Editorial Roundup: Missouri Kansas City Star. May 7, 2021. Editorial: OMG and get the smelling salts: Missouri agrees to hire more lawyers for the poor In a rare Jefferson City win for fairness, the Missouri legislature is inching closer to fully funding the state’s public defender office. We can’t believe it either, but House and Senate negotiators agreed Wednesday to spend $3.6 million to hire 53 additional lawyers for the trial division of the Missouri State Public Defender office. They will join 331 trial lawyers already in the office. If the full legislature passes the measure, and Gov. Mike Parson signs it, Missouri will finally climb out of the unconstitutional rut that has left thousands of defendants without timely, adequate representation in court. “It’s what we need,” said Mary Fox, director of the MSPD.