Faculty Profile: Dana Tippin Cutler

Award-winning trial attorneys Keith and Dana Cutler are partners in the law firm of James W. Tippin & Associates in Kansas City, Missouri, practicing in the areas of civil defense litigation, education law, and small business representation.

Dana has served in several positions of bar leadership during her career, including being the first woman of color elected as President of The Missouri Bar, in 2016.  Her numerous bar-related awards include three President’s Awards from The Missouri Bar; a President’s Award from the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association; the Ronda F. Williams Spirit of Diversity Award; and the Sly James Diversity and Inclusion Award, just to name a few.  She has been recognized as a Missouri Super Lawyer since 2014, and was honored as the 2018 Woman of the Year by Missouri Lawyers Weekly at their Annual Women’s Justice Awards Luncheon.  Dana’s practice is concentrated in Education Law with a focus on charter schools and general liability defense.  She has tried more than twenty bench and jury trials.  Dana received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English, with honors, from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and her J.D. degree from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.

In more than 30 years of practice, Keith has first-chaired over 80 civil trials in addition to arguments before the Courts of Appeals in Missouri and Kansas, the Missouri Supreme Court, and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.  He is also very active in the Bar -- he has served as president or chair of several bar associations and bar committees, is an Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy at University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC) School of Law, and is a frequent seminar speaker on trial practice, ethics, and professionalism.   His awards include the Lewis W. Clymer Award from the Jackson County Bar Association, the Decade Award from the UMKC School of Law, and the prestigious Lon O. Hocker Memorial Trial Award, given annually to three lawyers across the state of Missouri under the age of 36 who have demonstrated unusual proficiency in the art of trial advocacy.   Keith received his Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and his J.D. degree from UMKC.

When not practicing law, Dana and Keith are co-judges on the two-time Emmy-nominated, nationally syndicated daytime television courtroom show “Couples Court with the Cutlers,”  which features couples who are having conflicts, complications, or disagreements in their relationships.  The show, distributed by MGM’s Orion Television, is seen daily in over 85% of the United States.

The Cutlers have been married for over 30 years and have three adult sons.