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Public Service: Kirsten E. Poppen
Staff Report//April 9, 2026//
Associate Circuit Judge
31st Judicial Circuit
Springfield
Judge Kirsten Poppen served as a business owner for more than a decade alongside practicing law before returning to full-time legal practice and being appointed to the bench as an associate circuit judge in Greene County. She has said her business background keeps concepts such as efficiency, clear communication and problem ownership close at hand in her judicial work.
Poppen serves as Greene County’s Civic Education coordinator, working with fellow judges to deliver presentations on the judicial system to local civic groups and schools. In the first two months of this year alone, judges coordinated through her efforts presented more than six times to local schools. She also hosts student interns and shadows from local high schools and college student observers in her courtroom and organizes monthly “lunch and learn” discussions among the courthouse’s judges on current legal issues.
She judges mock trial competitions through the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association and Missouri State University and also judges high school debate.
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