Firm Attorneys are Featured Speakers at MOASBO’s Annual Support Personnel Conference

Nov 16, 2012

Melanie Keeney, Margaret Hesse and Madeline Magner spoke at the Missouri Association of School Business Officials”™ Annual Fall Support Personnel Conference on November 12, 2012.   Ms. Keeney   spoke on the importance of conducting accurate background checks of applicants.   Ms. Hesse spoke on navigating employee requests for leaves of absences under the ADAAA, the FMLA and Missouri Workers”™ Compensation Law.   Ms. Magner discussed how support personnel should handle employee payroll garnishments.   MOASBO has been hosting this Conference for several years and had record attendance this year with approximately 275 public school personnel in attendance at Camden on the Lake.   The Firm is proud to present at this conference each year and to continue its support of this valuable organization for Missouri public schools.

Melanie Gurley Keeney, a founding Shareholder of Tueth, Keeney, Cooper, Mohan & Jackstadt, P.C. , practices in the areas of Employment, Immigration, and Education law.   Melanie represents institutions of higher education, corporations and individuals in immigration law matters, including obtaining nonimmigrant and immigrant visas and handling employer sanctions issues, I-9 compliance, E-Verify issues, consular processing and naturalization. She frequently speaks on immigration, labor and education issues.   Her experience in education law includes representing numerous Missouri school districts and institutions of higher education regarding a wide range of personnel and student matters. Melanie also specializes in First Amendment issues, ranging from free speech to religion in the schools, and she regularly advises school districts on these issues. She is also a popular speaker on the local and national level.   Melanie has extensive experience litigating both federal and state cases. Melanie is a past board member of the National School Board Association’s Council of School Attorneys and is past Chairman of the Missouri Council of School Attorneys.

Melanie has been listed in St. Louis Magazine’s “St. Louis Best Lawyers” and “The Best Lawyers in America,” from 1997-present, and in “Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers,” 2005-2012 editions as a top lawyer and one of the top 50 female lawyers in Missouri and Kansas and in Kansas City Magazine as one of the “Top Missouri Lawyers.”     Best Lawyers has named Melanie Gurley Keeney as the “St. Louis Best Lawyers Immigration Law Lawyer of the Year” for 2012, and she has been selected for inclusion in the Martindale-Hubbell ® 2012 Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers™.

Margaret A. Hesse primarily practices in the areas of education law, employment law, and litigation. She has represented school districts in employment matters, including Title VII, the Safe Schools Act, Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Equal Pay Act. She has represented employers in labor matters before the United States Department of Labor/Wage and Hour Division, the Illinois Commission on Human Rights and the Illinois Educational Labor Relations board. Margaret has also represented employers in workers”™ compensation matters before the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and has handled numerous appeals before the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission and the Missouri Court of Appeals.   Margaret also has practiced in the fields of medical malpractice and legal malpractice.

Missouri Education – The law firm of Tueth, Keeney, Cooper, Mohan & Jackstadt, P.C. (the “Firm”), has one of the largest and most successful education law groups in the country. The Firm regularly serves the legal counsel needs of approximately 150 school districts throughout Missouri. The Firm also has one of the largest school law practices in Central and Southern Illinois.