A trial lawyer shaped by infantry service, courtroom work, and the people behind the documents.
Shawn Lee is a Kansas City trial lawyer, a former U.S. Army infantryman, and the legal educator beside Meg on The Shawn Lee Report.
According to his law office, Shawn has practiced as a trial lawyer since 2014. His criminal-defense work has included cases handled through the Missouri Public Defender, Kansas Public Defender, and the Western District of Missouri Criminal Justice Act Panel. His broader litigation background also includes personal-injury matters and business disputes.
Before law school, Shawn served in the Army as an infantryman. KOMU reported that he deployed to Afghanistan during the 2010 troop surge, moving through villages with Afghan interpreters while gathering information about Taliban positions. That experience stayed with him after he returned home and entered the legal profession.
In 2021, when a former interpreter told Shawn that his family was in danger as the Taliban returned to power, Shawn contacted elected officials, the U.S. State Department, Afghan businesses, and the media to press for help. KOMU documented that effort and Shawn's insistence that the United States remember the people who supported its mission.
On this series, Shawn brings the same habit he uses in litigation: slow the story down, separate facts from conclusions, identify the legal elements, and ask what the record can actually prove. His appearances here are general legal education—not personal legal advice or a conclusion about any family's case.
