The POWER List: Booker T. Shaw

Thompson Coburn, St. Louis 

Before becoming one of the top appellate attorneys in the state, Booker Shaw saw the legal profession from every angle. 

Shaw began his career with the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, then served at the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office. He was named to the St. Louis Circuit Court in 1983 and to the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District in 2002. He served on the appeals court until 2009 and was chief judge from 2006 to 2007.  

Now a partner at Thompson Coburn, Shaw’s cases involve issues ranging from a tax refund for a credit card company to the effect that a juror’s nondisclosure had on a $19 million wrongful death verdict.  

Shaw is active both within his firm and in the wider legal community. He serves as co-chair of Thompson Coburn’s diversity committee. He also served a task force that helped reform the state’s municipal courts in 2016 and chaired a group of retired judges named to review the death penalty imposed on inmate Marcellus Williams. 

Shaw earned his law degree in 1976 from Catholic University of America. Missouri Lawyers Media previously has named him an Up & Coming Mentor in 2015 and a Diversity & Inclusion awardee in 2021.