Jessica Agnelly
State of Missouri - 16th Circuit Court
Judge Jessica Agnelly was appointed circuit judge of Division 16 in September 2023 by Governor Michael Parson. At the time of her appointment, she was serving as associate circuit judge of Division 25, having been appointed by Governor Parson to the bench in August 2020.
Prior to her appointment as judge, she was a partner in the Wendt Law Firm. During 13 years in private practice, she handled a wide-ranging variety of legal matters including litigating personal injury, product liability and civil rights cases.
Judge Agnelly started her legal career in the nation’s capital as a law clerk for the Honorable Michael W. Farrell of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Upon returning to Kansas City, she clerked for the Honorable Ronald R. Holliger at the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District. Judge Agnelly graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, and earned a bachelor’s degree from Avila University.
While in private practice, Judge Agnelly was recognized with multiple awards including the Women’s Justice Award in Litigation, the Rising Star Women’s Justice Award, and as one of Missouri’s Up & Coming Attorneys by Missouri Lawyers Weekly. She was consistently named Best of the Bar by the Kansas City Business Journal, a Missouri-Kansas Super Lawyer, and recognized by the National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40 attorneys in Missouri. Judge Agnelly was also recognized several times as one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Missouri and Kansas by Thompson Reuters/Super Lawyers.
Judge Agnelly has served as a member of the board of directors for the Association for Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City (AWL) since 2014. She also serves as a mentor in the Denise Henning Connections Program which is a part of the foundation of AWL.
