Laura Denvir Stith
Supreme Court of Missouri
Dates of judicial service:
Appointed to the Supreme Court in March 2001
Retained in office at the November 2002 general election and again at the November 2014 general election
Current term expires December 31, 2026
Served as chief justice for the term of July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2009
Previously served as a judge on the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, from 1994 to March 2001
Education:
Graduated with honors from John Burroughs School, St. Louis, in 1971
Studied at the University of Madrid through a program administered by the Institute of European Studies
Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, (majors - political science and social psychology, Tufts University, Boston, 1975 (attended Tufts on a national merit scholarship)
Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C., 1978
Prior employment:
Attorney, Shook, Hardy & Bacon law firm, Kansas City
Partner, 1984 to 1994
Associate, 1980 to 1984
Co-founder and member, Appellate Practice Group
Law Clerk to Supreme Court of Missouri Judge Robert E. Seiler, 1978 to 1979
Iglauer Fellowship Intern in Washington D.C. for Senator Thomas Eagleton, 1973
Professional memberships and activities:
Member, The Missouri Bar, 1978 to present
- Chair, Civil Practice and Procedure Committee
- Vice chair, Civil Practice and Procedure Committee
Member, American Bar Association (ABA)
Member, Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association (KCMBA)
- Vice chair, Tort Law Committee
Member, Association for Women Lawyers (AWL) of Greater Kansas City
- President
- Member, board of directors
Missouri Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, 2004 to present
Chair, Gender and Justice Joint Committee of The Missouri Bar and the Supreme Court of Missouri
- Judge
- Supreme Court of Missouri
- - Current
- Retained in office at the November 2002 general election and again at the November 2014 general election. Current term expires December 31, 2026. Served as chief justice for the term of July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2009.
- Judge
- Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District
- -
- Attorney
- Shook, Hardy & Bacon law firm, Kansas City
- -
- Partner, 1984 to 1994 Associate, 1980 to 1984
- Law Clerk
- Supreme Court of Missouri Judge Robert E. Seiler
- -
- The George Washington University Law School
- J.D. (1978) | Law
- Honors: magna cum laude
-
- Tufts University
- B.A. (1975) | Political Science and Social Psychology
- attended Tufts on a national merit scholarship
-
- Joseph Stevens Aspire to Excellence Award
- Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association
- Distinguished Non-Alumnus Award
- University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law
- American Bar Association
- Member
- Current
-
- Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association
- Member
- Current
- Activities: Vice chair, Tort Law Committee
-
- Association for Women Lawyers (AWL) of Greater Kansas City
- Member
- Current
- Activities: President Member, board of directors
-
- Gender and Justice Joint Committee of The Missouri Bar and the Supreme Court of Missouri
- Chair
- Current
-
- appellate practice programs, annual conventions of the ABA, The Missouri Bar, Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys (MATA), and Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers (MODL)
- Speaker
- Current
-
- The Missouri Bar, KCMBA, AWL and University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School
- Speaker or moderator
- Current
- Activities: continuing legal education programs about civil procedure and evidence
-
- Missouri New Judges School
- Speaker
- Current
- Activities: gender bias programs
-
- Lawyers Encouraging Academic Performance (LEAP)
- Founding director
- Current
- Activities: an inter-bar lawyers’ public service organization in Kansas City
-
- American Bar Foundation
- Missouri Fellow
- - Current
-
- The Missouri Bar
- Member
- - Current
- Activities: Chair, Civil Practice and Procedure Committee Vice chair, Civil Practice and Procedure Committee
-
- Just Because You Can Measure Something, Does it Really Count?
- 58 Duke L.J. 1743
- The Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan: The Least Political Method of Selecting High Quality Judges
- 74 Mo. L. Rev. 711
- Contrast of State and Federal Court Authority to Grant Habeas Relief
- 38 Valparaiso Law Rev. 421 (Spring)
- Address to The Missouri Bar, joint annual meeting of The Missouri Bar and the Judicial Conference of Missouri, Springfield, MO
- https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=7118
- 2008 State of the Judiciary Address, Missouri General Assembly, Jefferson City, MO
- https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=8401
- Address to The Missouri Bar, annual meeting of The Missouri Bar and the Judicial Conference of Missouri, Kansas City
- https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=11923
- State of the Judiciary Address to the Missouri General Assembly, joint session of the General Assembly, Jefferson City, MO
- https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=28987
