Fields takes helm of Bryan Cave’s KC office

Wesley Fields first came to the Kansas City office of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner during law school. Two decades later, as he takes over leadership of the office, his career serves as a billboard for what he wants to accomplish.

Fields became managing partner of the firm’s Kansas City office on Jan. 1. In an interview, he said his goals include doing more to engage with associates in the office and to increase the office’s diversity, both in recruitment and in the retention and promotion of its lawyers.

As a partner who came up through the ranks and who is the only African American lawyer in the Kansas City office, Fields knows personally how important those goals are.

“When a summer intern or a recruit comes, they can see what I didn’t see in 1996, which was having a diverse lawyer in a leadership position as partner and a leadership position within the office,” he said.

That dovetails with the firm’s goals as a whole. Bryan Cave is part of a nationwide effort by law firms to follow the co-called “Mansfield Rule” — a commitment to ensure that women and attorneys of color made up at least 30 percent of the candidate pool for leadership roles.

A Kansas City native, Fields earned his undergraduate degree from Yale before earning his law degree at the University of Virginia in 1998. Upon returning home, he joined Bryan Cave, where he also had served as a summer associate.

“It’s somewhat remarkable to think that I’ve been in one firm and one office for my entire career,” he said.

Fields comes from a family of lawyers, including his father, Taylor Fields of Fields & Brown in Kansas City, as well as two sisters. Fields’ own work is as a transactional lawyer; among other things he serves as general counsel to Kansas City’s Tax Increment Financing Commission, which uses public incentives for development projects.

Fields said he would maintain his practice while serving as managing partner. He said he is just the sixth partner to lead the office since it opened 30 years ago. Fields succeeds W. Perry Brandt, who had managed the office since 2014.

Fields’ other goals are more outward-facing. For one thing, he said, he wants to help its partners make full use of the global platform that exists following last year’s merger with London-based Berwin Leighton Paisner.

For another, he wants to increase the firm’s presence in the Kansas City market, particularly its corporate and financial services practices.

“Those have been the hallmarks of our office since I’ve been here, and I want to make sure we continue to market that and to grow that aspect of Kansas City’s practice,” he said.