Susan Layton, attorney at Layton & Southard LLC

As a little girl, Susan Layton often would spend Saturday mornings with her father, John Layton, at his law office.

"I'd spend my time scribbling on legal pads," says Layton, now herself a lawyer, and in practice with her father.

"He's a great mentor; he's patient and very knowledgeable. I'm lucky to have him to learn from," she says, adding that the area's legal community as a whole is quite sharing. "We have a very open legal community here. People are open to giving advice and sharing their thoughts with you. When I was just starting out, they took time out of their schedules to help me and would still do so today."

Layton is a 2005 graduate of Saint Louis University, where she received a bachelor's degree in communications. After a few years in the financial services industry, she returned to SLU and earned her law degree in 2009. Her areas of practice are estate planning, trusts, real estate law, business and corporate law -- essentially transactional law.

She also serves a guardian ad litem, a court-appointed guardian to represent the interests of children in legal actions that might include divorces, neglect and abuse cases or contested inheritances.

"In the guardian work, we provide children with a necessary voice in court, and you can really see the aid you're giving to help the kids. You're dealing with people who don't have a say themselves," Layton says.

She sees estate planning as a puzzle.

"You get to put all the pieces together for that particular client," she says. "When I have a new client, I'm analyzing their particular situation and trying to find a plan that works for them, whether it's creating a trust for them or setting them up with a financial planner. It's important to have all that in place so what you want to happen when you're not here anymore actually happens. You want control over your assets and what you've worked so hard for all you life."

Layton is a member of the Cape Girardeau County Domestic Violence Authority Board, a statutorily created body that disperses funds to provide financial assistance to qualified shelters for victims of domestic violence. Funds are generated from fees for marriage licenses and civil actions filed within the county. She also is a member of the Friends of Saint Francis Medical Center Foundation and the Cape Girardeau Jaycees.

With the exception of a 10-year stint in St. Louis, Layton has lived in Cape Girardeau her entire life.

"Living in a small community has its benefits. You know everybody. It's about the connections you make and the networking you have available to you in a smaller, closer knit community," she says, adding, "There is much more here to do than what I imagined when I was growing up."