Mark V. Dugan

After graduating with distinction from the University of Kansas in 1986, with majors in History and Mathematics, Mark took the obvious next step: law school, with an eye toward representing low-income individuals in poverty law. Industry secret: many people hate law school, but Mark liked it. He served as Articles Editor of the Kansas Law Review, and he played a passable left field on his small section softball team. He began his career as he had hoped, in poverty law, at Legal Aid of Western Missouri and the Neighborhood Legal Services Program in Washington, D.C. He later worked at a Washington, D.C. public interest law firm, representing individuals and environmental groups in citizen litigation under the environmental laws (including the Clean Water Act, his favorite statute), as well as individuals in employment matters. The birth of his first son brought him back to the Midwest, where he worked at the Blackwell Sanders law firm for a decade, and then at the Stueve Siegel Hanson firm, where he represented workers in wage litigation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (his second favorite statute). In 2008, he and Heather Schlozman scratched out a partnership agreement at a table at Planet Sub, and that was the birth of Dugan Schlozman, a private firm with a public interest focus. Mark represents individuals in employment matters, including wage theft (unpaid overtime and minimum wage), wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, noncompetition, and family and medical leave. He also represents nonprofit organizations in environmental litigation. Mark is admitted to practice in Missouri, Kansas, and the District of Columbia. He serves on the boards of the Kansas City Worker Justice Center, which sponsors monthly wage theft clinics; Friends of the Kaw, which protects the Kansas River; and MainPAC, which promotes candidates who support public educations and separation of religion and government. For six years, he served as chair of MainPAC. Mark has two sons and a beagle. He and his sons are fans of Royals baseball and KU basketball, and they play made up games, like baseball golf and driveway hockey.