Jolie Justus is the Director of Pro Bono Services for Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P., where she is a champion for Kansas City’s most vulnerable citizens, helping juveniles and foster children get better representation.
Prior to serving on the City Council, Jolie represented the Kansas City area in the Missouri State Senate. There, she earned a reputation for getting things done and working across party lines to find areas of common ground. One of her most significant accomplishments was an overhaul of the state’s criminal justice code that brought out-of-date policies from the 1970s into the 21st Century. The badly needed criminal justice reform was lauded by prosecutors, law enforcement, defense lawyers and victims’ advocates for creating a system that was more just, more fair, and more effective.
While in Jefferson City, she served as the Senate Democratic Leader and was the chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Progress and Development and ranking member of both the Judiciary Committee and the Senate’s Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and Local Government.