As far back as she can remember, Morgan Westhues wanted to be an attorney.
“I wanted to become an attorney after seeing how difficult the legal process can be,” she said. “I thoroughly enjoy being a source of comfort and knowledge for my clients when they are going through difficult legal proceedings.”
By that measure, Westhues, who graduated from The Woods in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political/Legal Studies, must plead guilty – to identifying what she wanted to do with her life from an early age and following her dreams. Two years ago, she landed a plum position with perhaps the most high-profile “law firm” in the state, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, where she works as an Assistant Attorney General in the office’s Labor Division.
The Labor Division in the Missouri AG’s Office is charged with both defending the State of Missouri as an employer and the state’s Second Injury Fund in worker’s compensation claims. As a Unit Leader, Westhues manages the office’s Jefferson City location, which includes three other attorneys and three legal assistants, while also carrying her own caseload, all of which means she is clearly in her element.
“My favorite part of the job is getting to train and mentor new attorneys,” Westhues said. “There is nothing more rewarding than knowing I am helping to shape the practice of a new attorney to ensure our profession continues to uphold appropriate ethics.”
Perhaps the still youthful attorney who is clearly “going places” in her career reveres mentoring other up and coming lawyers because of the educational foundation she herself once received a decade ago, while studying at The Woods.
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Growing up in the small Central Missouri town of Fayette, Westhues was drawn to William Woods due to the close-knit campus community and smaller class sizes. She felt welcome from the first time she stepped on campus, and hit the ground running. How involved in campus life was Westhues during her four years at The Woods? Well, you be the judge:
“I was a member of Phi Alpha Delta, the Mock Trial Team, a University Ambassador, a member of President’s Twenty, Omicron Delta Kappa, National Society of Leadership and Success, Students Today Alumni Tomorrow, and Chi Omega Sorority,” she said. “My favorite memories of campus are definitely any time I spent with my sorority sisters, which still rings true for the memories I make today.”
The Political/Legal Studies program at The Woods was perfect for her, as was the university’s unique, on-campus model courtroom, where she got a taste of trying cases in mock trial exercises. She also received a life lesson in the importance of reputation while at WWU, one that remains highly relevant in her career to this day.
“Since William Woods was a smaller campus, I understood how fast you gain a reputation in a smaller community, and how important it was to always carry yourself in step with the reputation you were trying to build,” she said. “The same is true for the legal field. The legal community in mid-Missouri is very small and, as an attorney, your reputation is everything. My time at WWU helped me understand how to navigate this and helped me figure out the person I wanted to be early on.”
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Following graduation from The Woods in 2015, Westhues earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Missouri School of Law just three years later, and was off and running. Her first position out of law school was at the private firm of Schreimann, Rackers and Francka LLC in Jefferson City, where she practiced tort defense and analyzed insurance coverage. After five years in private practice, she moved on to the Missouri Attorney General’s Office in 2023. Her career has already provided her with an early understanding of the differences between private and public law.
“Working for a government entity versus a private firm has numerous differences, including how hours worked on a file are tracked, the type of clients you represent, and the protocols that must be followed in defending a case, among others,” she said.
The experience in both venues has clearly benefitted Westhues, making her a very well-rounded attorney. Today, she is uniquely prepared to tackle the challenges that come with representing the State of Missouri in the courtroom, including, for example, keeping up with legislative changes to state statutes and the case law interpreting those statutes. She is also building a case, so to speak, to someday secure a career goal of working for a non-profit like the American Civil Liberties Union, focusing on protecting the rights of women and minorities, voter’s rights or on prison reform.
Morgan Westhues is successfully following the career path she set for herself so many years ago. And she believes today’s college students can do the same. Her closing argument to them?
“Be present! Time goes so fast and you have the rest of your life to figure out how to be an adult.”
