Member Alok Ahuja (Environmental/Business Litigation - Kansas City) was selected today as a "Lawyer of the Year" for 2007 by Missouri Lawyers Weekly.  The publication chose ten top practitioners from throughout the state who represented the top of the profession for the year.

"This was a good year for the clients of Lathrop & Gage who had Alok Ahuja handling their appeals," the publication wrote.  Ahuja's appellate work this year for firm client BNSF, and in Hess v. Chase Manhattan Bank, were cited as integral to the editors' decision.  In Hess, "Ahuja won on appeal that the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act applied retroactively to his client's residential real estate purchase. Chase took the appellate ruling to the Missouri Supreme Court but Ahuja prevailed."

Paul Hoferer, vice president and general counsel for BNSF, was quoted as saying, "(Alok) has a tremendous intellect but, more important than that, he is able to take something this complex and legally sophisticated and translate it into something logical."

About Lathrop & Gage: A leading Midwest full-service law firm, Lathrop & Gage L.C. has 280 attorneys in 10 offices nationwide – from Denver, Colo., to New York, N.Y. In 2007, Chambers USA ranked Lathrop & Gage’s corporate, environmental, intellectual property, litigation, real estate and labor and employment teams among the best in the Midwest. For more information, visit www.lathropgage.com or www.beentherewonthat.com.