The circuit court’s account of Abbie Rothermich’s legal work begins well beyond the Kansas City courthouse. For six years she worked out of Legal Aid of Western Missouri’s Warrensburg office. A client seeking protection, a tenant facing a housing dispute, or a family seeking a guardianship could bring her into any of thirteen counties. She had studied in the Family Violence Clinic at the University of Missouri before receiving her law degree in 2010.
The two sides of a civil docket
Rothermich later handled civil litigation for the Missouri Attorney General’s Office. By the time Governor Michael Parson appointed her an associate circuit judge in December 2023, she was helping direct the office’s employment litigation statewide. The circuit credits her with fifteen jury trials during those seven years. A tally of trials alone would miss the greater part of the story, especially the work that took a lawyer to a client outside a metropolitan center.
A note from the publisher
What can a citizen learn from a judicial biography? In this one I would begin with the territory covered by a legal-aid office. Distance to a courthouse matters to a person seeking to be heard. Reporting on that distance belongs as much to the local press as reporting an appointment. It is also a question a future legislator ought to be able to answer.