Prior Big Law Experience
- Polsinelli PC (Kansas City, Missouri)
- Stubbeman, McRae, Sealy, Laughlin & Browder, Inc. (Midland, Texas)
Licenses
- Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska (Inactive)
- United States Districts of Kansas and Nebraska
- United States Western District of Missouri
Education
- B.A. Kansas State University
- J.D. University of Kansas
Services
Professional Experience
Stephanie focuses her practice on business litigation and counseling, with an emphasis on employment and oil and gas law. She also serves clients in an outsourced general counsel role, providing practical, day-to-day legal guidance tailored to their business needs. Stephanie advises employers on a wide range of human resources matters, including policy development, employee onboarding and training, and workplace investigations. She also represents clients before state administrative agencies and in both state and federal courts. Having spent a significant portion of her career in West Texas, Stephanie has developed substantial experience handling oil and gas disputes, including matters involving mineral and royalty ownership. Her industry knowledge allows her to provide clients with strategic counsel in this complex and highly specialized area of law.
After earning her Juris Doctor in 2002, Stephanie began her legal career with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, where she served as General Counsel to several state professional licensing boards and prosecuted license revocation actions. During her tenure, she drafted the statutes and regulations that continue to govern tattoo artists, body piercers, and branders in Missouri.In 2004, Stephanie relocated to Kansas City, where she built her employment law practice, first at a boutique firm and later at Polsinelli PC (then Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus). There, she represented large corporate employers in discrimination and employment-related litigation before federal district and appellate courts, state human rights agencies, and the EEOC. During the mortgage crisis, she expanded her practice to include representing global banking institutions in foreclosure and Uniform Commercial Code litigation.
In 2014, Stephanie joined Stubbeman, McRae, Sealy, Laughlin & Browder, Inc., where she became the firm’s first female Managing Partner and President. In addition to continuing her employment law practice, she developed extensive experience in oil and gas matters, handling title disputes, lease conflicts, royalty ownership and payment issues, receiverships, and fiduciary litigation.
Personal Story
Stephanie was born in Hays, Kansas, and spent her early childhood in Nebraska before her family settled in Hutchinson, Kansas, where she was raised. The daughter of a Lutheran minister and a longtime legal assistant to the Chief Judge of Reno County, she often jokes that she grew up between a church and a courthouse. Her love of reading, writing, and academics, combined with those early influences, helped shape both her commitment to service and her path to a career in law. As the middle of three siblings, she also developed the diplomacy and problem-solving skills that would later serve her well as a litigator.
Stephanie graduated from Hutchinson High School before earning a degree in Sociology, with a minor in French, from Kansas State University, where she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. She went on to attend the University of Kansas School of Law, where she was active in student government, worked in the Legal Aid Clinic, and completed more than 100 hours of crisis intervention training to volunteer with the local suicide and sexual assault crisis center.
Outside of her legal practice, Stephanie has a passion for travel and spending time with family and friends. For nearly a decade after law school, she and a close group of friends have maintained an annual tradition of reuniting in St. Louis for Mardi Gras. It was there, in 2013, that she met her future husband, Matt. Two years later, many of those same friends gathered again—this time in Mexico—to celebrate their wedding. The newly weds relocated to West Texas, where Matt worked in the process control industry, and quickly embraced both the region and its close-knit community.
Today, Stephanie enjoys experimenting as an amateur chef, hosting gatherings to cheer on her beloved Kansas City Chiefs, attending live music events, and traveling in “Ruby Sue,” the family’s RV. Wherever she goes, her loyal 65-pound companion, Moe, is usually not far behind.
Community Engagement and Associations
Stephanie served on the boards of two children’s advocacy and crisis centers, the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, and the Chancellor’s Advisory Board to the Women’s Center at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. She also volunteered for many years with the Midland Rape Crisis and Children’s Advocacy Center, including serving as President from 2019 to 2021. Stephanie remains a proud member of the Midland County Bar Association and the Junior League of Midland.
