The Oklahoma Bar Journal March 2024

Who are your clients?

My primary clients are ani mal shelters and animal control agencies in Kansas and Missouri. I am so lucky to represent most of the animal welfare organizations in the Kansas City metro area. Each one has a unique popula tion they serve, with missions that vary from one another. It is a constant exercise in meeting client needs and providing unique industry expertise to protect the organization while also ensuring public safety. Some of our clients enforce animal-related ordinances and statutes, so we often advise on investigations and prosecution and occasionally get the opportu nity to serve as special prosecutors in high-profile criminal cases. Every once in a while, we have a client who needs representation on the defense side of an animal control ordinance – most often, it is a small community with an enforcement officer who doesn’t quite understand the local ani mal ordinance or an overzealous prosecutor threatening to eutha nize a client’s dog. On the other end of the spectrum, our civil work includes individual custody disputes (roommates, partners, companies refusing to return

Katie Bray Barnett and her dog, Katrina, whom she rescued during recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina

Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff.

MARCH 2024 | 11

THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL