Diversity & Inclusion 2024: Katesha Long

Attorney, Husch Blackwell

Inspired by the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Katesha Long has built an impressive career as an associate at Husch Blackwell, where she’s practiced in the real estate, development & construction group since 2020.

An alumna of the University of Missouri–Kansas City with a B.A. in Spanish Literature, Long studied in Nicaragua and Spain. Later, she attended Howard University for her juris doctor where she became a staff editor for the Howard Human & Civil Rights Law Review. After being recognized in the Cali Awards, she graduated cum laude.

Named last year to the National Black Lawyers Top 40 Under 40, she is also on the Missouri Bar’s Pro Bono Wall of Fame.

She says she considers it a successful day when she helps someone to solve a problem.

“This is the main reason I wanted to become an attorney, to help people solve problems,” she writes.

What motivates you most in your work as an attorney and as an advocate for diversity and inclusion?

What motivates me is a quote from Charles Hamilton Houston which states, “A lawyer is either a social engineer or he’s a parasite on society. A social engineer [is] a highly skilled, perceptive, sensitive lawyer who [understands] the Constitution of the United States and [knows] how to explore its uses in the solving of problems of local communities and in bettering conditions of the underprivileged citizens.” This quote was embedded in the curriculum at Howard University School of Law, where I attended law school. I have implemented this in my daily practice as an attorney and as an advocate for diversity and inclusion.

How do you give back to your community?

One of the most fulfilling ways I give back to the community by being an attorney is by doing pro bono work for underrepresented individuals who can’t afford legal services. I also volunteer with different organizations such as Faith Church, St. Louis Food Bank and Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis.