WJA 2023: JoAnn Sandifer

Partner, Husch Blackwell, St. Louis

Thanks to her real estate work, JoAnn Sandifer enjoys seeing certain sights on a commute through her hometown of St. Louis.

From the Art Museum to the Loop Trolley, she knows she’s had an impact on something tangible.

“I find it really rewarding to drive by something like that and see the fruits of my labor to some extent,” said the Husch Blackwell partner.

A graduate of St. Louis University, Sandifer has been at the firm since her first summer clerking while in law school. She’s now a regular entry on the Missouri Lawyers Media POWER List and, in 2017, won its Influential Appellate Advocate Award.

During her time at Husch, she’s run the summer associate program, the firmwide hiring committee and the commercial litigation group.

“I love the strategy that is involved in litigation,” she said. “I like the writing aspect of the law a lot and the legal analysis that goes into crafting arguments and putting together the strategy for cases.

The dozens of appeals she had prepared for clients have garnered even more attention.

“I find appellate work particularly interesting because it gives you the opportunity to help shape the law and make some arguments as to why the law should be one way or the other,” she said.

She also enjoys working with young people.

“The law students and the new associates, providing guidance to them, mentoring them, helping them learn how to practice law, I love their enthusiasm,” she said. “They are really important to the future of our firm.”

She said she thinks firms are more sensitive to the needs of women in the workplace and try to be more accommodating. Sandifer also noted that the number of women in the courts show those progressive practices are bearing fruit.

“We have more mentors, more role models to look up to,” she said.

Sandifer is active in the larger community as well. She is board secretary of the St. Louis County Library Foundation and a board member of St. Louis Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition.