Diversity & Inclusion 2024: Dana Tippin Cutler

Managing Partner, James W. Tippin & Associates

Three decades in the practice of law has left Dana Tippin Cutler with a slew of honors and leadership posts to her credit.

She is a winner of the Richard S. Arnold Award for Distinguished Service as well as three President’s Awards from the state bar, where she broke new ground as the first woman of color to be elected president. Cutler is also an honoree of the President’s Award for the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association.

A 2018 Missouri Lawyers Weekly Woman of the Year, she has also has been honored with specific award for DEI efforts including the Ronda F. Williams Spirit of Diversity Award and the Sly James Diversity and Inclusion Award.

Cutler earned her J.D. from UMKC  and has tried more than 20 bench and jury trials as well as co-hosting “Cutler’s Court”, a syndicated daytime TV show, a successor to the Emmy-nominated “Couples Court with the Cutlers”.

What makes you most proud of your law firm/legal practice?

Our law firm was started by my father in 1976. It was a boutique practice with a focus on tax issues — he was one of the first African Americans in Kansas City to have a “boutique practice” and while we no longer practice tax law we have continued to have interesting areas of practice. Currently our firm’s focus is on education law as it applies to charter schools and insurance and other civil defense matters.

What goal remains unfulfilled for you as an attorney and advocate for diversity and inclusion?

The fact that Diversity & Inclusion is still an issue is kind of depressing. I remember as a young attorney having the same discussions and raising the same questions we are dealing with today. It makes me wonder if our profession will ever fully turn the corner.

What must Missouri’s legal community do to promote meaningful and long-term diversity within its legal/justice system?

Missouri’s legal community must move beyond lip-service. It is not just a change of mind, but of heart and until we have both we will continue to struggle with these issues.