Thea is an attorney in Shook’s Product Liability Litigation practice group. After five years as an ICU nurse and nearly a decade in healthcare, Thea brings valuable clinical insight into defending clients in matters across the pharmaceutical, medical device, tobacco, technology and healthcare industries.
Thea earned her J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law, where she served as an articles editor of the Kansas Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. During law school, she was a national moot court competitor and a faculty research assistant. In her second year, she was a judicial intern for the Honorable Daniel D. Crabtree at the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. Thea spent both of her law school summers as a summer associate at Shook.
Before law school, Thea was an ICU nurse at two large academic medical centers in Kansas and Colorado, experience that makes her no stranger to high stakes. As a nurse, she provided complex care to a diverse population of critically ill adults, served as a unit charge nurse and trained new nurses. She has hands-on experience with a variety of medical devices and pharmaceuticals, giving her legal work in these industries a practical foundation. Thea maintains her RN license and draws on her nursing background every day as an attorney.