August 17, 2024

Commissioner Sherrill L. Rosen is the first Jackson County judicial officer to win the prestigious Roger P. Krumm Family Law Award.

The annual award by The Missouri Bar and its Family Law Section, named in honor of a well-known family law practitioner, honors those who have demonstrated “an exceptional degree of competence, skill, integrity, commitment, and dedication toward the improvement and advancement of the practice of family law and the children and families involved in family law matters.”

“We all need to remember that we touch and affect people’s lives every day, which is why it is so important to do our jobs with skill, empathy and civility, like Roger Krumm,” Commissioner Rosen said in her acceptance speech.

Rosen received the award during an August 1 ceremony during the annual Family Law Conference, held at Margaritaville Lake Resort Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach.

“We are so incredibly proud of Commissioner Rosen. She could not be more deserving,” 16th Judicial Circuit Presiding Judge Jalilah Otto said. “She has been a stalwart of the 16th Circuit bench for 30 years, and she has again and again proven her devotion to and love for the families she serves.”

The award has been given annually since 2003. According to the bar’s award website, just two other judges, both from the St. Louis area, previously have received the award.

Commissioner Rosen earned her law degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1978 and worked at Legal Aid of Western Missouri until 1982, when she went into private practice in the area of family law. She was appointed as a Family Court commissioner in 1994 and is currently the 16th Judicial Circuit’s longest tenured judicial officer. Based in the Eastern Jackson County Courthouse, she has presided over contested family law cases for 30 years as well as a truancy court program, known as Success Court, in two different middle schools.