Corpoate: Rachael M. Dockery

General Counsel & VP for Legal Affairs & Compliance
Missouri State University
Springfield

Rachael Dockery comes from a family of ministers and teachers and said “service and education have always been core values in my life” — a commitment reflected across roughly 12 years as in-house counsel for Missouri State University.

A member of the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association and its Foundation’s Board of Directors, Dockery also holds membership in the National Association of College & University Attorneys and ATIXA.

In 2020, she served as architect of MSU’s COVID-19 policy framework, enabling students to return to campus in Fall 2020 without a workforce reduction. She subsequently defended MSU in wrongful death and personal injury litigation stemming from a public television tower collapse — with no settlement payment — and negotiated an $8.2 million property insurance settlement.

In 2024, Dockery led the creation of the Alliance for Healthcare Education, a multi-institutional workforce partnership whose first cohort launched in Fall 2025. She volunteers with Ujima Language & Literacy, led fundraising for a Springfield-Greene County African American Heritage Trail marker and staffs MSU’s Bear Pantry.