Melanie Gurley Keeney

About Melanie

Melanie Gurley Keeney practices in the areas of education, higher education, labor and employment, and immigration law. Her experience in education law includes representing school districts and institutions of higher education regarding various personnel and student matters, including tenure, terminations, discrimination, First Amendment, discipline, special education, Title IX, sexual discrimination, § 1983 claims, Open Meetings law, OCR complaints and other issues. Melanie represents private employers regarding employment discrimination charges and lawsuits, wage-hour compliance, non competes, wrongful discharge actions, privacy, defamation and related tort litigation, disability issues, and provides preventive employment law services, including supervisor training programs and employment compliance audits. Melanie also represents corporations and individuals in immigration law matters, including obtaining temporary and permanent visas and handling employer sanctions issues, I-9 compliance, consular processing and naturalization. She frequently speaks on education, labor and immigration issues. Melanie has been listed in St. Louis Magazine’s ”Best Lawyers in St. Louis“ and in ”Best Lawyers in America," 2015-present in the practice areas of Education Law, Employment Law-Management, and Immigration Law, and Best Lawyers in America since 1995, and in ”Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers,“ 2005-present editions as a top lawyer and one of the top 50 female lawyers in Missouri and Kansas and in Kansas City Magazine as one of the ”Top Missouri Lawyers.“ Best Lawyers has named Melanie Gurley Keeney as the "St. Louis Best Lawyers Education Law Lawyer of the Year' for 2017, and ”St. Louis Best Lawyers Immigration Law Lawyer of the Year“ for 2019, 2015, and 2012. Melanie was also a recipient of the 2016 Litigation Practitioner Award as part of the Missouri Lawyers Weekly Women's Justice Awards, and Washington University awarded her the International Women's Day Award for Employment Law. She has also been selected for inclusion in the Martindale-Hubbell© Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers™. Melanie is a founding Shareholder of the Firm and currently serves as its Chairwoman. She served on the Management Committee from 2006 to 2015, and served as its Chairwoman and President of the Firm in 2014 and 2015.

Practice Areas

Employment Law Insights

How Courts Decide If a Wage-and-Hour Settlement Is Fair

When you settle a wage-and-hour claim in federal court, a judge decides whether it's fair before it's final — based on four factors. Here's exactly what the court weighs.

Education

• Washington University in St. Louis, J.D., graduated 1990
• Baylor University, BA, graduated 1987

Bar Admissions

• Missouri, The Missouri Bar
• Illinois, Illinois State Bar Association

Languages