WJA 2023: Jessica Merrigan

Partner, Spencer Fane

From defending permits to negotiating consent decrees, environmental law can be a complex field, but it is one Jessica Merrigan knows well.

“I like my area of practice because I feel I can serve a role as a translator and problem solver,” said Merrigan, who is originally from Kansas City. “I like being able to help my clients understand their environmental requirements, understand how to achieve their sustainability goals and waste reduction goals and help see how they can improve their processes and grow their business in a way that needs and exceeds our evolving environmental requirements.”

As a science undergraduate, the 44-year-old Washington University alumnae was attracted to environmental policy from the very beginning.

After practicing for 17 years at Lathrop & Gage where she rose from clerk to associate to partner to practice group chair, she joined Spencer Fane in 2019 and now co-chairs its Environment and Energy Practice Group, a title she gained last year.

A 2012 Up & Coming honoree by Missouri Lawyers Media, Merrigan is respected as a fellow with the American College of Environmental Lawyers. Her involvement in and out of the legal community is voluminous. Once a vice-chair of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association’s Environmental Committee, she was also a member of its Blue Ribbon Panel on Civility in Legal Practice. Merrigan was part of the American Bar Association’s Steering Committee for the Fall 2020 Conference of the Section of Environment, Energy and Resources and she served as director of the Missouri Waste Control Coalition from 2011-2013.

In the wider community, she has played roles with the Kansas City Women’s Public Service Network, The Surplus Exchange and MARC Head Start.

“From fast-moving injunction proceedings to fact-intensive disputes, Jessica can address the full range of litigation risks that a business might encounter related to environmental issues,” writes her nominator. “She is a thoughtful and aggressive advocate and employs strategy and tactical decisions that have resulted in her strong record of trial work, but many of her most successful resolutions have come before litigation ever begins.”