Missouri Lawyers Awards 2026: Civil Rights Insurance Recovery Team

Michael Abrams, William G. Beck, Alexander T. Brown, Alana McMullin
Lathrop GPM
Kansas City

Lathrop GPM’s Civil Rights Insurance Recovery team achieved unprecedented results in 2025, securing nearly $59 million across five major wrongful conviction settlements within a 60-day period. Founded by Partner Alexander Brown as the only practice of its kind in the nation, the team combines innovative insurance recovery strategies with comprehensive civil rights advocacy to obtain justice for individuals who spent decades wrongfully imprisoned.

In June 2025, the team secured $14.75 million for a man who was imprisoned for nearly three decades on charges of a double homicide he did not commit. The settlement came after he spent 29 years behind bars following a wrongful conviction in Chicago. That same spring, the team obtained $10.53 million for a Georgia man who was wrongfully convicted in multiple violent sexual assault cases, sentenced to life in prison and spent 40 years incarcerated.

The team’s success continued with a $14 million settlement for a man who spent nearly two dozen years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a 1996 double homicide in Kansas City, representing a record settlement for wrongful conviction claims in the city. Additionally, the team secured $11.5 million for a man who spent nearly 18 years in prison after being wrongly convicted in a 1997 murder in Alaska, and $8.2 million for an Illinois man who was exonerated in 2016 after spending nearly two decades in prison for a 1998 murder.

Partners Bill Beck, Michael Abrams and Alana McMullin work alongside Brown to prosecute Section 1983 civil rights claims for exonerees and litigate against insurers to secure critical proceeds that fund substantial settlements. The team’s innovative legal strategy holds insurance carriers accountable for civil rights violations, working closely with civil rights attorneys across the country. Since the team’s inception, their combined efforts have successfully recovered over $300 million in total civil rights damages for wrongfully convicted individuals and their families.