2015 V&S award winners announced

Updated: Our earlier announcement of our top Verdicts & Settlements winners of 2014 omitted the names of Roger Denton, Kristine Kraft and Ashley Brittain-Landers of Schlichter Bogard & Denton, who earned a spot among the top settlements of the year. They replace two members of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in St. Louis, Jane B. Shaw and Suzanne J. Moore, whose settlement, while in a Missouri court, was primarily handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis.

The 2015 Missouri Lawyers Awards on Jan. 30 will honor attorneys for their accomplishments in 2014. Missouri Lawyers Weekly already has announced the qualitative winners, including Lawyer of the Year, Tony Rothert of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri.

Today, we announce the quantitative winners. These are the Missouri lawyers who received the largest or most trial victories in Missouri courts that were included in Missouri Lawyers Weekly’s Verdicts and Settlements database. We are also honoring the largest settlements in the state.

The official ranking will be announced during the Jan. 30 awards event at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark and published in our annual Top V&S edition of Missouri Lawyers Weekly, on Feb. 2.

Here is the list of those who will be honored at the event:

Plaintiff’s attorney with the most reported verdicts/judgments:

• Daniel A. Thomas, Humphrey, Farrington & McClain, Independence

Plaintiff’s firm with the most reported verdicts/judgments:

• Brown & Crouppen, St. Louis

Attorneys securing the largest reported plaintiff verdicts/judgments:

• Jeremy D. Hollingshead and John M. Eccher of Hollingshead Eccher (St. Louis); Ryan M. Paulus of Paulus Law Firm (Kansas City)
• Jan Paul Miller and Matthew Guletz of Thompson Coburn (St. Louis); Kevin Sullivan of Sauter Sullivan (St. Louis)
• Matthew P. O’Grady of O’Grady Law Firm (St. Louis)
• Nelson G. Wolff and Jacob C. Murov of Schlichter, Bogard & Denton (St. Louis)
• Rob Sullivan and Tim Morgan of Sullivan Law (Kansas City); Erik Bergmanis of Bergmanis Law Firm (Camdenton)

Defense attorney with the most reported verdicts/judgments:

• Bradley R. Hansmann, Brown & James, St. Louis

Defense firm with the most reported verdicts/judgments:

• Brown & James, St. Louis

Attorneys securing the largest reported defense verdicts/judgments in the state:

• Karrie Clinkinbeard and Lynn Hursh of Armstrong Teasdale (Kansas City)
• Bradley R. Hansmann and Kevin M. Glynn of Brown & James (St. Louis)
• Kenneth W. Bean and Bobbie J. Moon of Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard (St. Louis); Kenneth Brostron of Lashly Baer (St. Louis); Jason L. Call of Call Gentry Law Group (Jefferson City);
• James Bennett, Gabriel Gore, Jennifer Aspinall and Megan Heinsz of Dowd Bennett (St. Louis);
• Stephen Moore and Jay Morris of Galloway, Johnson, Tompkins, Burr & Smith (St. Louis)

Attorneys securing the largest reported settlements in the state:

• Louis C. Accurso, Burton S. Haigh and Cory L. Atkins of The Accurso Law Firm (Kansas City)
• John Hoffman and Douglas Sprong of Korein Tillery (St. Louis); John Mulligan Jr. (Clayton); Howard Paperner of Howard Paperner PC (St. Louis)
• Roger Denton, Kristine Kraft and Ashley Brittain-Landers of Schlichter Bogard & Denton (St. Louis)
• Dan Welsh, Jill Rembusch and Stephen Hiotis of Summers Compton & Wells (St. Louis); James Meadows, John Holstein and Jennifer Growcock of Polsinelli (Springfield)
• Erich Vieth and John Campbell of Campbell Law (St. Louis)