Top takeaways: March/April 2025 Journal of The Missouri Bar
Gratitude is a brain-changer. In this issue of the Journal, you will find a gratitude gram created by The Missouri Bar Leadership Academy lawyers can use to share appreciation and gratitude with a client, colleague, or opposing counsel. In expressing your gratitude towards others, you may find a renewed sense of purpose and motivation, leading to improved job performance and a more positive outlook on your work with clients and other lawyers. Read more about how gratitude can positively impact the legal profession.
The qualified spousal trust’s latest revision has incorporated extended protections from the creditors of the surviving spouse, making it incumbent upon every Missouri practitioner to review the benefits of using a QST when assisting a married client in developing an estate plan through means of a revocable living trust. Michael E. Magliari walks through the legislative evolution of the qualified spousal trust in his article.
In her annual State of the Judiciary address Feb. 26, Hon. Mary R. Russell, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri, emphasized the importance of increasing juror pay and expanding treatment court divisions to include mental health courts. Read her full speech here.
In contrast to other professions, lawyers tend to cling to the language of the past with a seemingly unshakeable tenacity. There are dozens of examples of archaic, outdated words and phrases that lawyers use, erecting barriers to comprehension and unnecessarily requiring clients to ask what documents mean. Learn how legal professionals can break the mold and write documents clients can understand in this article by lawyer Alan Freed.
The statistics are sobering. Lawyers experience depression, anxiety and substance issues at rates far higher than the general population. Missouri lawyers must normalize conversations about mental health within firms and legal organizations to help chip away at the stigma that keeps others from seeking help, 2024-25 Missouri Bar President Shelly Dreyer wrote in her latest column.
The Journal of The Missouri Bar is the official publication of The Missouri Bar. Published six times annually, the Journal carries substantive articles on timely legal issues, as well as regular columns, practice management articles, and features covering cutting-edge topics that are trending in the legal profession. Notices of Supreme Court of Missouri rule changes, upcoming meetings, continuing legal education programs, and more may also be found in each issue. Read the full March/April issue here.