When young, we often base our ideas regarding our future professional pursuits off those things we are familiar with, but as we are exposed to the broader world we can be taken in unexpected directions.
Tara Moreland graduated from Parsons High School in 2009, and ended up going to William Jewell College after she received a scholarship to write for the student newspaper. Writing in high school and having the opportunity to shadow a reporter from the Parsons Sun had piqued her interest in journalism, she said, so it seemed natural to pursue what she loved doing, which was writing.
“I was involved in a lot of stuff in college, but newspaper was my big thing. I was a staff writer my freshman year and then my sophomore year I was managing editor and then my junior and senior year I was editor in chief,” she said.
Through her involvement with the university newspaper, she was able to get a grant to do an internship in D.C. at Georgetown University the summer after her sophomore year (2011). She graduated with her bachelor’s degree in 2013, having double majored in English and communications.
However, through that internship two years earlier, she was introduced to a lot of attorneys through Georgetown Law. It got her to thinking about possibly pursing law school.
“Through William Jewel, through one of my professors, I was actually able to meet a judge on the Missouri Court of Appeals from the Western District, and she became a mentor of mine and really encouraged me, and really believed in me, to do this law school thing,” Moreland said. “I applied to law school and had a few options, but I decided to go to KC (UMKC School of Law). I started there in 2013 and graduated in 2016.”
She clerked during law school for her mentor, and she did a clerkship shortly after she graduated law school, clerking for a different judge to help with jury trials, employing her skills with research and legal writing.
“Whether you are a lawyer or a judge, you have to make sure you get it right, because it can affect the entire outcome of your case or whatever situation you are handling,” Moreland said.
“A lot of people, I think, when they hear the word lawyer automatically think you are going to be in a courtroom and it is going to be like it is on TV, with the really crazy trials and things like that. But there are a lot of areas of the law that don’t require that. I never had a huge passion to be in the courtroom and so what most of my career has comprised of is working in local government,” she said. “I have found that to be really fulfilling. It feels like a more direct way to use my legal education to give back to the community and kind of do good in the community.
Right now, she is an assistant city attorney for the city of Kansas City, Mo. She mostly focuses on what is called the Sunshine Law in Missouri, and some other states, referring to the open public record laws. Anyone in the public, or who is part of the press, can make open records requests for public documents. What Moreland does is reviews the request to ensure confidential items remain confidential, privileged information stays closed, and then serves the public by providing them all the information they are entitled to according to law.
I think for anyone who wants to go to law school, or is thinking about it, one thing I learned throughout going to law school is most people have a very tunnel vision idea of what it is like to practice law,” Moreland said, referencing the television perspectives. “But there are other just as fulfilling tasks you can go into. I don’t make the same amount of money as a fancy big-time lawyer, but I get to do something that I find really fulfilling.”
Moreland said she considers herself fortunate to have attended Parsons High School, where the programs offered provided opportunity for her to use her writing and do public speaking.
“So, when I was in high school, I did forensics, and I was really big into that. That gave me a lot of confidence. I think that really laid the groundwork for everything that came after,” she said. “I was fortunate when I was a senior that I got first place at two events at the state championship in forensics. That was a huge confidence booster for me going into college. That gave me a boost as far as being confident in my writing and speaking and that carried all the way through law school and still helps me today.”
She recalled working with former English and forensics teacher Ruth Kendall during her junior and senior year.
“She was really supportive of me and when I doubted myself, she’d be like, ‘You got this, so you just need to go in there and do this,’” she said. “There were so many people who had an impact on me, but I would say Robie Martin is also someone who was very encouraging and just amazing. She helped with forensics, and she was amazing. I feel fortunate I had really good teachers throughout my time at the high school and I felt really encouraged by everyone. Having people believe in you is really important.”
Moreland said she did take a traditional path as far as going to college to earn her bachelors and then to higher education. If that is what a student wants to do, she encourages them to do the research, go on visits, and make sure those places are a good fit for them.
“But I think it is equally important to recognize that not everyone wants to go down the traditional path and we have a lot of fields in society where we need a lot of people to go to trade school and pursue what are considered alternative paths, that in my opinion are just as important as a field you enter going to college,” Moreland said. “I would encourage students to think about what field is right for you and not just subscribe to what you think is expected of you, but doing what you feel passionate about and asking yourself the question, ‘This path that I’m on and where I’m going to end up, if I think about doing a particular job for the rest of my life, how does that make me feel? Do I feel passionate about that? Do I feel good about it?”
She said it is important to stay true to yourself. There can be a lot of pressure to go down different paths, but you must choose what’s right for you.
“I just want to provide that encouragement, because college isn’t right for every kid, and I think they need just as much encouragement. The kids who are going to college, I think they have a lot of encouragement, but there are a lot of other students who don’t want to go down that path and I think it is important for them to know that is also okay, and receive encouragement,” Moreland said.