MoveMakers & NewsMakers for May 24, 2022

St. Louis | Kansas City 
 

Five new members were appointed to The Missouri Bar Foundation Board of Trustees: Apollo Carey (St. Louis), Judge Lisa White Hardwick (Kansas City), Judge Daniel Scott (Joplin), Craig Smith (Springfield), and Ray Williams (West Plains).   More 

The Missouri Board of Law Examiners has welcomed new members both to its board and its staff. Joining the board is John C. Drake (St. Louis), and leading the board’s staff is its new executive director, James Klahr (Jefferson City). Also joining the board’s staff is Pamela McQuary, new assistant director of testing.  More 
 

St. Louis

Kirkland Woods & Martinsen LLP announces that Robert J. Selsor has joined its St. Louis office as a partner. Selsor, who previously chaired the estate litigation practice group of a national law firm, brings more than three decades of experience and will continue his practice in fiduciary litigation as well as alternative dispute resolution.  

“We are absolutely thrilled to add Bob to our team,” said John Challis, managing partner of the firm. “I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with Bob for a long time, and we firmly believe that Bob joining KWM will be a huge benefit to our firm and our clients. He is an incredible attorney and an even better person.”  

“I have known and respected the attorneys of Kirkland Woods & Martinsen for a long time, and I am very excited to join them,” said Bob Selsor. “ The smaller size and defined focus of KWM will provide some cost savings to my clients, but more importantly will allow us to leverage the largest group of fiduciary litigators in the State of Missouri and one of the deepest bench of trust and estates expertise in the region.”  

Selsor is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). He is a frequent author and speaker, and he is also heavily involved with The Missouri Bar, where he has drafted several estate-related statutes and previously served as chair of the Fiduciary Litigation Committee.  

Selsor earned his undergraduate degree in economics and his Juris Doctor from the University of Missouri, where he was also selected as a Fulbright Scholar. 

Ronald Hack, of counsel with Evans & Dixon, has been selected to serve a one-year term as vice president of Ally Law, a global legal network with 75 independent member firms in 45 countries. Members elected the organization's leadership team during its annual business meeting on May 17.

Hack is an experienced toxic tort, environmental, and commercial litigator and small business advisor. His practice includes representing large and small companies defending against various toxic tort claims involving asbestos, benzene, mold, and welding rod fumes, as well as all types of environmental enforcement actions, product liability claims involving electrical equipment, recreational devices, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and oil and gas pipelines. He assists business clients in all types of commercial litigation.

Segal McCambridge welcomes Benjamin Wilson as a senior associate in its St. Louis Office. 

Wilson defends companies against personal injury and wrongful death claims involving toxic torts, premises liability, and products liability. Before joining the firm, he had several years of experience defending Fortune 500 companies in toxic tort and products liability matters, as well as assessing and developing response plans for cybersecurity incidents. His other legal interests include media law, defamation, intellectual property, and First Amendment rights. He has published award-winning articles on trademark and copyright law. 

Wilson's approach to litigation is informed by his experience interning and then clerking for three federal judges in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. He also brings a valuable business background to his legal practice. Before entering law school, he was the manager of public relations at a major software company in Illinois, where he worked with media outlets and business partners in the UK, Japan, Australia, and many other countries. 

“I’m very excited to be part of Segal McCambridge,” Wilson said. “The firm has decades of experience providing sophisticated legal counsel and strategy to clients across the country. It’s a powerhouse, and a great place to practice law.” 

Kansas City

Tamara Veit is the recipient of the Honorable Kelly Moorhouse Dedication to Children Award. This award, given by the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, acknowledges exceptional contributions and dedication for the representation of children and families in the Greater Kansas City metropolitan area. 

Veit has been practicing family law for over 15 years, but her devotion to helping people started much earlier. During her teenage years, she got involved in helping women and children through volunteer work. She assisted adult and child victims of domestic violence, worked suicide and abuse hotlines, and helped women in drug rehabilitation. By the time she started law school at UMKC, she knew she wanted to go into family law. During her last year in law school, she served as a law clerk to Commissioner Sherrill Rosen in the 16th Judicial Circuit Court. 

Veit has been with McElligott Ewan & Hall PC since 2005. She frequently serves as guardian ad litem and is a court-approved mediator for Jackson County. 

Veit is involved in numerous legal and community organizations. She is on the council for the Family Law Section of The Missouri Bar, the Family Law Conference Planning Committee, and the board of directors for the Child Abuse Prevention Association (CAPA). She also serves on the board of directors for the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association (KCMBA) and is vice-chair for the CLE Committee for KCMBA.  She also served as co-chair for the Domestic Violence and Children’s Interdisciplinary Conference for the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Foundation (KCMBF).