2016 Excellence in Law Award Winners

RISING STAR

Tracy Ring, Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale

The firm’s youngest practice group leader, Ring directs more than 40 attorneys at Greensfelder’s St. Louis, Belleville, and Chicago offices. He’s responsible for merger and acquisition deals that often top $100 million, as well as real estate and commercial finance transactions. “Every deal is unique,” he says.

A 2002 graduate of the Washington University School of Law, Ring recently completed Leadership St. Louis, a leadership development program that helped hone his management philosophy. “Understand what motivates each person,” he says. “It’s important to be in the trenches with them rather than dictate from on high.”

In his spare time, Ring advises Kids In The Middle, a nonprofit that helps families cope with divorce. It’s a lot to juggle, and even Ring admits that his busy schedule can feel like a race at times. “When a deal closes, there is instant joy, relief, and a feeling of accomplishment that serves as a welcome and abrupt end to the stress, uncertainty, and chaos that builds prior to closing,” he says. “It is very much like running a marathon, and there is no more rewarding feeling than crossing the finish line.”

EDUCATOR

Susan McGraugh, Saint Louis University School of Law

Purpose, not profit, drives McGraugh. “Many people think lawyers are only in it for the money,” she says. “However, there’s a large number of lawyers who dedicate their careers to the pursuit of justice, often at salaries well below what other professionals make.” 

McGraugh spent eight years working in the state’s public defenders office and has served as a trial attorney representing at-risk, high-need clients. She created the Legal Services Clinic at St. Patrick Center, which works with homeless individuals and families, especially those with chemical dependencies and mental illnesses. 

She avoids any mention of her accomplishments, says her colleague Patrick Brayer of the State Public Defender’s Office, “but if pushed, with great humility, she would acknowledge her pride in being a strong advocate for the poor, the marginalized, and the mentally ill.” 

Today, she’s instilling that sense of purpose in a new generation of lawyers while teaching at the SLU School of Law and overseeing its Criminal Defense Clinic. She wants to make sure they graduate hungry for justice—not profit.

LEADERSHIP

William Bay, Thompson Coburn 

Though he’s now a partner at Thompson Coburn, Bay still draws from a lesson he learned three decades ago. “When I was a brand-new lawyer, I walked into a courtroom, and the judge and lawyer on the other side spent 20 minutes talking about vacations and their kids,” he recalls. “I was sure I was going to have no chance.” A few days later, however, the judge ruled in favor of Bay’s client.

“It taught me an important lesson: In a court of law, it does not matter who you know, how many years you have practiced, or anything else,” he says. “You have to be prepared, tell the client’s story truthfully and factually, and explain how the law applies to the facts. When you do that, you can count on the court to get to the right result.” 

Today, Bay represents major corporations in high-stakes litigation and advocates for other lawyers, striving to make the field more accepting of women and minorities. He serves on the executive committee of the American Bar Association Board of Governors and has accepted appointments to statewide commissions, including the Missouri Supreme Court’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Fairness. 

PRO BONO

Vanessa Keith, Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club 

For Keith, serving the greater good goes hand in hand with being an attorney. Some courts actually mandate a significant amount of pro bono work, she says, and even when they don’t, lawyers offer their time “simply because they want to give back to the community.” Lawyers are also board and committee members of many organizations, she adds, which takes “a significant amount of time.” 

Keith teaches pretrial practice and settlement at Washington University School of Law—for starters. While serving on the board of Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club, she helped expand programs to thousands of area children. Today, she’s general counsel for the organization. She spends her remaining hours mentoring, speaking at schools, and encouraging minority students to consider legal careers. She was the first African-American officer at Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale. She says, “Being first is a great responsibility. Others who come behind you watch how you conduct yourself and your quality of work.”

FIRM ON THE RISE

Dowd Bennett

Dowd Bennett is a small firm, but its résumé stacks up against those of much larger, older rivals. Practice areas cross the commercial, environmental, and healthcare sectors. “You can’t peg them down, except to say they exude excellence in everything they touch,” says Dan Glazier of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, which received a $60,000 donation from the firm this summer. “They have an eclectic group of highly skilled lawyers”—including former U.S. Sen. John Danforth and two former U.S. attorneys. 

Partner James Bennett has tried three cases with more than $100 million in dispute, and Dowd Bennett’s $77.9 million verdict against Wells Fargo ranked on the National Law Journal’s “Top 100 Verdicts” list. 

Where this firm really stands out, though, is in its 1,000-plus pro bono hours, which partners spent tackling issues at the heart of the community, such as the city’s minimum-wage case, and serving on the Ferguson Commission. “To have a firm of Dowd Bennett’s stature respond the way it has to addressing the needs of those most vulnerable says a lot about how they practice law,” Glazier remarks.

MEDIATOR

Maurice Graham, Gray, Ritter & Graham

Over a career spanning half a century, the president of Gray, Ritter & Graham has dabbled in a bit of everything. Starting out in the 1960s, in Fredericktown, Missouri, he was an old-fashioned country lawyer, handling divorces, adoptions, wills, sales contracts… When he discovered a love of the courtroom, he decided to specialize in medical malpractice cases. He still holds southeast Missouri’s record for the highest trial verdict rendered in a medical negligence case. 

Today, Graham primarily focuses on complex business and commercial litigation, as well as catastrophic injury and death cases. A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Law, he serves on the university’s Board of Curators (he’ll become its chair in January) and is a past president of both the St. Louis Bar Foundation and the Missouri Bar.

Graham says he’s proudest of two things: the year he spent as president of the Missouri Bar and, simply put, representing people. “The interaction with clients is probably what I am most satisfied with,” he says. “I do not think I would be nearly as happy doing anything else.”

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Nicole Colbert-Botchway, Associate Circuit Judge, 22nd Judicial Circuit

The first time Colbert-Botchway met an attorney, she was a kid growing up in North St. Louis, and a school counselor introduced her to a female African-American lawyer with the Mound City Bar Association. 

“I was amazed,” she recalls. “Once I realized it was possible for me to become an attorney, I made a plan and worked hard to accomplish that goal.” More than 15 years after receiving her law degree from Saint Louis University, she became president of the same bar association that spurred her career.

In addition to serving as an associate judge in the city, she was the first African-American president of the Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater St. Louis, and she’s on the board of The Black Rep. She’s also planning the 100th-birthday celebration of her mentor Frankie Muse Freeman, the legendary civil rights attorney, who will be honored with a life-size bronze sculpture in Kiener Plaza. 

“I pray that my career can also span more than 60 years,” Colbert-Botchway says, “and that I can help inspire other inner-city youth to choose law as a profession and make a positive impact in their community.”

LAWYER OF THE YEAR

John Simon, The Simon Law Firm

A passion for law runs in the Simon family. John Simon’s father, an immigrant from Lebanon, insisted that all 10 of his children pitch in on weekends at the family’s fruit-and-vegetable stand at Soulard Farmers’ Market. “My dad would wake us up at 3 in the morning on Saturdays,” Simon recalls. “There, we learned about the value of a strong work ethic and the importance of how you treat other people.” Three of the children went on to become lawyers.

Simon, who earned his law degree at Saint Louis University, has secured more than 15 verdicts or settlements of more than $10 million and has settled cases in hopes of bettering the community. When a natural gas explosion killed a St. Louis citizen, for example, Simon’s investigation revealed that 80,000 copper gas lines beneath area neighborhoods were corroded. Not only did the deceased’s family members receive $8 million, but the gas company also replaced the faulty lines.

Asked to name his proudest achievements, Simon says his son Johnny joined his firm, and his daughter Mary is now attending SLU School of Law.

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FINALISTS

Community Service

• Richard Banks, Banks & Associates
• Susan Block, Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal
• Nicole Colbert-Botchway, Associate circuit judge, 22nd Judicial Circuit 

Educator

• Susan McGraugh, Saint Louis University School of Law
• Walter Timm, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri

Firm on the Rise

• Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch
• Dowd Bennett
• Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli

Lawyer of the Year

• Robert Blitz, Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch
• John Schleiffarth, JCS Law
• Debra Schuster, Debra K. Schuster & Associates
• John Simon, The Simon Law Firm

Leadership

• William Bay, Thompson Coburn
• Pamela Meanes, Thompson Coburn
• Tim Schlesinger, Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal

Mediator

• Maurice Graham, Gray, Ritter & Graham
• Kim Kirn, Kim L. Kirn Law
• Marta Papa, Law Office of Marta J. Papa

Pro Bono

• Debbie Champion, Rynearson, Suess, Schnurbusch & Champion
• Nancy Hawes, Polsinelli
• Vanessa Keith, Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale

Rising Star

• Amy Blaisdell, Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale
• Colleen Polak, Voices for Children
• Tracy Ring, Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale
• Jennifer Woulfe, Rynearson, Suess, Schnurbusch & Champion

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SELECTION COMMITTEE

Heather Bub, Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater St. Louis, SmithAmundsen

Eric Kukowski, Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, Evans & Dixon

Richard Juang, Missouri Asian-American Bar Association, Polsinelli

Mary Pat McInnis, Saint Louis University School of Law

Samir Mehta, South Asian Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, Stinson Leonard Street

Jessica Mendez, Hispanic Bar Association of St. Louis, Armstrong Teasdale

Annette Slack, Mound City Bar Association

Nancy Staudt, Washington University School of Law

Ken Vuylsteke, The Lawyers Association of St. Louis, Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, Fox & Vuylsteke

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NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT

A look at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri

Navigating the legal world is a confusing prospect for many people, and quality legal services can feel out of reach. Now consider the most vulnerable among us—low-income, low-opportunity, the elderly—who may not even know where to begin when it comes to defending their legal rights. 

Enter Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (lsem.org), a nonprofit that provides legal assistance and access to justice for those most in need. The organization works across 21 counties—as far north as the Iowa border and as far south as Potosi—to provide services for 15,000 clients and their families each year. Most cases are heard in St. Louis city and county. Services include access to lawyers, social workers, and advocates across 11 categories, including education, health, domestic violence, and housing rights. The organization is funded in part by the Legal Services Corporation, as well as by grants, foundations, and private donations. 

Recently the organization helped high-need adults remain at home rather than be institutionalized to pay for their medical needs. “We are here to act as the voice of the vulnerable, who are dealing with life-threatening challenges,” says executive director and counsel Dan Glazier. “We are judged as a society by how we treat our most vulnerable.”