Life-long Topekan educates the next generation of lawyers

TOPEKA (KSNT) - April's Everything Woman honoree Danielle Hall was born and raised in Topeka. Hall went to college in the Capital City, and ultimately decided to stay to develop her professional career and give back to her community.

Her achievements and efforts have be recognized with numerous awards, including Washburn's School of Law Graduate of the Last Decade, Go Topeka's Woman of Influence Distinguished Mentor and TK Business Magazine's 20 under 40.

Hall grew up in the Oakland neighborhood, and attended Highland Park High School.
She had other opportunities for college, but she knew Washburn University was a special place.

"I love my hometown, and so having the opportunity to attend Washburn was definitely something that I just always kind of knew I wanted to do," Hall said.

Upon graduation, Hall said law school was inevitable and the choice was simple.

"I knew the next step was I wanted to go to Washburn Law," she said. "So much so, that I actually didn’t apply anywhere else."

Mock Trial was her favorite activity as an undergraduate, and something similar became her passion as a law student.

"We call it trial advocacy at the law school level and I think it helps you become just overall a better lawyer, whether or not, you decide to be an advocate in the courtroom or you decide to pursue something else as a lawyer," Hall said.

After years of simulated trial experiences, she decided it was time to take on the real thing at a local office.

"Cooper and Lee at the time and one attorney was Greg Lee was who I was interning for," she said. "Just as I was about to graduate, I was asked whether or not there was an interest in maybe staying on."

Shifting gears after two years, Hall took a giant leap of faith.

"I got an opportunity to work for the campus bar association, and this was in a non-traditional lawyer role," she said. "At the time I was coming in, they were looking for somebody who could come in with a background and knowledge about the areas of law and work with what we would call our different sections and our different committees."

After another couple of years passed, she turned her focus to something new.

"So the main focus of the law office management assistance program that I developed over at the bar association, was to help lawyers really get better at the business side of practicing law," Danielle said.

She was almost six years into her career when she went onto the practice management program.

While making contacts across the U.S., an interesting thing happened.

"The American Bar Association adopted a standard, that we would have to be competent with our use of technology," Hall said. "I got interested in that so I started pursuing and really connecting with our folks at the what we call our office at the disciplinarian administrator."

The group regulates lawyers, and their licenses as it relates to ethical obligation.

"I found myself regulating lawyers, and actually handling disciplinary matters before our own Campus Supreme Court in regards to lawyers who might have violated their obligations," she said.

In the disciplinary office, she started working and handling the diversion programs.

"When the position at the lawyers assistance program opened up, based upon all of my collective years of knowledge, I just felt it was really at that time for me, the perfect opportunity to bring everything together," Hall said. "Informing our lawyers about the Kansas lawyers assistance program, and the resources that we have to assist in mental health and substance abuse."

She said a lot of this was boots on the ground, educating lawyers that help exists and the services are there.

"I would go out I would speak to lawyer group," she said, "Whether that was bar associations of teaching, or continuing legal education on the subject matter, so that way they were well aware of some of the warning signs. Then to that, there were resources out there that could also help you doing this alone."

Danielle has been with the lawyers assistance program since 2019, and she's operating as Executive Director there until May 1.

She will the transition into her new role with the Judicial Branch as Chief of Professionalism.

"The great thing is, that I get to shift from working with lawyers to now working with judges," she said. "So a large part that I’ll do is work with the education team over here at the judicial center so the team that helps provide education to our judge population."

In addition to ever-changing roles with her profession, she still finds time to coach trial teams at Washburn Law and also teaches a class there in the legal studies department.

"Of course it’s something that’s near to my heart since I participated in it when I was in college, met my friends there, my husband as well, so it was something that I knew that if I had the opportunity that I wanted to do it," Danielle said.

And when asked what she still wants to accomplish...

"I would like to say that one of my goals is to continue to break down those barriers of the stigma associated with mental health conditions and substance use disorder and really help seeking behaviors," she said.

It's very easy to notice Danielle's career ambition, passion for helping others and love for her hometown. She is also grateful to be recognized for what she feels is just doing the right thing or what she feels she supposed to do.

If you know a woman in northeast Kansas that we should recognize in this segment, please go to ksnt.com and nominate them there. We feature these honorees on the last Tuesday of each month.