Attorney Profile:
Education:
Michigan State University, 1974
Thomas M. Cooley Law School, 1977.
Licensed:
State of Missouri
State of Kansas
State of Michigan
My Story:
I became licensed to practice law in Michigan in 1977 and worked as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Ingham County, Michigan and was a member of the Ingham County Employees Association (ISEA) Local 13 union.
In 1983 I moved to Kansas City and for the next few years I worked as a television station advertising account executive, an insurance and investments salesperson, an automobile salesperson, a shopping center leasing agent and a chain-store real estate site selector--in short, anything but practicing law.
My path back to practing law began on February 8th, 1988. I was involved in an auto collision and was thrown through the windshield of my car. My skull was fractured and a piece of glass entered my brain. During surgery, I received a dura (brain lining) transplant and a 3 x 5” plastic plate was used to replace my skull. I was hospitalized for three weeks and recovered at home for one year, giving me a lot of time to reflect on my life and my career.
Experiencing both the medical and legal aspects of my accident from the “other side” made me realize that I wanted to return to my first love, law. I felt I had gained a lot of insight that would enable me to understand and help my clients.
The first hurdle to practicing law in Kansas City was that I had to pass the Missouri and Kansas bar exams. Taking the bar review course and the bar exams twelve years after graduating from law school would challenge anyone, let alone someone recovering from a head injury. As part of my worker’s compensation claim, I was evaluated by a neuropsychologist to determine the extent of my head injury. He mistakenly thought I had already passed the Missouri bar and wrote in his report, “It’s a good thing Debra passed the bar exam before this injury occurred, because she will probably never be able to do it again.” I read the report two days before taking the Missouri bar exam. Despite the neuropsychologist’s negative prediction, I became licensed to practice law in Missouri in 1989, and in Kansas in 1990. That is the part of my experience that I especially enjoy sharing with my clients--with the proper help and treatment, it is possible to recover from a devastating injury and re claim your life!
Contact Me
I hope that you will contact me with your own story to see if I can help get fair and just treatment. In case you haven't read them, please check out the Testimonials, Case Summaries, and the Why Choose Debra section of my website.
