Our Lawyers

A former probate and associate circuit judge, Kathie B. Dudley advises clients about estate planning, elder law issues, and probate and estate administration.  She focuses on helping the elderly or disabled person who needs legal assistance and the family members and friends who are advocates or caregivers for the elderly or disabled person.  Having handled guardianships and conservatorships as well as decedents' estates for 12 years as a judge, Ms. Dudley is able to advise clients about the benefits of estate planning with the use of wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, living wills, and durable powers of attorneys.  Her professional and personal experiences make her particularly qualified to advise on minimizing family conflict and avoiding the costly and often painful court process involved in guardianship and conservatorship.

Ms. Dudley is licensed to practice in Missouri, Illinois, and Colorado.  She is comfortable in both advising and adversarial roles because of her diverse legal experiences, including assistant district attorney in Denver, Colorado; city attorney for the city of Elsberry, Missouri; prosecutor for the Juvenile Division of Lincoln and Pike Counties; the general practice of law in Lincoln County, Missouri; and assistant counsel in the Corporate Law Department of State Farm Insurance Companies in Bloomington, Illinois. 

Always active in her profession, community and church, Ms. Dudley has worked with a variety of people in government, volunteer and charitable organizations, and not-for-profit corporations.  For 16 years, she served on the Board of Trustees of Culver-Stockton College, Canton, Missouri.  She has served as president of the Missouri Association of Probate and Associate Circuit Judges and as chair of the Missouri Bar Juvenile Courts and Law Committee.  Ms. Dudley has also served as president of such organizations as the Elsberry Chamber of Commerce and the Troy Business & Professional Women's Club.  A former lecturer at the Missouri Trial College and the Missouri Judicial Conference, Ms. Dudley has been a professional speaker for 30 years at national and state conferences across the country. 

Professional Associations and Memberships:

The Missouri Bar

The Illinois Bar Association

National Association of Elder Law Attorneys

The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis

Education:

Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago, Illinois, 1971
Juris Doctor

University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, 1967
B.A., Political Science