Judge Courtney A. Wachal

Courtney graduated from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 2001 with Bachelor of Arts degree.  She received her law degree from the University of Kansas in 2004.

Immediately following her graduation from law school Courtney accepted a position with the Missouri State Public Defender System.  She left the public defender system in 2011 to begin serving as an assistant prosecuting attorney with the City of Kansas City.  In January, 2015, Courtney was appointed by Mayor Sly James and City Council to serve as Kansas City Municipal Court Judge in Division 203, which has primary jurisdiction over all domestic violence cases filed in municipal court.

As part of her commitment to offender accountability and victim safety she initiated the compliance docket, a specialized supervised probation docket for high risk domestic violence offenders.  In October, 2017 the U.S. Department of Justice awarded the Kansas City Domestic Violence Docket a mentor court grant.  The grant is used to instruct other courts from around the nation regarding best practices for offender accountability and victim safety.  Kansas City is the first municipal court in the nation to receive this honor.

In January, 2019 Judge Wachal began presiding over the Kansas City Municipal Drug Court.  In June, 2019, the domestic violence compliance docket developed a drug court track.  This specialized, supervised docket addresses high risk domestic violence offenders with substance use disorders.  The docket is designed to permit domestic violence offenders the therapeutic environment needed to recover from their substance use disorder while simultaneously holding them accountable for their battering behavior.  Kansas City operates the second drug court program specifically for domestic violence offenders in the nation.

In October, 2021 the U.S. Department of Justice awarded the Kansas City Municipal Court a $1 million grant for two early intervention domestic violence programs.  The first is a class required as a condition of bond designed to increase domestic violence awareness with first time offenders.  The second is a Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention (RSVP) docket that provides targeted services for young adult intimate partner violence offenders and their intimate partners.

In September, 2022, Courtney was appointed as presiding judge of the Kansas City Municipal Court.  Under her term as presiding judge the municipal court debuted its first ever evening and weekend dockets and greatly enhanced warrant relief through community engagement and walk-in dockets.

In January, 2025 Kansas City Municipal Court combined its drug court and mental health court programs to launch Wellness Court, over which Judge Wachal presides.  The goal of Wellness Court is to meet participants where they are to provide the treatment and support they need. Wellness Court serves the whole person and added elective programming to its curriculum to encourage the pro-social activities of its participants.

Courtney is Past President of the board of directors for Sheffield Place and currently serves on their advisory board.  She is an ex-officio member the board of directors for the Association for Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City.  She is a member of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association.  She is a mentor with the Association for Women Lawyers Foundation Denise Henning Connections Program.

Courtney is the recipient of the 2014 Young Lawyers Section Pro Bono Publico award from the Missouri Bar Association.  She is also the recipient of the 2015 Rising Star of Philanthropy award from Non-Profit Connect.  She was named a Champion of Change by the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center in 2015.  The Association for Women Lawyers named her Judge of the Year in December, 2017.  She received the Women’s Justice Award for Public Service in October, 2021 from Missouri Lawyers Media. She received the Honorable Joseph E. Stevens Aspire to Excellence Award from the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association in December, 2023.  In November, 2024 she received the Dorothy Kaiser Award from the Missouri Bar Lawyers’ Assistance Program.