Stephen J. Owens was appointed General Counsel effective January 22, 2008, succeeding Marvin E. "Bunky" Wright.
The General Counsel is responsible for providing all legal representation of the Board of Curators; the public corporation known as The Curators of the University of Missouri; all administrators at the University of Missouri System, each of its four campuses, its Health Care System, and its University Extension service; and University employees who are sued for their good faith actions arising within the scope and course of their employment at the University. The General Counsel's duties include managing the staff of seven in-house attorneys as well as the selection and monitoring of outside counsel engaged to provide legal services to the University.
Prior to his appointment as General Counsel, Steve was engaged in private practice for 26 years with Kansas City based law firm of Stinson Morrison Hecker, L.L.P. (formerly Stinson, Mag & Fizzell). His practice emphasized business litigation, collegiate sports law, contracts and administrative law. Additionally, he served as the firm's Hiring Chairman; member of the firm's Board of Directors and its Executive Committee; and as Chairman of the firm's Business Litigation Division and its Class Action and Complex Litigation Division. Prior to joining the firm, Steve served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable William R. Collinson, United States District Court Judge for the Western District of Missouri.
Steve received his B.S. in Public Administration from the University of Missouri-Columbia and his J.D. from the Wake Forest University School of Law. He is admitted to practice in the State of Missouri; United States District Courts for the Western District of Missouri and the District of Kansas; and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth, Fifth, Eighth and Tenth Circuits.