years, The Missouri Bar has benefitted from thoughtful leaders who, though with diverse perspectives and backgrounds, were guided by the common goal of ensuring their service left the organization in an even better place.

Maya Angelou said that “courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” As lawyers, we swear an oath to support the state and federal constitutions; to conduct ourselves with dignity; and to practice law with consideration for the defenseless and oppressed. To fulfill that oath, virtues such as integrity, kindness, humility, mercy, and justice are required. However, without the courage to do what is right and good, one will never be able to continually pursue the virtues of our profession. Courage is the key to consistently practicing what is good, right, and true.

The Missouri Bar’s vision is “Justice First.” Its mission is to improve the lives of Missourians “by providing for, protecting and promoting justice for all.” This is a high calling. It is a mission that cannot be accomplished without the courage needed to constantly pursue doing what is good, right and true. As I close this chapter of my career, incredibly humbled and honored to have had the opportunity to be the executive director of The Missouri Bar, I am exceedingly grateful to the bar leaders and staff with whom I have worked who have not only embodied true courage, but who also have inspired others to be brave and always do the right thing.

Earlier this year, bar leaders from across the state came to Jefferson City to attend the inaugural Missouri Bar Leadership Institute. The purpose of the institute – also known as Mo BLI – was to provide the opportunity for leaders from local and specialty bar associations to meet with each other and state bar leaders; learn about best practices in governance, membership engagement, time management, and effective communication; and discover opportunities to share resources and collaborate with one another.

As one attendee stated, the program “went past general information and really covered specifics regarding topics that upcoming bar leaders need to know.” The institute, which began with a tour of the federal courthouse in Jefferson City and lunch courtesy of U.S. Magistrate Judge Willie Epps, concluded with media relations and crisis communications training from The Missouri Bar’s media relations director, Farrah Fite. To help keep cost from being a barrier to participation, the institute was supported by several generous sponsors. The early bird registration rate was only $75, and several scholarships, up to $250 in value, were offered to cover the registration fee and travel expenses. The institute lasted a day-and-a-half and included time for networking.

Attendees shared their impressions of the institute on social media. One commented that he took away “[l]ots of great ideas to bring back and help grow and connect our local bars.” Another stated that her county bar was “already building on ideas we heard there.” A third attendee commented on the “wonderful speakers” and said that “[w]e are still abuzz with excitement . . . We had our first [board] meeting since and it was great!”

Post-program evaluations showed that the top takeaways included: the power of the “personal touch,” meaning that much can be gained from personally reaching out to individuals; the fact that regardless of bar size or location, everyone is facing the same issues and challenges, and that we can be a resource for one another; and tips on diffusing difficult situations while gracefully moving forward. Another key take away shared by a participant was to not be intimidated into believing that you can’t be a leader: “As a young lawyer, I look up and see so many great people leading our bar and I think I could never do that. Now, I think I could definitely try!”

“It was refreshing to see that each leader had their own style of leading firmly without resorting to bullying or negative tactics,” said one of the participants.

Boosting relationships with specialty and local bars is an important goal of The Missouri Bar. Over many decades, we have had positive and supportive working relationships with bar associations statewide. I value our partnerships on projects like this, as the input of my fellow executive directors make all our organizations and the profession stronger. The new relationships being built with bar leaders from across the state, coupled with the positive feedback from the program’s inaugural participants, confirms we are on the right track. That is why planning will soon be under way for next year’s institute, which will be held April 2-3, 2020. Please save the date and keep an eye out for more information about the program later this year. We hope to see you there!

From the Bar Center’s front door, one can see Simonsen Ninth Grade Center, its windows shattered and now covered by plywood. The Missouri Bar Center received only minor roof damage; we were so fortunate. Sadly, many of our friends and neighbors were not, and flooding continues in many areas across Missouri.

Our state is geographically positioned to get its share of natural disasters, including severe storms such as ice storms and tornados, as well as flooding. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Missouri has had 70 disasters since 1953, including the devastating Joplin tornado in 2011 and the floods of 1993. During both of these significant disasters, Missouri lawyers stepped up to help their fellow citizens, just as they have during the recent flooding and storms.

Each time the rivers rise, it’s hard to avoid comparing the levels to that seen in the Great Flood of ‘93. For several months spanning the spring and summer of 1993, floodwaters affected nine states, covering 400,000 square miles and causing more than $15 billion in damage. Missouri Bar members assisted with the statewide sandbagging effort, where “[s]ore backs and good consciences were the only reward,” wrote then-President John Black in September 1993. The Missouri Bar Young Lawyers’ Section coordinated lawyer volunteers, who staffed Disaster Assistance Centers and helped people with insurance questions and legal documents that were lost in the flooding. Legal Services of Eastern Missouri prepared a training booklet for volunteer lawyers, and The Missouri Bar partnered with local bar associations across the state to help those impacted and working to rebuild.

As the floodwaters receded, consumer fraud became a concern. President Black wrote that “human vultures flock to the sites of disasters and prey on the downtrodden. Through an aggressive public education effort, lawyers helped alert flood victims to the risks posed by dishonest and exploitive people.” In this next phase of assistance, The Missouri Bar partnered with local bar associations to hold “Call-A-Lawyer” programs across the state, and President Black and then-Attorney General Jeremiah “Jay” Nixon appeared on a statewide call-in radio program to provide consumer rights advice. Helping Missouri’s citizens during this time was a huge team effort among legal services offices, the bar’s YLS, and local bar associations – an effort that would be repeated in the wake of the devastating 2011 tornado in Joplin.

The EF-5 tornado on the afternoon of May 22, 2011 – the seventh-deadliest tornado in our nation’s history – left more than 150 dead and 1,100 injured. With more than $2.8 billion in damage, many lost their homes, and six of our members lost their law offices. It’s hard to describe the devastation and power – we found photographs and documents on my parents’ farm, some 45 miles away as the crow flies. The Missouri Bar, aided by its YLS, provided free legal advice at multi-agency resource centers and through a legal hotline, as well as resources to help Missouri lawyers assist victims. As then-President John Johnston wrote at the time, despite their own losses, the Jasper County Bar “pushed aside its own sorrows, and is already giving free advice to other folks in distress.”

Each time disaster occurs, members of local bars, legal aid offices, and area attorneys come together to help those in need. As Johnston wrote, “Times like this define who we are. We are a great people. We demonstrate this every time something horrible happens to our neighbors. Together, we will help our neighbors get through this. On behalf of The Missouri Bar, our deepest gratitude to all our members who volunteer their expertise and make donations to those in need.”

On our 75th anniversary, we salute each of you who have stepped forward to assist a neighbor during a time of crisis and disaster. You are a significant part of why we are proud to be Missouri lawyers. Unfortunately, help is still needed as recent floodwaters recede, and we also need to be ready when the next disaster strikes. If you would like to volunteer for the free Disaster Recovery Legal Assistance hotline, you can sign up online at www.mobar.org or contact Brett Rowles, our legal and community services coordinator, at 573-638-2242 or browles@mobar.org. You can also sign up to do pro bono your way through a virtual, walk-in clinic where Missouri lawyers answer non-criminal legal questions from low-income Missourians at a time and place that best fits your schedule. Go to Missouri.FreeLegalAnswers.org and click “Volunteer Attorney Registration” to get started. Thank you for all you do to continue our profession’s legacy of service to Missouri citizens in need.

More than 50 years ago, then-executive director Wade Baker aptly said that the Bar “lives on borrowed time,” noting that a primary source of a Bar’s talent is “the time it is able to beg or borrow from busy lawyers.”

That is certainly true. Throughout The Missouri Bar’s rich 75-year history as a unified bar, countless volunteer leaders have given their time and talents to their profession, and these members have been instrumental in our Bar’s decades of success. 

In my nearly 10 years at The Missouri Bar, I’ve worked with leaders who not only are giving, but who also are grateful. They frequently acknowledge that another key component of the Bar’s success are the contributions of a dedicated, professional, highly-engaged, and experienced staff. I couldn’t let this anniversary pass without recognizing the people who I am honored to work with each day in Jefferson City. They carry on a tradition of service that has greatly benefitted both Missouri’s lawyers and citizens. 

In 1960, the Bar, which at the time had a membership of 7,000, employed eight staff members, two of which were full-time administrative professionals. In an article titled, “Service is Our Business,” Baker wrote that “[t]heir typewriters are going at top speed continually writing letters, typing mats for reproduction and carrying on the many other services to aid the directors in their work.” 

Nearly 60 years later, 45 full-time staff members support hundreds of activities and initiatives to help more than 30,000 Missouri lawyers even better serve their clients and communities. Like the profession, the Bar’s staff has grown, and while the speed of their work hasn’t slowed in the slightest, much has changed, including trading in our typewriters for the technology of today, thanks to the recent implementation of a broad technology audit. Your Missouri Bar staff remains efficient, with one staff member for every 662 members. Other unified bars our size average one staff member for every 365 members.

Once they have joined our team, members of our staff tend to stay. In 2010, then-President Skip Walther wrote in the Journal that the average years of service for Missouri Bar staff employees was 14.3 years. He noted that this longevity “adds value to all Missouri attorneys because our staff is experienced and diligent and efficient in their work.” In the same article, Walther stated that the 1994 enrollment fee increase was projected to last five years, but instead lasted 14 years because “the efficiency of our staff stretched this timeline out almost three times longer than anticipated.” 

The Bar is blessed with several staff members who have been with us for tenures ranging from 10 to 35 years. Currently, with the retirement of my executive assistant after 44 years of service to the Bar, our longest-serving full-time staff member is Gary Toohey, who has ably worked as editor of this publication for 35 years. But Toohey isn’t the longest serving member of our current team. Carol Sandbothe has provided part-time help for the past 12 years in our accounting department, after 39 years of full-time service, for a total of 51 years! Sandbothe initially joined the team just two years after the Bar Center was built in 1965. The institutional knowledge and expertise of our long-serving staff complement the fresh perspectives and diverse experience of new staff members who have joined our team due to several recent retirements. Regardless of whether a staff member has been with us one week or several decades, their contributions are essential to the fulfillment of our mission of helping lawyers even better serve their clients. 

A tradition of excellence is the hallmark of our staff. Many former and current staff have held leadership positions in national organizations, such as the Association for Continuing Legal Education (ACLEA) and the National Association of Bar Executives (NABE). Both Baker and former executive director Keith Birkes are past presidents of NABE, and former Director of Information Wally Richter has an NABE award named after him. Further, many of our staff members are called upon frequently to share their expertise with bar association professionals and bar leaders across the nation.

On the Bar’s 60th anniversary in 2004, the Board of Governors recognized the contributions of our staff with a resolution that stated in part, “The Missouri Bar’s staff consists of a talented and dedicated group of professionals who epitomize the necessary teamwork, collegiality, creativity and ‘can-do’ spirit that is responsible for The Missouri Bar achieving the status of one of the most preeminent bar associations in the United States.”

I realize I am biased, but I wholeheartedly concur. As we have been for the past 75 years, the Bar staff is available to provide information or assistance to the public and our members. We are simply a call, email, or tweet away. And, as Birkes stated in a Journal column more than 30 years ago, “the staff will be responsive, informed and capable” of handling your requests. We mean it when we say we are here to help, but we are human. “We hope we serve you well,” Baker wrote in 1975. “If we don’t, be kind and tell us where we have failed.” When we get it wrong, let us know, and we will try to make it right. As we celebrate the Bar’s 75 years of unification, it is humbling to serve alongside the best Bar staff in the nation – a group of individuals who care about lawyers and the clients they serve.

From time to time, The Executive Summary will feature contributions from the leaders of various entities and partners of The Missouri Bar. Our Young Lawyers’ Section is a dedicated group of bar leaders who provide educational and leadership opportunities to new lawyers, and who make a difference in their communities.

The Young Lawyers’ Section (YLS) of the Missouri Bar is primarily known as the public service arm of the bar. The Section has been in existence for more than 50 years and membership is open to all lawyers 36 years or younger, or who have been admitted for less than five years. All newly admitted lawyers are automatically included in the Section membership. I am currently the chair of the Young Lawyers’ Section, and I have had the pleasure of serving on its governing Council for the past nine years.

The YLS Council is comprised of 34 elected representatives from 14 districts covering the entire state of Missouri. YLS Council members serve as delegates and representatives to The Missouri Bar Board of Governors, the American Bar Association’s (ABA) House of Delegates and Young Lawyers Division, and the Missouri Bar Foundation. The Council meets four times annually and is organized into committees that advance projects and programs across the state.

One of the largest committees of the YLS Council is the CLE Committee, which organizes events such as the upcoming trial skills CLE presentation scheduled in Kansas City on May 30, 2019 and in St. Louis on May 31, 2019. Additionally, the CLE Committee has planned a series of telephone CLE presentations called “Coffee & Core Concepts” regarding common legal issues such as incorporating a business, drafting guardianship documents, registering a trademark, conducting a DWI case, terminating parental rights, proceeding through a chapter 7 bankruptcy case, handling a foreclosure, and contracting and closing real estate transactions.

There has been a concerted effort by the YLS Council to increase the diversity of its membership. A diversity seat was added to the YLS Council that rotates throughout the state among Kansas City, St. Louis and outstate. Additionally, the YLS Council has an assigned affiliate liaison to reach out to affiliate bar associations to provide support and funding for various events. Every summer there is an Affiliate Outreach Meeting held in Branson, where a representative from each affiliate specialty bar in Missouri is invited to meet and exchange ideas with the YLS Council.

The YLS Council also has a committee dedicated to citizenship education and outreach. This committee coordinates statewide programs such as a Law Day Essay Contest, Law Day Picture Contest, We the People, and Constitution/Liberty Day. Additionally, the YLS Council organizes and participates in various community service projects and recently volunteered at Harvester’s – The Community Food Network in Kansas City as part of the YLS Council’s winter meeting.

YLS Council members can attend quarterly ABA meetings that take place across the country. At the annual and mid-year ABA meetings, YLS Council members attend ABA-YLD Assembly sessions, where various resolutions are debated and voted on for consideration by the ABA House of Delegates.

Many YLS Council members go on to become elected representatives to The Missouri Bar Board of Governors or other local bar associations. If you are interested in getting more involved with the YLS Council or any of its programs, please email me at nicole@fisherlawkc.com or contact your regional district representative.

Endnotes

1 Nicole Fisher, managing partner of Fisher Law LLC in Kansas City, is the 2018-19 chair of The Missouri Bar Young Lawyers’ Section.

For quite some time I’ve wanted to run a marathon. Over the years, I’ve ran a few half marathons, and I enjoy running for many reasons. It’s a great way to relieve stress. It provides a period of solitude away from email, phone calls, and other interruptions. It is “my time.”

So a few months ago, I signed up for a marathon —and not just any race, but the Disney World marathon. As I write this, I’m in the final days of training, with the race just 10 days away. This is a period where one should cut back on the miles; a time to rest and recharge before the big day. For someone as high-strung as I am, that is easier said than done. However, my legs are forcing me into what is a mandated downtime due to significant pain in both knees. I should have listened to my body a week ago and cut back on the miles, rather than further stress my knees before the race. But, stubbornly, I didn’t listen. I kept pushing, and in doing so I jeopardized my ability to finish the race due to injury.

Lesson learned: For some of us, resting is hard, but necessary. Resting should be part of our overall plan for wellness and avoidance of burnout. In our profession, so many of us just keep pushing forward until we collapse, rendering us unable to help others. In an article on burnout, The Missouri Bar’s Lawyers Assistance Program (MOLAP) Director Anne Chambers notes that during burnout, both the quantity and quality of work may decline, and as demands increase, our “coping skills can become overloaded.” Striving to do more, we become less able to do anything at all, which leads to feelings of failure and anger.

The article suggests strategies to recover from burnout, including considering what gives your work and personal life meaning and finding ways to recharge and focus on that, as well as seeking support. The beginning of a new year provides the ideal time to prioritize what matters most and develop strategies on how to focus on those priorities. MOLAP is one of the many benefits offered to Missouri Bar members, and can help you address stress, burnout, and anxiety. MOLAP provides free, confidential counseling, and is only a phone call away — 800-688-7859. In addition, there are many resources, including the article mentioned above, on the MOLAP website, which can be accessed at www.mobar.orgt/molap.

If your new year priorities include finding ways to become more efficient, we can help. For 75 years, The Missouri Bar has been here to help you even better serve your clients. We continue to add to the number of member benefits that your Bar provides. Active members already have free access to Fastcase and discounts on practice management applications, hotel stays, website development, and credit card payment processing. In the coming year, we will launch discounts on products related to travel, office products, audio and web conferencing, marketing, payroll processing, and more. These are just a sampling of the many ways that your Bar works for you—for more information go to www.mobar.org/memberbenefits. We are always looking for ways to update and expand our member benefits. Our Member Resources and Services Committee reviews potential benefits and discount offerings, and we welcome your suggestions on benefits to help you meet your 2019 practice goals. Suggestions can be sent via email to Lucas Boling at lboling@mobar.org.

In the wake of her death, The Missouri Bar conveyed a resolution honoring Ms. Freeman. While it only scratches the surface of her many accomplishments, the resolution is reprinted here so that all of us can better appreciate the life of this pioneering lawyer and gain inspiration from her fierce advocacy on behalf of justice.

WHEREAS, members of The Missouri Bar were saddened to learn of the passing of civil rights legend Frankie Muse Freeman on January 12, 2018; and

WHEREAS, she exemplified the highest ideals of the legal profession during her 70 years as a member of The Missouri Bar; and

WHEREAS, throughout her career as a practitioner, she provided outstanding representation to individuals and corporations, not-for-profit organizations and municipal agencies in both state and federal courts; and

WHEREAS, she served as counsel to the NAACP legal team that challenged racial segregation in the St. Louis Public Schools in 1949; and

WHEREAS, five years later she was the lead attorney in the landmark case of Davis v. St. Louis Housing Authority, which ended legal racial discrimination in public housing within the city; and

WHEREAS, she was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson as the first woman to serve on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights – a position to which she was reappointed by presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter; and

WHEREAS, she was a founder of the Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights, a group dedicated to ending racial discrimination and devising remedies to counteract its harmful effects; and

WHEREAS, she freely donated her time and expertise to innumerable national and local non-profit entities, including the National Council on Aging, the National Council of Negro Women, Girl Scouts of the United States, the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, the United Way of Greater St. Louis, YWCA of Metro St. Louis, and the St. Louis chapter of the NAACP; and

WHEREAS, she was recognized throughout the state and nation as a pioneering civil rights activist whose unrelenting dedication to that cause has improved the lives of her fellow citizens; and

WHEREAS, indicative of her leadership role within the civil rights movement, in 2007 she was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia; and

WHEREAS, in 2011 she received the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP and was named St. Louis Citizen of the Year; and

WHEREAS, she was inducted into the National Bar Association’s Hall of Fame; and

WHEREAS, in 2014 she was honored by the American Bar Association’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession with receipt of the Spirit of Excellence Award, which celebrates the efforts and accomplishments of lawyers who excel in their professional settings, personify excellence, and demonstrate a commitment to racial and ethnic diversity; and

WHEREAS, in 2015 President Barack Obama appointed her as a member of the Commission on Presidential Scholars; and

WHEREAS, throughout her 101 years of life, she consistently displayed a zeal, commitment to justice, and passion for a better and more just society that sets a standard for all who adhere to the rule of law; and

WHEREAS, the energy she displayed for the cause of justice will continue to serve as an ongoing source of inspiration for those who follow her; and

WHEREAS, her life was a testimony to the power of conviction, and brought distinction to The Missouri Bar and to the legal profession’s legacy of work on behalf of the disadvantaged;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Governors of The Missouri Bar does hereby extend, on behalf of all its members, its profound sympathy to the family of Frankie Muse Freeman and, by this resolution, expresses its gratitude for her remarkable contributions to the legal profession and her commitment to justice for all.