About Charissa Mayes Law

I believe in public service. And I know that negotiating our legal system can be a frightening and overwhelming experience.  You do not have to face it alone.  As an experienced member of the bar, I can help put you at ease.  My clients are my first priority, and you are going to know that I am in your corner, making you look your very best in front of any court or tribunal. 

Because experience matters, I want you to know the unique career path that has created a perspective you can trust to help me understand you and your case.  

Before attending graduate school, I was a mental health caseworker, providing direct community support services to consumers for the Missouri Department of Mental Health.  That work and early advocacy for people helped me develop a deep understanding and compassion for those living with serious and persistent mental illness, addiction and developmental disabilities.

Since finishing law school and being admitted to the Missouri Bar in 1999, I have practiced law in both public and private sectors.  In private practice, I focused primarily on domestic/family law, insurance defense, employment and professional licensing.  On the public sector side, I served as an Assistant Attorney General (1999 – 2001) in Jefferson City before returning to the metro to serve as an Associate County Counselor for St. Charles County for over 10 years – concurrently serving as the Interim Collector of Revenue for the County in 2006 and 2007.   In County government, and later as the Counselor to the City of Boonville, my legal work encompassed regular practice in such areas as tort and personal injury, civil rights, property taxation, debt collection, family law, guardianship, annexation and zoning, labor and employment, and the enforcement of property maintenance and animal welfare ordinances.

In addition Federal Court practice, I have worked in the Circuit Courts of Phelps, St. Charles, Cole, St. Francois, St. Louis, Boone, Morgan, Cooper, Randolph, Jefferson, Montgomery and Adair Counties and in the City of St. Louis.  I have broad experience litigating in front of administrative decision-makers such as hearing officers, referees and commissioners (ALJs).  I have taken matters to hearing before the State Tax Commission and the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission and have written dozens of opinions for the latter Commission.

I have handled employment disputes in the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Appeals Tribunal, the Missouri Human Rights Commission/EEOC, and the St. Charles County Merit System Commission.  And I have handled professional conduct, competency and ethics matters in front of the State Board of Nursing, the Missouri Board of Nursing Home Administrators, the State Board for Registration of the Healing Arts, and the Missouri Board of Law Examiners.

When I am not practicing law, you will find me practicing in the yoga studio, caring for my two rescued retrievers, and cruising the Missouri back roads on my motorcycle.