The POWER List: Appellate Law 2025

For many cases, the real battle begins after the judge or jury renders a verdict.

Winning a case on appeal means hour upon hour of research waiting to be instantly and confidently recalled during a few short minutes of oral arguments. It means poring over stacks of precedents, some decades or centuries old, some that haven’t even been published officially. It means finding just the right case to support your position — and explaining why the case that undermines your argument doesn’t apply. And sometimes it means persuading a court that the law must be changed.

In this latest edition of THE POWER LIST, a regular feature from Missouri Lawyers Media, we examine the most powerful attorneys in appellate law. These are practitioners who have defended or opposed notable jury verdicts and helped to set important precedents that shape the law.

Our editorial team reviewed published appellate opinions, interviewed attorneys and other leaders around the state and examined the archives of Missouri Lawyers Weekly to compose a list of what we believe are the most powerful appellate attorneys in Missouri.

Readers, of course, may well disagree with our list. Are there attorneys who should have been included? Are there some you think shouldn’t have? Let us know what we got right and wrong, or who we might have missed. And watch for further additions to THE POWER LIST later this year.

Reach Editor Jordan Yount at [email protected].

All POWER Lists | Digital Edition (in Feb. 2025 edition; subscription required)