MoveMakers & NewsMakers for Feb. 8, 2022

St. Louis | Kansas City | Springfield | Other States
 

St. Louis

Tom Kammerer joins Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice LLC as an associate in the firm’s St. Louis office. His practice covers a variety of civil litigation, including first-party and third-party insurance defense, premises liability, property damage, personal injury, transportation, and subrogation matters. He has represented clients in state and federal courts throughout Missouri.

Kammerer earned his J.D. from the University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Law and his undergraduate degree from Truman State University.

Greensfelder is pleased to announce that Lauren Daming, Kelsey McGonigle, and Chantal Fink Mehill have been promoted to officers, effective Feb. 1, 2022.  This marks the second time in two years that Greensfelder has promoted an all-female class of lawyers to officers, fitting with the firm’s core value of promoting equity and removing barriers to success.

“We are very pleased to welcome Lauren, Kelsey and Chantal as new officers,” Greensfelder President and CEO Kevin T. McLaughlin said. “Each of our new officers has made key contributions to the business success of our clients and established herself as a valuable colleague. Their success also helps us take another step forward in the firm’s ongoing commitment to the promotion of women and diverse lawyers into leadership roles.”

A member of the firm’s employment and labor practice group, Daming received her J.D. from Washington University School of Law. She represents clients facing issues related to discrimination, leave and accommodations, wage and hour issues, employee benefits, and traditional labor issues. She also counsels employers on privacy issues and is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) and a Certified E-Discovery Specialist (CEDS). Daming serves as the firm’s assistant general counsel for employment matters.

A member of the firm’s business services practice group, McGonigle received her J.D. from William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia. Her practice encompasses all aspects of mergers and acquisitions, drawing on her diverse experience in transactions ranging from asset purchases to equity transactions and debt financing. In addition to her M&A practice, she regularly advises closely held businesses on business succession planning and other general business matters including corporate governance and entity formation and dissolution. McGonigle also assists in non-profit formations and mergers.

A member of the firm’s construction practice group, Mehill received her J.D. from the University of Missouri. She handles a wide range of construction matters, including contract negotiations, early dispute resolution, arbitration, and litigation and has represented owners, general contractors, subcontractors, and designers on a regional and national level. Mehill has experience in all phases of litigation and frequently performs pre-project risk review for client construction contracts. She also has represented businesses in contractual, lending, employment, and real estate matters.

Kansas City

McDowell Rice Smith & Buchanan PC is excited to announce the election of its officers and directors. Kristie Remster Orme will continue to serve as president, a role she has held since 2017. Thomas R. Buchanan will continue to serve as general counsel, and Robert D. Maher will continue to serve as secretary.

R. Pete Smith will continue to serve as chair of the executive board with Susan Saper Galamba and Greg T. Spies also continuing to serve on the board. In addition, Scott A. Long and Jason L. Buchanan were newly elected to serve on the board.

Springfield

Baty Otto Coronado Scheer PC (formerly Baty Otto Coronado PC) has expanded its legal practice in Springfield, adding two seasoned trial attorneys and members of their staff whose work aligns with the firm’s core practices in construction, transportation, products liability, professional liability, and insurance litigation.

The two lawyers joining the firm as shareholders and partners are Randy P. Scheer and S. Jacob Sappington. Scheer and Sappington are accomplished trial attorneys with a combined experience of more than 50 years of litigating significant damages, injury, and death claims on behalf of clients across various industries. Both attorneys were formerly with Sanders Warren Russell & Scheer LLP.

Scheer and Sappington will join two lawyers already based in Springfield, partners Stephen H. Snead and Andrew J. Donelan.

“We are pleased to welcome these talented partners to our firm,” said Lee Baty. “The depth of their litigation and trial experience strengthens and expands our capability to defend clients not only in southwestern Missouri but throughout the Midwest. Randy and Jacob are outstanding additions to our team.”

Scheer has more than 30 years of litigation and trial experience—including numerous jury trials, bench trials, and appeals—handling significant claims arising from alleged construction defects, products liability, toxic torts, environmental claims, trucking/transportation liability, and medical and other professional liability. His clients have included manufacturers of commercial and consumer products, railroad and trucking companies, physicians, hospitals, lawyers, engineers, and major insurers, including excess carriers. He is a member of the invitation-only American Board of Trial Advocates. 

Sappington has successfully represented business and insurance clients for more than 20 years in numerous trials, arbitrations, and administrative hearings. He has extensive litigation and trial experience, as well as appellate experience, including prosecuting and defending appeals. 

Other States

The Des Moines, Iowa firm of McKee, Voorhees & Sease, PLC (MVS) is excited to announce that Kevin M. Kercher, a highly experienced and successful patent attorney, has joined the firm.  He is a registered patent attorney and will be bringing his significant engineering and intellectual property experience to serve clients in a number of industry and university sectors. 

Kercher's vast experience includes preparation and prosecution of a range of patent applications comprised of complex computer software and hardware, electronic, electromechanical, mechanical, and chemical arts applications. In addition, he has extensive expertise in copyright, trademark, and trade secret law, and he has prepared and negotiated a wide variety of technology agreements, including licensing and joint development agreements and government contracts. 

"Kevin has worked for both Caterpillar and Milliken & Company as well as several leading law firms and brings over 40 years of industry and patent experience to MVS," said Luke T. Mohrhauser, partner and chair of the mechanical-electrical practice group. “His work with AUTM will help to strengthen our deep ties with this important organization and bolster our already deep patent attorney bench.” 

Kercher has been involved with the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) for several years, and he serves as chair of the Membership Development Committee. He has been awarded the AUTM National Service Award with Distinction in 2017 and 2022. 

Interestingly, Kercher represented a client who was celebrated for inventing a self-tuning piano on NPR and two clients who won the St. Louis Bar Association Inventor of the Year award for a noninvasive glucose detector, where he also developed a global patent portfolio, and for utilizing blockchain to manage resources in a commercial building. 

Kercher received his J.D. from the University of Missouri. He earned a B.S. in industrial engineering, cum laude with special honors, from the University of Missouri and his electrical engineering degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He also completed additional studies in chemistry from the University of South Carolina. 

McKee, Voorhees & Sease, PLC is Iowa’s oldest and largest boutique intellectual property law firm.