Total Credits: 1.8 MCLE, 1.5 Kansas Credit
This program will address how the state circuit courts are handling jury trials during the COVID-19 pandemic. Panelists will discuss what is involved in a jury trial and how an in-person jury trial can be held in a safe way and in a manner that complies with the Supreme Court of Missouri directives. These critically important issues, along with others, will be examined and your questions answered by a panel of judges who have held in-person jury trials in ways that complied with public health concerns along with seasoned trial lawyers who have tried the first criminal and civil jury trials since the start of the pandemic in Missouri state courts.
Moderator: Joan M. Lockwood, Gray, Ritter & Graham, PC, St. Louis
Panel:
Judge Michael J. Cordonnier, 31st Judicial Circuit, Springfield
Judge William B. Collins, 17th Judicial Circuit, Harrisonville
Judge Laura J. Johnson, 38th Judicial Circuit, Ozark
Morry S. Cole, Gray Ritter & Graham, PC, St. Louis
Kenneth C. Hensley, Hensley Law Office, Raymore
Jacob A. Lewis, Strong-Garner-Bauer Law, Springfield
| Jury Trials in the COVID-19 Pandemic Course Materials (Please View Bookmarks within PDF) (3.8 MB) | Available after Purchase | ||
| MCLE Form (129.1 KB) | Available after Purchase | ||
| MOLAP Information (225.6 KB) | Available after Purchase | ||
| Important Information for Attorneys Seeking Kansas Credit (52.4 KB) | Available after Purchase | ||
Morry S. Cole practices primarily in the areas of wrongful death, aviation, products liability, professional negligence, and corporate litigation at Gray, Ritter and Graham in St. Louis. He is a former President of the Missouri Bar (2017-2018) and is an adjunct law professor at Washington University.
Judge Collins is presiding judge for the 17th Judicial Circuit Court. He was first elected as associate circuit judge in 1994, and he was elected circuit judge in 2012.
Judge Collins received a B.S. and B.A. in accounting from Rockhurst College in 1979 and his J.D. from the University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Law in 1982. Before serving as an associate circuit judge, he was in private practice from 1982-1994.
Judge Collins resides in Harrisonville and is a member of the Missouri Association of Probate and Associate Circuit Judges and the Missouri Municipal and Associate Circuit Judges Association.
Judge Michael Cordonnier has served as presiding judge of the 31st Judicial Circuit Court since 2018. He was appointed to the bench in 2008.
Judge Cordonnier received his J.D. at the University of Tulsa College of Law in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1982. He received his B.S. in Business Administration at the University of Missouri - Columbia in1979.
Judge Cordonnier was engaged in private practice as a partner in the firm of Cunningham, Harpool & Cordonnier L.C. and became a partner with Lathrop & Gage, L.C., in 2004. His private practice focused on medical and professional negligence, product liability, and health care contracting.
Judge Cordonnier has been a past and present board member of Discovery Center of the Ozarks, Friends of the Zoo, Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association, Christ Episcopal Church Foundation, The Kitchen (recipient of the Excellence Award), Boy Scouts of America, and Ozark Trails Council.
Mr. Lewis joined Strong-Garner-Bauer, PC as an associate in 2017, after clerking at the Supreme Court of Missouri for the Honorable Zel M. Fischer.
Hereceived his law degree from the University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Law in 2014, where he received the Wilbur L. Pollard Law Review Honor Award and was one of ten graduating law students selected to be inducted into the Order of the Barristers.
During law school, Mr. Lewis was the managing editor of the UMKC Law Review, a member of the National Mock Trial Team, and interned with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri, Greene County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, and the Jackson County Public Defender's Office.
Prior to law school, Mr. Lewis received his B.S. in criminology, with minors in psychology and sociology, and a M.S. in criminology from Missouri State University.
