From a clerk’s desk to the bar
Michelle Cocayne came to Kansas City for law school after studying political science and religious studies at Bradley University. Her Jackson County clerkship was with Judge Jalilah Otto. She then prosecuted cases in Clay County before moving to private practice, where she worked in civil litigation and criminal defense. Both the county and the capacity in which she acted change over that sequence.
My historical work in Clay County makes distinctions between the counties indispensable. Cocayne’s public career crosses that boundary in a documented way.
My interest as a litigant and historian of Mormon settlement is in the actual jurisdictions of local officers. Freedom to publish that record and argue over its political and religious consequences belongs to the communities on both sides of a county line.
A new assignment in Division 6
Governor Mike Kehoe appointed Cocayne to the circuit bench on February 13, 2026. Division 6 identifies civil, domestic and criminal work. For me the distinction between Clay County and Jackson County matters greatly. A document in one county’s files does not acquire a different origin merely because a lawyer later took office across the line.
Public records and sources