Exceptional work honored

There are about 28,000 practicing attorneys in the state of Missouri. So imagine our task of distilling the immense body of exceptional work by these professionals from Hannibal to Joplin.

It’s a bit daunting.

For a profession that exists to interpret, adjudicate, defend or prosecute an ever-changing set of laws across a span of jurisdictions, the best at it possess bright minds, compassion, due diligence and dedication.

These are the people we honor this year with our Missouri Lawyer Awards.

Regardless of the side you sit on in the courtroom, or the client you represent, you will agree a great attorney exemplifies the best qualities of the profession: effective and dogged representation, civic duty, mentoring and generosity.

Richard Scherrer takes top billing in our prestigious list of honorees you find in this special publication. He, without question, exemplifies the ideal lawyer.

As Catherine Martin reports in Scherrer’s profile, he is co-founder of the Missouri Coalition for the Right to Counsel. The group partners private lawyers with the public defender’s office to help ease the caseload on the state office. Instead of retiring, Scherrer left Armstrong Teasdale after 43 years, to take a full-time, unpaid post to oversee the program. Already, more than 150 attorneys have been trained to assist.

And while Scherrer leads our list of honors, he is certainly not alone. In these pages, you will find tribute to attorneys whose tireless work has had a direct, positive impact. They are your partners, your adversaries, your mentors, your friends.

Nominations for these awards were submitted from across the state and from a wealth of resources. The nominations alone are a testament to the great work practiced day in and day out by so many dedicated men and women. But in selecting the honorees, we looked at not only expertise in the profession, but commitment to community. They are leaders, not followers. They understand, and demonstrate, that service to their communities isn’t a byproduct of success; in fact success is a byproduct of service.

On behalf of everyone at Missouri Lawyers Media, I extend my sincerest congratulations to the 2018 Missouri Lawyers Awards honorees. We are proud to be offer these recognitions and grateful to those honored this year.