Welcome to the only area of the law named after an article of clothing.

There’s a reason that white-collar defense work relies on a symbol to capture its essence. It’s a practice that runs the gamut, from defending alleged ne’er-do-wells in highly publicized financial and political crimes to negotiating resolutions that, by design, will never see the light of day. It sits at the crossroads of criminal and civil law, where allegations of complicated harms could bring not just monetary consequences but also jail time.

In this latest edition of THE POWER LIST, a new regular feature from Missouri Lawyers Media, we examine the most powerful attorneys in white-collar defense law. These are practitioners who defend their clients from adverse government actions of all sorts, whether it is in a court of criminal law or from an enforcement arm of a state or federal administrative agency.

Our editorial team interviewed attorneys and other leaders around the state, reviewed records of verdicts and settlements, and consulted Missouri Lawyers Weekly’s archives to arrive at a list of what we believe are the 30 most powerful white-collar attorneys in Missouri.

As we always note in our POWER series: This is a subjective endeavor. Our readers may well disagree with some who are included or take issues with those we’ve excluded. We urge you to let us know what you believe we got right, and where we went wrong. Tell us who else we should have considered. And keep an eye out for new versions of THE POWER LIST throughout 2021.

POWER 30 was written by Senior Reporter Scott Lauck and Staff Reporter Jessica Shumaker. Reach them at [email protected] and [email protected], or Editor Cindi Lash at [email protected]

The POWER List for white-collar defense