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Michael Ketchmark
Michael Ketchmark
Staff Report//June 15, 2026//
Managing Partner, Ketchmark & McCreight
Kansas City
Michael Ketchmark spent his early career as an employment defense attorney before founding his own Kansas City firm in 1995 to represent plaintiffs in personal injury and business litigation. After two lean years, he won a $2.1 million verdict in Platte County for a man with a work-related brain injury — one of three verdicts that year to rank in Missouri Lawyers Weekly’s top 10. He has not lost a trial since.
In 2002, working with co-counsel Grant Davis, Ketchmark secured a $2.2 billion verdict against a pharmacist who diluted patients’ chemotherapy drugs. He later won a $74.1 million wrongful death verdict against Ford Motor Company and, in 2023, a $1.78 billion verdict against the National Association of Realtors in a landmark antitrust case that reshaped how real estate commissions are structured nationwide.
“Name a single industry where you have to pay the other side,” he said of the case. Beyond the courtroom, Ketchmark speaks at continuing legal education events and mentors young lawyers.
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