Up & Coming Lawyers: Courtney E. Goddard

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* Park University, assistant general counsel

* University of Missouri-Columbia

* Education

While a teacher is crucial to the education system, so are the people who protect that system.

Courtney E. Goddard joined the Office of Vice President and General Counsel of Park University in Parkville in 2007 as the assistant general counsel to do just that. She has represented corporate clients and K-12 education clients, including the Kansas City, Missouri School District, and has represented higher education clients for more than eight years as outside counsel.

Her areas of focus within the Office of General Counsel at Park University are labor and employment, discrimination, commercial transactions, leases, service agreements and policy compliance.

Goddard is active with other members of counsel at universities and colleges across Missouri.

“I think the work that higher education lawyers perform in Missouri is very important, and I would like to see The Missouri Bar form a subcommittee to support this group. We have been meeting on our own informally, and sharing our experiences and expertise is vital to our continued success as a group.”

Her ultimate professional goal is to become general counsel for a university or university system in Missouri.

“We protect the interests of the institutes of higher education, their boards, staff, faculty and students in a multitude of ways each day,” she said of general counsel work.

Goddard is a member of the Missouri, Illinois and Kansas bars. She has been a frequent speaker and author in employment and higher education law in Missouri, Kansas and Illinois since beginning to practice in 2000.