ST. LOUIS — Sheena Hamilton, a lawyer in private practice and a recent member of the American Bar Association’s board of governors, was named city counselor Thursday by Mayor Tishaura O. Jones.
Hamilton, an equity partner at Clayton-based Dowd Bennett LLP, will be the first Black woman to serve as counselor, St. Louis city government’s chief attorney.
“I am excited to bring on another talented professional and add her experience in private practice, corporate law departments and government to this administration,†Jones said in a statement.
Hamilton will succeed interim city counselor Matt Moak, who had served in that role since Jones became mayor in April. Moak will stay on in the counselor’s office in another position.
Hamilton’s law degree is from St. Louis University, and her bachelor’s degree from Tennessee State University. At Dowd Bennett, she has been client manager for several Fortune 100 companies and government and quasi-government offices.
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Hamilton’s three-year tenure on the ABA board ended last month. She also is a member of the board of the United Way of Greater St. Louis and a former member of the executive boards of the Mound City Bar Association and Women Lawyers Association of Greater St. Louis.
Like previous mayors, Jones has been gradually filling key posts in her administration.
In recent weeks, she appointed Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis as health director, and Jennifer Clemons-Abdullah has joined the administration as corrections commissioner.
Hlatshwayo Davis is an infectious disease specialist at John Cochran VA Medical Center. Clemons-Abdullah has worked at nine corrections facilities across the country, most recently as an associate warden at a federal prison in Arkansas.
Moak, who had been interim counselor, worked as an attorney in the office from 2002 to 2019, when then-Mayor Lyda Krewson named him to head the city Community Development Administration.