NASA Lawyer Contributes to the Commercialization of Space

Cassi Meyer can certainly testify that the nontraditional path taken from law school to NASA has landed her in the right place to work with the diverse workforce at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

The attorney-adviser is part of the General Law practice group for the NASA Office of the General Counsel, supporting NASA Stennis and the NASA Shared Services Center.  Meyer’s responsibilities advising and counseling in areas such as commercial partnerships, FOIA, environmental law, safety and security, export control, ethics, and memoranda of understanding and other agreements in furtherance of NASA’s strategic goals.

NASA Stennis truly exemplifies how the agency works together for the benefit of all…It is where NASA collaborates with commercial industry and federal city tenants to achieve success and build a place the Gulf Coast area can unite and thrive around for years to come.

Cassi Meyer

Attorney-adviser, NASA Office of the General Counsel

A large part of Meyer’s work with NASA Stennis focuses on the agency’s collaboration with commercial at the largest propulsion test site in the United States.

“Everything NASA is doing is so incredibly interesting and inspiring to me as a legal professional,” she said. “We are really here to work with our innovative clients and advise them as to risks and courses of action so that we can get the job done right and efficiently.”

Meyer enjoys her role as a legal counselor, which she describes as a way to “help our clients help NASA achieve the agency’s goals, projects, and missions while the next era of space exploration bounds forward.”

The Macedonia, Ohio, native first supported NASA as a contractor paralegal in the Office of the General Counsel at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, while taking night classes at the University of Akron School of Law to earn her juris doctorate degree. She continued as a legal honors intern at NASA Glenn for eight months before graduating magna cum laude and taking the bar exam.

Meyer started as a law clerk with NASA Stennis in a teleworking capacity around the time she received news about passing the bar. Shortly after, she was hired in her current role of attorney-adviser working with the Center. To date, Meyer has visited seven of the 10 NASA centers to gain a better understanding of NASA culture and operations, including NASA Stennis multiple times in the past year. 

“Stennis goes the extra mile, and the workforce has been so kind, courteous, and competent,” she said. “There is always someone happy to jump in to teach you something if you do not understand. That’s important in my role as there is a lot of technical expertise needed at times for us lawyers to give the best and most comprehensive counsel we can.”

Meyer has embraced the continuous learning experience, which includes building relationships with those that are part of the federal city at the south Mississippi site.

 “NASA Stennis truly exemplifies how the agency works together for the benefit of all,” she said. “It is where NASA collaborates with commercial industry and federal city tenants to achieve success and build a place the Gulf Coast area can unite and thrive around for years to come.”

For information about NASA’s Stennis Space Center, visit:
Stennis Space Center – NASA