2023 Up & Coming Awards: Brent Dwerlkotte, 38

Partner, Shook Hardy & Bacon, Kansas City

Practice Areas: Environmental and toxic tort

Law School: University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law

Working with great colleagues and achieving great results make law a great career for Brent Dwerlkotte. A creative and innovative litigator with first-chair trial and appellate experience, he has been involved in nearly 30 jury trials. He has been significantly involved in a broad range of products and industries cases, including healthcare, consumer products, firearms, railroads and tobacco.

In 2020, Dwerlkotte was named as a partner in his firm. In 2022, he helped to defend one of the must-watch product liability cases, earning him the environmental attorneys under age 40 Law360 Rising Stars honor.

Dwerlkotte stays current on federal court practice and class actions by serving as the chair of the Western District of Missouri’s Federal Practice Committee. He is also a

member of the Jury Instruction Committee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and a principal author of the Missouri and Kansas Class Action Law blog.

“My uncle was a very good trial attorney,” Dwerlkotte says. “I used to — and still do — love listening to his war stories about trials and lawyers he has tried cases against. He inspired me to get involved in the legal profession.”

Dwerlkotte’s advice to young lawyers is to seek out and work with people who inspire you and genuinely care about seeing you succeed. The best career advice he has ever received is: The judge is always right.

What is something about you that would surprise people?

I coach all of my son’s sports teams.

What is one of your favorite moments as an attorney?

One of my favorite moments has been receiving the Hon. Matt J. Whitworth Trial Excellence Award from the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association.