Sen. Kurt U. Schaefer was elected to the Missouri Senate in 2008 representing the citizens of the 19th senatorial district. Although a newly-elected member of the senate, he is no stranger to Missouri legislation as his occupation has placed him in the midst of both the judicial and legislative arenas throughout his career.

Sen. Schaefer is the former General Counsel and Deputy Director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Special Counsel to the Governor, Special Counsel to the Missouri Department of Agriculture, Missouri Assistant Attorney General and Special Assistant United States Attorney.

As General Counsel and Deputy Director at DNR, he was responsible for all legal aspects of the State's Environmental Regulatory and Enforcement Agency, which also owns and manages the State's 83 state parks and historic sites, including litigation management, environmental, administrative, employment, personal injury, Sunshine Law and open records/meetings, contracts, and constitutional law.

Sen. Schaefer has litigated bench and jury trials of all kinds and complexities in numerous circuit and federal courts throughout Missouri and elsewhere.  He has handled approximately 100 appellate actions before all three districts of the Missouri Court of Appeals and Missouri Supreme Court, and more than 90 administrative proceedings before various state permitting and licensing agencies and the Missouri Public Service Commission. 

Prior to his recent election, Sen. Schaefer drafted legislation that has been codified into Missouri law, and engaged in state agency rule making.

Sen. Schaefer and his wife Stacia have three children and live in Columbia.  He is a partner in the law firm of Lathrop and Gage LLP.