During the summer of 2023, Rasmussen Dickey Moore was delighted to welcome Megan Smith to our Kansas City office as a summer associate. Megan finished her 1L year at Vermont Law and Graduate School, returned to her Metro Kansas City home for the summer, and will resume her law studies as a 2L at the University of Cincinnati School of Law.
Megan is a lifelong Kansan, growing up in Leawood, just across State Line Road from RDM’s Kansas City, Missouri, headquarters.
Majoring in Environmental Studies and minoring in Political Science at the University of Kansas, Megan was an active member of Kappa Delta Sorority, serving on the chapter’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee as the liaison to the sorority’s Vice President of Public Relations.
Megan plans to continue her environmental education by pursuing a career in environmental law. At Vermont Law and Graduate School, Megan served as a 1L Senator with the Environmental Law Society.
This summer, Megan researched law in many fields, including contract law, tort law, and environmental law. “One of the many things ingrained in my memory during the first year of law school was the importance of legal research and writing,” says Megan. Her summer associate position provided extensive opportunities to draft motions, memos, and reports for the attorneys at RDM.
“The opportunity to apply the knowledge I gained from my 1L year has been amazing, and I have been able to do it in so many different ways. So far this summer, I have worked with documents such as depositions, trial testimony transcripts, studies, cases, and pleadings. Being in meetings with attorneys and paralegals to learn more about what truly goes into crafting a defense or substantiating a claim has been really interesting to see.”
Megan’s biggest project during her summer at RDM is to research and prepare a report about an environmental dispute that lasted from the late 1960s and into the 1970s regarding water pollution. This dispute put the federal government, state governments and agencies, and environmental groups at odds. “This project has been so interesting,” says Megan, “and it has shown me how important it is to truly understand the history and science behind statutes, cases, and regulations.”
In addition to helping the attorneys with their work, Megan also prepared two presentations about the confidentiality requirements regarding court filings becoming publicly available on Case.net. The opportunity helped her to get out of her comfort zone and learn more about the responsibilities and requirements of being a lawyer.
“I have really enjoyed my summer here at RDM, and can’t wait to see where the rest of my time here takes me!” Thank you, Megan, for a job well done this summer, and best wishes in your 2L classes!
