Ashley leads the Associate Competencies Engagement (ACE) Program for the firm’s litigation associates.
Overview
Associate Competencies Engagement (ACE) Counsel
The ACE Program aims to support associates’ timely development of legal and business competencies, ensure equitable access to career-enhancing work experiences, and empower associates in their own professional development.
As part of this effort, Ashley regularly meets with assigned associates to discuss self-assessments, review progress on their development of core competencies, and identify professional and business development needs and opportunities. Where appropriate, Ashley assists associates and their division chairs with developing action plans to accelerate skill development based on the associate’s tenure and practice area. To better support associates and assigning attorneys, she participates in the annual review process and division meetings. To facilitate administration of the ACE Program, Ashley works closely with division chairs, practice group leaders, and other ACE Counsel, and she also collaborates with multiple internal teams, including the Professional Development, Marketing and Business Development, Pro Bono, Diversity & Inclusion, and Well-Being Departments. Ashley also co-chairs the firm’s Associate Development and Mentorship Committee.
Experience
Prior to leading this associate-focused initiative as ACE Counsel, Ashley represented a wide range of companies in employment disputes in federal and state court and before administrative agencies. Her areas of focus included:
- Employment discrimination claims under federal, state, and local statutes and claims brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act;
- Wrongful termination, retaliation, and whistleblowing cases; and
- State law contract and tort claims.
In her practice as an employment lawyer, Ashley has extensive experience counseling and training employers on a wide variety of matters including hiring and firing, employment agreements, leaves of absence, disability issues, wage and hour compliance, and preventing discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Ashley also has conducted sensitive workplace investigations for employers.
News & Insights
News
Speaking Engagements
"Impacts of the #MeToo Movement and Being Ready to Respond," Emerging Trends in the Banking Industry, September 2019
"Drilling Down on Wage and Hour Issues: Avoiding Costly Traps of Independent Contractor Misclassification," 43rd Annual KBA/KIOGA CLE, October 12, 2018 and 2018 Eastern Kansas Oil & Gas Law Conference, August 3, 2018
''Employment Law 101 – What in-House counsel Need to Know Now (and When to Call Outside Counsel).", 68th Annual Natural Resources and Energy Law Institute, Corporate Counsel section on July 22, 2022
Publications
Co-author, "Royalty Litigation Update – Where We Have Been, Where We Are, and Where We May Be Going, in Kansas and Beyond," Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation 62nd Annual Institute, 2016
Co-author, "Kansas Supreme Court Rejects Application of the ‘Marketable Product Rule’ to Post-Sale Costs and Allows Deduction of These Costs from Royalty Payments," Kansas Bar Association Oil, Gas, & Mineral Law Section Newsletter, Fall 2015
Co-author, "Heating Up and Cooling Down – Recent Developments on the Flaring Front in North Dakota and Beyond," The Institute for Energy Law
"An Immodest Proposal: How The Kansas Courts Can Unify The Uniform Trade Secret Act’s Preemption of State Law Claims," University of Kansas Law Review, Vol. 60, Issue 5, 2013
Recognitions
Recognitions
Robert C. Welsh Volunteer Attorney Project Award, 2022
Selected to the Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers Rising Star list, 2019 - Present
Stinson Leonard Street Pro Bono Service Award, 2016
Professional & Civic Activities
Professional & Civic Activities
Lawyers Encouraging Academic Performance, Board of Directors
Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, Young Professionals Committee
KC LEGAL, Board Member
Institute for Energy Law, Young Energy Professional
The Missouri Bar
Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association
Practices & Industries
Admissions
- Kansas, 2014
- Missouri, 2013
- U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri
- U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota
Education
University of Kansas, J.D., 2013
- Order of the Coif
- University of Kansas Law Review, Executive Note & Comment Editor
- Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement
University of Missouri, Bachelor of Journalism and B.A., Psychology, summa cum laude, 2010
