About Jessica L.
Jessica L. Ward has built a career that moves between public service and private practice. She studied psychology and neuroscience at the University of Missouri - Rolla, earning a B.S. in 2002, and later completed her law degree at the University of Missouri School of Law. Along the way she took on research and clerkship roles that introduced her to litigation and legal scholarship.
Early in her legal career Ward worked as a law clerk and then as a research assistant for Professor Philip G. Peters, Jr. Those positions led quickly into client-facing roles. By 2005 she was an Assistant Public Defender II in the Missouri State Public Defender System and also served as a volunteer lawyer in the Staff Judge Advocate Legal Assistance Office. She joined the Missouri Bar in 2005 and maintained active memberships in local and national bar organizations thereafter.
Ward moved between government and private practice in the next decade. She joined the State of Missouri Lawyer General's Office as an Assistant Attorney General in 2007. She later worked in private firms, including Aleshire Robb, P.C., and the Law Offices of Rick S. Vasquez. In 2012 she opened Ward (Mettler) Law Office, L.L.C., taking on the responsibilities of a solo practitioner. That period sharpened her courtroom skills and client management abilities.
In 2014 she returned to the State of Missouri Lawyer General's Office as a Unit Manager and Assistant Attorney General. She has handled matters at the state level and taken assignments in federal court as well, serving as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Western District of Missouri in 2020. In 2022 she was listed as Senior Counsel at the State of Missouri Lawyer General's Office and also served as a Lawyer and Counselor at Appleby Healy, Lawyers at Law, P.C.
Her memberships include the Missouri Association of Trial Lawyers, the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association, the Missouri Child Support Enforcement Association, and the American Association for Justice. She has additional training in electronic commercial and intellectual property law from the University of Missouri - Columbia School of Law, and that coursework complements her broader civil and administrative practice. She handles matters that range from criminal defense early in her career to state civil litigation, administrative issues, and child support enforcement. Her current practice focuses on state civil litigation and administrative matters, including child support enforcement.
