Professor Karen Speiser Sanner is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Law where she was the lead articles editor of the Journal of Dispute Resolution. While in law school, Professor Sanner completed internships with Judge John C. Holstein of the Missouri Supreme Court and the Missouri Attorney General’s Office under former Attorney General and current Missouri Governor Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon.

Following her graduation in 1994, Professor Sanner worked as an assistant attorney general for the State of Missouri representing the Missouri Commission on Human Rights, the Second Injury Fund, and the Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund. In 1997, she joined Brinker & Doyen, L.L.P. in St. Louis where she practiced civil litigation and workers’ compensation defense. Her practice included representing insurers, third party administrators, and health care providers in Missouri state, federal, and administrative courts as well as the Missouri Court of Appeals.

In 2008, Professor Sanner joined the pre-law department at Saint Louis University where she served as an adjunct instructor, director of the undergraduate trial advocacy program, and mock trial coach. In addition to her current role teaching first-year Legal Research & Writing, she has been an instructor in the law school’s trial advocacy program.