Lisa Dawn Coatney

Lisa Dawn Coatney earned her bachelor's degree with honors from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and received her juris doctorate from Southwestern University in Los Angeles in 2000. She was admitted to the State Bar of Nevada on May 30, 2001. Beginning her legal career in southern Nevada, she served with the Clark County District Attorney's Office in Las Vegas before returning to her home state of Missouri.

In Missouri she built a career devoted largely to public service. She worked as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Scott County and later with the Missouri Children's Division of Family Services, where she was responsible for the entire South Central Missouri region. A member of the Missouri Bar from 2003, she was appointed in 2006 by Governor Matt Blunt as the prosecuting attorney for Maries County. Even after a serious illness compelled her to step back from full-time practice, she continued to serve clients through pro bono work in the Stoddard, Scott, New Madrid, Bollinger, Mississippi, and Cape Girardeau courts, and was remembered as a zealous advocate for those she represented.

Beyond the law, Lisa Dawn Coatney was a veteran of the United States Air Force, in which she served as an Airman First Class. She passed away on December 20, 2011.