MoveMakers & NewsMakers January 25, 2018

Jan. 25, 2018 - See who is making news and moving where in the weekly Missouri Bar update "MoveMakers & NewsMakers."

Kansas City Area

Horn Aylward & Bandy, LLC is pleased to announce that Richard Acosta and Andrea (Ande) McMurtry have been elected partners of the firm.

Acosta is a graduate of the Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles. He practices in the insurance defense area of the firm, focusing on defending professional negligence claims against doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, and correctional health care providers.

McMurtry is a graduate of the University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Law. She is a member of the firm’s construction practice group, focusing on representing owners, contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers, and others with dispute avoidance or resolution. McMurtry is also an adjunct professor of law at UMKC.

Robert S. Baran has been named senior counsel for Mann Conroy LLC, to head up the firm’s commercial bankruptcy and secured transactions practice and to deepen the firm’s general corporate practice. He joined the firm in October 2016, and he has over 17 years of experience in contracts, business law, real estate, secured transactions, debtor-creditor law, and bankruptcy.

Before joining the firm, Baran served as long-term clerk to Judge Jerry W. Venters, bankruptcy judge for the U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri. He received his J.D. and M.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, and his undergraduate degree from Pomona College.

Baran is a member of The Missouri Bar, the Kansas Bar Association, and the State Bar of Arizona, and he is a certified arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). He was a Helzberg Leadership Fellow in 2010.

St. Louis Area

Lucas L. Null has joined Behr, McCarter & Potter PC as an associate. His area of practice will be civil litigation, with an emphasis on municipal and medical negligence defense. He is a member of The Missouri Bar, the Illinois State Bar Association, and the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis.

Null is a 2014 graduate of St. Louis University School of Law. During law school, he was selected for the St. Louis University Law Journal, was a Law School Dean’s Scholar, and competed in the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Moot Court Competition. Null is a 2007 graduate of the University of Missouri – Columbia and played varsity football for Mizzou from 2004 to 2008.

Null and his wife Jessica live in Arnold with their three sons.

HeplerBroom is pleased to announce that Elizabeth Kellett has been elected a partner in the firm. She is based in the firm's Edwardsville office.

Kellett is a litigation lawyer with a primary emphasis in the defense of complex, multi-party civil cases and class actions, including all aspects of consumer fraud, personal injury, and product liability (particularly pharmaceuticals and medical devices). Prior to joining HeplerBroom, Kellett practiced law in Washington, D.C. She is licensed to practice in Illinois and Missouri as well as the United States District Courts for the Eastern District of Missouri and the Northern and Southern Districts of Illinois. Kellett received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 2006.

Capes Sokol is proud to announce the formation of the digital currency and blockchain technology practice group. This new group will advise clients across all industries related to transactions involving virtual currency and related technologies.

“Over the years, Capes Sokol has strategically grown by always looking for new and innovative ways to assist our clients,” said Jeffrey A. Cohen, managing shareholder of the firm. “We continuously strive to enhance our value by counseling existing and future clients with respect to cutting-edge legal issues that directly affect them.”

Capes Sokol is the first firm to establish a digital currency focused practice group in the St. Louis area. The group will advise clients on such matters as smart contracts, initial coin offerings, compliance with regulatory requirements such as registration as a money services business, tax treatment of virtual currency transactions, and representation in federal and state criminal and other investigations.

“In order to continue to provide the innovative and collaborative legal services for which we have become known, we have strategically assembled a team that utilizes the skills and experiences from the firm’s other practice areas,” said Sanford J. Boxerman, chair of the practice group and one of the firm’s founders. “The establishment of a full-fledged multidisciplinary digital currency practice will allow Capes Sokol to provide the guidance necessary to deal with all kinds of legal issues related to this developing technology.”

The lawyers joining Sanford in the digital currency and blockchain technology practice group are Michelle F. Schwerin, Michael A. Kahn, Andrew W. Blackwell, and Douglas S. Dove. They are members from the firm's following groups: white collar criminal defense & internal investigations; intellectual property; tax controversy and litigation; and business & finance.

Sanford has been recognized as one of the leading digital currency lawyers in the St. Louis area. He is a frequent presenter and speaker at educational seminars for lawyers and others, discussing a wide variety of legal areas including cryptocurrency. In early 2017, Sanford and Schwerin joined more than fifty other lawyers from around the country to form the Digital Currency and Ledger Defense Coalition (DCLDC).

Armstrong Teasdale proudly announces Mark L. Stoneman as the new leader of the firm’s corporate services group.

In his role, Stoneman will be responsible for the practice group, in coordination with the firm’s managing partner, to help strengthen planning, execution and operational practices. The group includes 50 lawyers with wide-ranging experience including mergers and acquisitions, health care, technology, environmental law, international law, securities, tax, employee benefits and trusts and estates.

Active in firm management, Stoneman is a member of the firm's executive committee and pension committee, and he is chair of the nominating committee.

“Mark is respected by his colleagues and clients and we’re excited by his eagerness to take on this new responsibility,” said John Beulick, managing partner at Armstrong Teasdale. “As demonstrated in the number of other positions he holds in firm management, he is a strong leader. We look forward to his focus on continued growth of the corporate services area.”

Stoneman’s practice focuses on facilitating the structuring, financing and completion of acquisitions, mergers, divestitures, joint ventures and partnerships. His background in accounting and finance helps him to ensure that the agreements related to these transactions are consistent with his client’s goals and expectations with respect to financial and valuation matters. Stoneman regularly works with large, national and international, privately-held businesses – often in the industrial, pharmaceutical or biotechnology industries – and advises on everything from front-end strategic planning to managing the deal process through execution and closing. His acquisition experience extends to transactions where real estate is a primary asset. In addition, he serves large, privately held companies and smaller startups as outsourced general counsel.

Stoneman is admitted to practice law in Missouri and Illinois. He earned his master’s in accounting from the University of Missouri – St. Louis and his J.D. from the University of Missouri – Columbia School of Law. Stoneman also holds a B.S., cum laude, from the University of Missouri. He is based in the firm’s St. Louis office.

Armstrong Teasdale proudly announces partner Hillary Bean has been selected for the St. Louis Business Journal 2018 Class of ’40 Under 40.’ Inclusion in the Class of ’40 Under 40’ is significant recognition for professionals who are considered top business leaders and who have advanced their organizations while making a difference in the community.

“Hillary is a fantastic real estate lawyer and also is dedicated to advancing women in the legal profession, both at the firm and in the community,” said John Beulick, managing partner at Armstrong Teasdale. “We’re proud to see her recognized among other successful leaders in the local business community and look forward to her continued success.”

Bean is the director of the Women’s Inclusion Network at the firm, which creates a positive and supportive environment for women lawyers through mentoring, networking and educational opportunities.

In her legal practice she handles leasing, financing, sales and other transactions. She has experience in transactions involving environmental risk and has negotiated and drafted contracts, escrows and related insurance documents. Bean is currently a key member of a team handling leasing and construction financing for a new $700 million development, the largest in St. Louis, for a Fortune 100 multinational corporation.

Bean coordinates leasing objectives with overall design and development for the building or project. This includes the negotiation of work letters, management agreements, development agreements and loan documentation. She is skilled in all areas of land use, development, construction, finance and leasing issues relating to build-to-suit and design-build projects and counsels developers and owners in the acquisition and disposition of commercial properties.

Bean will be recognized at an awards dinner on Thursday, Feb. 22.

Kevin P. Green has been promoted to partner with Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli, P.C., an experienced personal injury and business and commercial litigation firms in the St. Louis-Southern Illinois region. He joined the firm in 2010 as an associate and will continue in the business and commercial law group, where he represents clients in the areas of commercial and class action litigation.

“Kevin’s experience in contractual disputes, employment and labor law, real estate disputes, insurance disputes, unfair trade practices, and state and federal consumer protection laws is an integral part of our rapidly growing business and commercial law group, which includes the full-range of business transactions and litigation, business law, class action litigation, employment law, real estate law, banking law and taxation,” said Mark Goldenberg, founder and managing partner of Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli, P.C.

Green is admitted to practice law in Missouri and Illinois. He earned his J.D. cum laude in 2009 from Washington University School of Law and his B.A. summa cum laude in 2006 from Loyola University. He is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Madison County Bar Association and Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis.

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