Following her graduation from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with a nursing degree, Kay worked as a graduate nurse in pediatrics at Memorial Hospital in Springfield. She began her career with Heyl Royster as a summer associate in our Springfield office. After graduation from Creighton University Law School, she worked as an Illinois Assistant Attorney General for two years representing state agencies, officials and employees in the defense of civil rights litigation and employment-related matters before various commissions and boards. In 1992, she joined Heyl Royster in the Edwardsville office.