Quick Contact

Rouse Frets White Goss Gentile Rhodes, P.C.
4510 Belleview Avenue, Suite 300
Kansas City, MO 64111
Direct: (816) 502-4731
Email: mshaney@rousepc.com
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Bar & Court Admissions

Missouri, 1986
Kansas, 2010
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri
U.S. District Court, District of Kansas

Education

  • University of Iowa, J.D., 1986, With Distinction
  • University of Iowa, Masters, English, 1983
  • University of Wisconsin, B.S., 1978, High Honors

Experience

Mary Jo serves as a shareholder and member of the firm’s Executive Committee. She is a trial attorney with experience in state and federal courts. Her substantive practice areas include land use and regulatory hearings, appeals and litigation, and related constitutional challenges affecting private property rights. This includes disputes over development plans, plats, use permits, variances, and zoning decisions. She also handles business and employment law matters and lawsuits. She has defended clients and their business managers in sex, race, age, and other discrimination cases. Her clients range from large and small businesses and retailers to local landowners and area municipalities.  Mary Jo is a member of the Missouri and Kansas Bar Associations and has earned admission to the federal courts in the Eighth and Tenth Circuits. She is a member of the Litigation Counsel of America, a national fellowship composed of less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers. She has been named as Missouri and Kansas Super Lawyer each year since 2006. She also has been awarded the Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating from the Bar and the Judiciary, and has been selected for the Bar Registry of Preeminent Women Lawyers.

Areas of Practice

  • Business Litigation
  • Litigation
  • Employment & Workplace
  • Administrative Law & Regulatory Proceedings

Areas of Emphasis

  • Real Estate Disputes
  • Eminent Domain
  • Land Use and Zoning Litigation
  • Private or Commercial Property Litigation

Activities and Memberships

  • The Missouri Bar
  • Kansas Bar Association
  • American Bar Association
  • Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association
  • Johnson County Bar Association (Kansas0
  • Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America Trial Lawyers Honorary Counsel
  • reStart Inc., pro bono legal work for homeless shelter
  • Human Rights Campaign, Member and former Board Member of the Kansas City HRC Board
  • Steve Metzler Mentor Program, GLCC
  • Women’s Foundation

Honors and Recognition

  • Selected Super Lawyer, Missouri and Kansas
  • Selected as among The Best Lawyers in America – Litigation, Land Use and Zoning
  • Selected by The Best Lawyers in America as Lawyer of the Year – Litigation, Land Use and Zoning
  • Received highest attorney rating from Martindale-Hubbell – AV Preeminent