DT | Work-Life Balance: The Heart of the Matter

How do we get it all done?  Balancing all the demands of work, family, community and the time we need for ourselves has been the subject of studies, movies and daily discussions.  Our presenters will share the challenges, insights and experiences that make life and love work for them.


Michelle P. Wimes serves as the Director of Professional Development and Inclusion at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., one of the nation’s largest labor and employment law firms.  In her role, Michelle leads the firm’s efforts to attract, develop, retain, promote and advance a diverse group of attorneys across the firm’s national platform of 47 offices in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean.  Additionally, Michelle leads the firm’s attorney training and professional development efforts.  She is based in Ogletree Deakins’ Kansas City office.
 
Michelle has extensive experience in delivering strategic leadership, client development, and talent management programming.  She is deft at implementing change management strategies necessary for comprehensive and effective diversity and inclusion and professional development initiatives and programming.  Previously, Michelle practiced law for 14 years where she handled all aspects of employment litigation while serving as an equity partner at a Kansas City-based firm.  She focused on matters involving employment discrimination, harassment, and civil rights issues while representing clients before the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Missouri Commission on Human Rights, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as local, state and federal courts.
 

The Honorable Brian C. Wimes was born in Kansas City, Missouri on January 18, 1966. He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Kansas in 1990. He received his law degree from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University in 1994.

After law school, Judge Wimes worked for the Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons Litigation Branch, in Washington, D.C. Judge Wimes returned to Kansas City, Missouri in 1995, when he began serving as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office. As a prosecutor, Judge Wimes received many awards and honors. He served as an assistant prosecuting attorney until 2001, when he was appointed to the position of Jackson County Drug Court Commissioner.

In 2007, Governor Matt Blunt appointed Judge Wimes to the 16th Judicial Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri. Judge Wimes served as a Circuit Court Judge until his appointment to the federal bench.

On September 22, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Judge Wimes to serve as a United States District Court Judge for the Western and Eastern Districts of Missouri. Judge Wimes was confirmed by the Senate on April 22, 2012, and appointed by President Obama on April 30, 2012.

Judge Wimes is a current member of the Federal Judges Association, a board member of Lawyers Encouraging Academic Performance (L.E.A.P), a board member of the Historical Society of the United States Eighth Circuit Court, and a board member for the National Courts and Science Institute.