Judy Popper received her bachelor of arts in 1976, majoring in foreign languages and music at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia. In 1984, she earned her J.D. degree from UMKC, where she served as managing editor of the UMKC Law Review.
After her admission to the Missouri Bar, she began her legal career clerking for the Hon. Elmo B. Hunter at the United States District Court in Kansas City, Mo., then joined the firm of Shook, Hardy and Bacon in its business litigation section. In 1993, she began work with the Consumer Protection Division of the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, and in 1997, was admitted to the Kansas Bar.
She joined the UMKC faculty in 2001 while continuing to work with the Missouri AGO until 2011. In her last trial as an assistant attorney general, Professor Popper obtained felony convictions against an individual accused of scamming the elderly in the sale of funeral services and merchandise, in an unusual consolidation of criminal charges filed by the Missouri Attorney General and by the Clay County Prosecutor. The jointly-tried criminal case led to convictions on all 23 felony counts.
Currently, in addition to teaching consumer protection law and lawyering skills, Professor Popper also volunteers with Channel 41’s Call for Action and supervises student participation there.
