WJA 2023: Sheena Foye

Partner, Wyrsch Hobbs & Mirakian

It was just last year that Sheena Foye was honored as an Up & Coming attorney by Missouri Lawyers Media, but it isn’t the professional accolades that drive her. Instead, her motivation comes from getting a wrongfully accused man his life back.

“He was acquitted exactly a year after he went into custody,” said the 37-year-old native Floridian recalling one such case. “Watching him walk out of the jail was one of the best days of my career so far.”

A graduate of Suffolk University, Foye was inspired to attend law school by the example of her attorney grandfather.

“I always really admired him so I kind of went because of him with the goal of getting into the courtroom but obviously, you figure out what that means once you are in there,” she said.

What it meant for Foye was five years in the Johnson County, Kan., public defender’s office where she obtained acquittals in her last six cases.

She’s been at Wyrsch Hobbs & Mirakian for the past seven years. Promoted to partner in 2022, she handles a caseload composed almost entirely of criminal matters along with offender registry issues and expungements.

“I enjoy criminal defense because it is challenging intellectually but also because you are working with people in usually the worst experience of their life,” Foye said. “You are there to assist them and make sure government is held accountable.”

She also appreciates the power of expungement which allows individuals to turn their lives around and obtain employment opportunities.

“Usually, we are working with good people in bad circumstances,” she said.

She said that, though there is still a gender imbalance in the profession, she thinks women are becoming a more potent force in the legal field.

“Even in the brief time I’ve been practicing, I’m noticing more women in the courtroom, more women prosecutors and public defenders,” Foye said. “I see them taking more leadership roles in committees and being promoted. I’m excited to see what the next ten years look like.”