21
August
2020
|
11:33 AM
America/Chicago

MoveMakers & NewsMakers for Aug. 21, 2020

Summary

See who is making news and moving where in the weekly Missouri Bar update "MoveMakers & NewsMakers."

St. Louis | Kansas City

St. Louis

Kirkland Woods & Martinsen LLP is pleased to announce the hiring of Joshua S. Rose. He is an experienced lawyer who assists clients with fiduciary litigation, estate planning, and estate and trust administration. He is a 2018 graduate of Saint Louis University School of Law and a 2015 graduate of Milliken University. Rose is a regular volunteer at Ministries Unlimited Food Pantry, and proudly mentors future lawyers as a judge at the annual Illinois Undergraduate Moot Court Competition. He is licensed to practice law in both Missouri and Illinois.

"We are thrilled to add Josh to our team in St. Louis,” said John Challis, a partner with Kirkland Woods & Martinsen LLP in St. Louis. “Ever since we established the Kirkland Woods & Martinsen office in St. Louis eighteen months ago, we have been looking to add the right person to better serve our clients and this market. Josh is the perfect addition.”

“I am very much looking forward to practicing at Kirkland Woods & Martinsen,” said Josh Rose. “KWM is an incredibly well-respected firm and will provide me with the perfect platform to grow my practice and assist clients.”


Lewis Rice announced that Thomas C. (Tom) Erb is stepping down from his role as chairman of the firm. Erb is succeeded by Richard B. (Rick) Walsh Jr., who has chaired the firm’s litigation department since 2012. Erb will remain an active member practicing in the corporate department. This succession plan was put into place 12 months ago when Lewis Rice announced Walsh would serve as the firm’s vice chairman until Erb stepped down this month as planned.

“Rick is a natural leader, an outstanding attorney, and a longtime friend and colleague,” said Erb. “Rick’s dedication to Lewis Rice is abundantly clear to anyone who knows him. He has spent his entire career at the firm, and has served in many leadership positions over the years. He leads with decisive action, creativity and compassion. He will make a terrific chairman."

Erb served as chairman of the firm from May 2012 until August 2020. In addition to guiding Lewis Rice through a period of sustained growth, He formalized the firm’s long-standing commitment to diversity, inclusion and equality in the legal community by launching Lewis Rice’s first Diversity & Inclusion Committee and the Lewis Rice Women to Women (LRW2W) Forum. Both initiatives play an important role in supporting the growth and mentorship of the firm’s minority and women lawyers and bolstering diversity and inclusion initiatives in the broader community.

Erb spent his entire legal career of more than 40 years at Lewis Rice, and he maintained his corporate and M&A practice while managing the firm. He counsels Fortune 500 companies as well as closely held businesses, with a particular emphasis on commercial banks and financial firms.

“Lewis Rice has really thrived under Tom’s leadership – reporting consistent practice expansion, revenue growth and record profitability year after year,” said Walsh. “In these past pandemic months, Tom has been at his best. He quickly mobilized the firm to lead our transformation to remote practice, setting up core group communication to react to real-time issues. We are fortunate he will continue to work on the firm’s finances."

Walsh practices primarily in the area of complex commercial litigation, including intellectual property, antitrust and securities litigation. He counsels transactional clients concerning associated risks in commercial transactions. Walsh's background includes litigating antitrust claims in the health care, bicycle components, agricultural products, professional sports and fitness equipment industries. He litigates intellectual property matters in many areas, including computer systems, mechanical apparatuses and systems, and chemical, electrical and medical products and processes.

“I am proud to serve as the next chairman of Lewis Rice, and honored to continue to build upon the success we’ve enjoyed as a result of Tom’s leadership,” said Walsh. “Lewis Rice has always been committed to providing sophisticated counsel and custom-tailored legal solutions for the challenges facing our clients. That commitment to service has never been more important as we help our clients navigate the business interruptions resulting from this pandemic. I look forward to working with our firm leadership and our exceptional attorneys and legal professionals to continue building upon our legacy of service and community stewardship.”
 

Kansas City

It’s been nearly 30 years since the Nancy Cruzan case changed how many of us thought about death and dying. Cruzan was the 25-year-old who was deprived of oxygen for more than 12 minutes after a car accident, and ultimately was left in a persistent vegetative state. Then Shook, Hardy & Bacon lawyer Bill Colby argued her ”right-to-die” case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. In the years after the case he went on to write two award-winning books and speak across the country on end-of-life choices.

As a bookend on the other side of his career, Bill Colby has spent the last eleven years as general counsel and board secretary at Truman Medical Centers/University Health. Passionate about TMC/UH’s mission of providing excellent care without exception, Colby has led an accomplished legal team that supports the health system.

TMC/UH Chief Executive Officer Charlie Shields said, “Being our attorney was only part of Bill’s job. He also provided wise counsel to our executive team on all kinds of matters beyond the law – just a very smart guy with an extremely analytical mind and a laser focus on right and wrong.”

That work draws to a close on Sept. 4, when Colby retires.

He leaves behind a string of awards, including Missouri Lawyers Weekly Corporate Counsel of the Year, American Medical Writers Association Book of the Year, Kansas City Civil Libertarian of the Year and LAKC Charles Evans Whittaker Award. He also has a legacy of sharing his expertise on committees and panels, from speaking at the national ABA Annual Meeting to serving on local boards like the Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired.

Shields added, “Bill has been an important part of TMC/UH’s success over the last 11 years. We will miss his sharp legal mind, his leadership skills, and a sense of humor we could count on to lighten the atmosphere just when we needed it.”

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