2019-20 Missouri Bar elects leaders

Kansas City lawyer Tom Bender to take president’s oath Thursday

Tom Bender, an attorney with Horn Aylward & Bandy LLC in Kansas City, today was elected the 2019-20 president of The Missouri Bar. The election took place during the 138th Annual Meeting of The Missouri Bar held Sept. 18-20 at the Hilton Convention Center Hotel in Branson. He succeeds West Plains lawyer Ray Williams as president of the 30,000-member organization.

Bender will be sworn in as president before the more than 500 attendees of the annual meeting at the conference’s opening luncheon at noon, Thursday, Sept. 19, where he will discuss the unified bar’s 75 year legacy of improving the profession, the law and the administration of justice on behalf of the public.

“We are stronger together, doing great things working together to make the lives of all Missouri citizens who need our help even better,” Bender said. “We do this by providing resources to help lawyers even better serve their clients and making sure that Missourians, no matter where they live, have access to lawyers who can provide timely and cost-effective work, and also can help enhance those communities with their talents.”

Bender graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law. He has served on the Board of Governors since 2011. He is a past president of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association and Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Foundation. His practice focuses on civil litigation and alternative dispute resolution.

John Gunn, with the Gunn Law Firm PC in St. Louis, will serve as president-elect. He earned his law degree from Saint Louis University School of Law and has served on the Board of Governors since 2012. His practice focuses on estate planning, probate administration and litigation, trust administration and litigation, commercial litigation and real estate.

The new vice president of The Missouri Bar is John Grimm with the Limbaugh Law Firm in Cape Girardeau. He earned his law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and has served on the Board of Governors since 2010. He has an active trial practice in the areas of personal injury and wrongful death, insurance coverage and defense, business, real estate and employment litigation. Grimm is also an experienced mediator and former circuit judge.

Newly-elected representatives from the three districts of the Missouri Court of Appeals are: Mandy Ketchum, Megan Phillips and Scott Robbins. They, along with the officers and the immediate past president, compose The Missouri Bar’s Executive Committee for the coming year.