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Lathrop Gage Recognized as a Leading Law Firm by Chambers USA

6/3/2016

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (June 3, 2016) –  Chambers USA, the producer of an annual client guide to America’s leading lawyers, recognized 23 Lathrop Gage attorneys who received honors for their respective practice areas. The firm was also honored for its strong practices in the categories of environmentreal estatelabor & employment, corporate/mergers and acquisitions and litigation.

The Lathrop Gage attorneys and practice areas were recognized based on Chambers’ research of the firm’s strengths, significant work and current clients. Chambers’ staff collectively conducted thousands of interviews with lawyers and clients to complete this year’s research.

The attorneys recognized include:

  • David R. Barnard (Missouri, Intellectual Property) is the co-leader of the firm’s intellectual property litigation practice team. He first-chairs patent, trademark, false advertising, copyright, trade secret and other commercial disputes and also provides IP business counseling to a wide range of companies.
  • William G. Beck (Kansas City & Surrounds, Environment), a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, focuses on toxic tort, insurance coverage and superfund and has more than 35 years of experience as a trial lawyer.
  • Mark A. Bluhm (Kansas City & Surrounds, Corporate/M&A) is the firm’s Chief Executive Officer, whose practice comprises providing legal advice in connection with clients’ business transactions and business matters.
  • Jean Paul Bradshaw II (Missouri, Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations) has experience in white-collar criminal defense, complex civil litigation, class actions, internal corporate investigations and the establishment of corporate preventative law programs that comply with federal requirements.
  • Don F. Dagenais (Kansas City & Surrounds, Real Estate) specializes in commercial real estate purchase, mortgage, lease, development, management and land use projects. He works for a wide range of clients and frequently speaks before groups interested in real estate development and management.
  • Giulio A. DeConti (Massachusetts, Intellectual Property) is the firm’s intellectual property division chair and has 30 years of experience in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and chemistry. He works interactively with clients to build strong patent portfolios.
  • Russell R. Eggert (Illinois, Environment: Litigation) maintains a practice that encompasses a full range of environmental law and devotes a large portion of his practice to litigation and litigation avoidance.
  • J.A. “Jay” Felton (Kansas City & Surrounds, Litigation) has 20 years of experience and focuses his practice on litigation, representing a number of Fortune 1000 companies in product liability, complex commercial, environmental and intellectual property matters.
  • William F. Ford (Kansas City & Surrounds, Environment) is the co-leader of the firm’s environmental practice and has successfully represented clients in multidistrict and class action litigation throughout the country. He has a wide range of experience in complex litigation including environmental, general business litigation and products liability.
  • Lewis “Pete” A. Heaven (Kansas, Real Estate), co-leader of the firm’s real estate practice, has represented prominent residential and commercial real estate developers in the Midwest for 30 years and serves as counsel to a number of regional contractors, handling contract negotiation, bidding and construction issues.
  • Janice E. Hetland (St Louis & Surrounds, Real Estate) has a national practice representing investors, developers and lenders on real estate transactions with an emphasis in tax credit transactions. She has closed hundreds of tax credit and affordable housing transactions across the country.
  • John P. King (St Louis & Surrounds, Real Estate) focuses his practice in the areas of governmental relations and land use zoning and planning, with special emphasis in the fields of residential and commercial development. He was appointed by the Governor to serve on the Missouri Ethics Commission.
  • Rosalee M. McNamara (Kansas City & Surrounds, Labor & Employment) represents businesses and organizations in employment and litigation matters. She has successfully defended – from charge to jury verdict – a wide array of lawsuits including collective actions.
  • Joseph W. Medved (Kansas City & Surrounds, Corporate/M&A) focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and business transactions. He regularly counsels clients in a variety of transactions from buying or selling a business to public and private debt offerings.
  • Jessica E. Merrigan (Kansas City & Surrounds, Environment), co-leader of the firm’s environmental practice, assists clients in managing environmental liabilities and complying with environmental requirements, and also represents clients in administrative negotiations with both the Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies.
  • Jared M. Minkoff (St Louis & Surrounds, Real Estate) has experience in all aspects of development and finance. He has a national practice representing investors, community development entities, developers and lenders in transactions utilizing federal and state new markets and historic tax credits.
  • Stephen G. Mitchell (Kansas City & Surrounds, Real Estate) has represented clients in major real estate and business transactions; commercial office and industrial building leases for both landlords and tenants and land use and zoning; historic preservation regulation issues; and has worked extensively with the City of Kansas City, Missouri on land use and historic preservation issues.
  • Lyle D. Pishny (Kansas, Corporate/M&A), who has a Master of Laws in Taxation, advises clients on a range of business, tax and wealth planning strategies.
  • Jerry D. Riffel (Kansas City & Surrounds, Real Estate) is in charge of the real estate department’s Public Law Team and has experience representing notable clients including Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc., Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, Bayer Crop Science, L.P., and many more.
  • Jack D. Rowe (Kansas City & Surrounds, Labor & Employment) focuses his national practice on employment and labor relations issues. He represents management and the business sector in equal employment opportunity, personnel relations and traditional labor matters and speaks frequently before firm clients as well as civic and professional organizations.
  • Thomas A. Ryan (Kansas City & Surrounds, Environment), former chair of the firm’s environmental team and current Executive Committee member, spends most of his time handling Superfund matters and defending chemical exposure toxic tort litigation, including class actions. He also has over 30 years of experience in personal injury litigation.
  • David A. Shorr (Kansas City & Surrounds, Environment) serves as partner in charge of the firm’s Jefferson City, Missouri office and is a noted authority on water, wastewater, air and solid waste issues. He previously served as director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and is an appointed stakeholder representing Waterway Industries on the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee (MRRIC).
  • James H. Velema (Massachusetts, Intellectual Property) serves as biotechnology patent counsel for a wide variety of life sciences clients ranging from start-ups and emerging biotechnology companies to large academic research institutions and Fortune 500 biotechnology companies.

About Lathrop Gage:
Lathrop Gage has 320 attorneys nationwide serving clients in the areas of litigation, intellectual property and business. Chambers USA ranks Lathrop Gage’s corporate, environmental, labor and employment, litigation and real estate practices among the best in their regions. For more information, visit www.lathropgage.com.