Missouri Bar Foundation selects Gotschall, Tucker as 2019 Purcell Professionalism Award recipients

Each year, The Missouri Bar Foundation presents Purcell Professionalism Awards to select Missouri lawyers who have consistently demonstrated an exceptional degree of competency, integrity and civility in both professional and civic activities.The award was established in honor of Martin J. Purcell, 1968-69 president of The Missouri Bar.This year, the foundation selected Laurence R. Tucker and Charles W. Gotschall for the award.

Kansas City lawyer Charles W. Gotschall, who practices at the Law Office of Charles W. Gotschall, has a long history of teaching and applying ethics in the profession. He has been a special representative of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel for the State of Missouri since 1989. There, his responsibilities include investigation of complaints against attorneys alleging violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct, drafting of informations and conducting hearings before the regional disciplinary committees and disciplinary hearing panels.

“I have always enjoyed helping people work through their legal problems and resulting life issues,” says Gotschall. “Contrary to what some may believe or what you may read on social media, lawyers are real people with real life struggles. I've tried do my part to protect the public and to maintain the integrity of this fine profession while at the same time understanding the difficulty of the practice of law.”

Laurence R. Tucker of Liberty serves as senior counsel at Armstrong Teasdale, where is lead trial counsel in large, complex business matters. Increasingly, he works with clients in controversies arising out of claims of the infringement of intellectual property rights, violations of noncompete and nondisclosure agreements and the alleged wrongful termination of employment. Tucker acts as general counsel to an organ procurement organization serving western Missouri and the state of Kansas. He is a past president of The Missouri Bar and was appointed by the Supreme Court of Missouri to serve on the Joint Commission on Women in the Profession.

According to his nominator, “In a time when kindness, civility and professionalism have all but disappeared in public discord, Mr. Tucker shines as a great example that possession of these attributes is not a negative but can be a key factor to success in our profession.”

Gotschall and Tucker will accept their Purcell Professionalism Awards during The Missouri Bar Foundation & Public Service Awards Luncheon this month at the Annual Meeting of The Missouri Bar in Branson.